Amazon recently shut a man out of his smart home devices, got fined for illegally harvesting and storing children’s data, and re-upped a $10 billion data-management contract with the NSA. Comedian and political commentator Russell Brand says this shows the company is too powerful and people have to fight back.
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This year alone, Amazon falsely accused a man of using racist language and locked him out of his smart home devices, was fined $30 million for spying on children to harvest their data and renewed a $10 billion contract with the National Security Agency.
Comedian and political commentator Russell Brand said these events raise serious concerns about how much power Amazon has over people’s lives.
In a recent episode of “Stay Free,” Brand said:
“When you have an organization like Amazon which is not tethered to any nation, not tethered to any ideology except for profit [and] that is involved in our lives at an almost cellular level — the dispatch of products, working with the government, surveillance — there’s so many areas of our lives that Amazon interfaces with that their power is becoming perhaps untenable.”
When a delivery driver mistakenly reported that Brandon Jackson used a racial slur when speaking through his Amazon doorbell intercom, Amazon shut off his home smart devices for a week, Brand said — effectively taking away Jackson’s control over his home.
After Amazon determined “the customer did not act inappropriately,” the tech giant restored Jackson’s access to his devices.
But why is it up to Amazon to determine what is appropriate or not, Brand asked.
Amazon’s power is particularly concerning, Brand said, given recent revelations that Amazon has been collecting massive amounts of data on children — and retaining that data even after the families requested that Amazon delete it.
The mega-corporation agreed to pay $30 million dollars in fines after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brought a case against it for retaining the voice recordings, transcriptions and precise location data collected from children via Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.
Amazon claimed it needed this data to improve its machine-learning algorithm and that its actions were legal. “We take our responsibility to our customers’ families very seriously,” the company also said in a statement.
Brand said people have been led to believe that Alexa wouldn’t be spying on them. But instead, he said, Amazon flagrantly misled parents, flouted their requests to delete the data, violated the FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Rule and sacrificed the privacy of countless families — all so it could increase profits.
“Amazon is so powerful, they are going to do what they want,” he said. And they do that by working in partnership with the government, Brand said.
“The government and global corporations are completely allied with one another. They have the same interests and they are not the same as your interests.”
The cost of Amazon’s power is our freedom, Brand said. “Powerful Big Tech companies like Amazon and the state are working in rigid lockstep to prevent you from having, it looks like, the finest shred of emotional, personal or spiritual freedom.”
A $30 million fine is nothing for Amazon, Brand said, because it makes so much money. But those profits don’t come from selling and shipping things, or from making shows for Amazon Prime like people might think, he said.
Amazon’s profits come from dealing in data. They profit off of user data, such as the children whose data it collected.
But the largest money-maker for the company is its cloud computing service unit, which has a $10 billion contract with the NSA that was renewed this year. It has a similar contract to provide cloud computing to the CIA and the U.S. Department of Defense.
“The NSA is the very agency that Edward Snowden revealed is illegally stealing your data,” Brand said.
He added:
“So Amazon’s money comes from, it sounds like, pretty close to crime. Your business is their business. Your privacy is their property. Your duty is to fight this with everything you have.”
Watch here:
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How in the world can people NOT see the creepiness factor here??
Oh, Amazon’s intrusion is creepy, too.
I know people who dream of utopia via government and big business. These people tend to love futuristic movies also…like Star Treck and that other one…Star Wars.
Only a jackoff democrat would turn their home into a “smarthome” controlled by a third party.
Jackoff boy got what he deserved !
BTW…………………..happy kikeniggerfaggot morning everyone !
Ring doorbell? No thanks.
Alexa for playlists? No.
Gargoyle, for web searches to gleam knowledge? Pass.
An internet based system of cameras as security to watch over all home goods? Spying.
A smart TV w connections to streaming services? No.
Amazon, for convenience and faster delivery? I don’t need something that bad. Rather patronize local bricks & mortar small biz, whenever possible.
Weigh convenience against privacy invasions and data gathering.
Keeping a low profile has its advantages.
Cozy up to a neighbor or friend who has a Prime account.
Then reimburse them with cash.
Ditto, for selling something. Use a friend who dabbles on Facebook Marketplace, & give them a small commission.
The dark side of convenience and incentives can be discovered.
Balance the temptation with caution.
Video monitoring and capture is everywhere now. Behave accordingly.
Freedom and privacy diminishing.
Excellent advice.
Yes I’m sure phones give them all they need but having additional devices that are marketed as “smart” speakers etc is just so douchey! I automatically judge someone to be a moron when I see them buying those things.
That still pic of Russell makes him look like he’s seen the evidence of what Rubio is spouting.
Don’t forget all of the tracking our cars do of all of US … according to an article I read just yesterday, all cars built since 2006 have chips in them to keep track of our driving patterns and habits — a true ‘black box’ like commercial aircraft have.
And newer cars — like VW’s ‘IQ.drive’ — that keep warning of every perceived ’emergency’ — and that will slam on the brakes if it feels a need to do so … and, from what I’ve been told, is impossible to disconnect without bricking the car.
I don’t recall ever asking for this BS … and I certainly never felt a need to pay for it — but try to get a new car without it … but also try to get parts for cars more than a decade or so old.
For after 2000 stuff, can be problematic. Way too many model specific parts.
But I have no issues getting parts for my pre 2000 stuff. Helps that I generally stick with SBC powered cars and trucks.
SBC? I’m unfamiliar with the term … please explain …
small block chevy v8
Ah … thanks …
If UPS goes on strike people will find out what it’s like to live without Amazon. They still use UPS and no one will say exactly how much Amazon is dependent on UPS but a strike gums up all the deliveries including post office.
AMZN pretty much replaced FedEx with UPS a few years back … not sure why other than someone’s hands getting awfully well greased — especially considering that UPS’ wages are higher than FedEx due to UPS’ being union … and UPS has stricter work rules — for example, they don’t seem to drive on weekends … even the long haul portion of their shipments.
Update: Strike eminent.
https://www.kctv5.com/2023/06/29/saying-strike-is-imminent-ups-gets-friday-deadline-union-come-up-with-better-contract/
I’ve worked both places but non-union admin. 13 years at UPS, I left during the strike in 96. Six years at Fedex. But 10 years lapsed between UPS and Fedex. I was making more money at UPS in 96 then I ever did at Fedex.
Volume in 96 was nothing compared to now and it still caused havoc for Fedex and the post office. Fedex employees still told stories 10 yrs later of how it affected Fedex. They will take on new shippers if they will sign a long term contract, otherwise you are SOL. People were driving by Fedex package centers and throwing their packages at the dock hoping it would be taken…lol! Mandatory 60 hour work weeks until long past when the strike was over to catch up on back ups.