Amazon Prime Amazon (or Scamazon?) News: "Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History."

[Bear Ribs]

You need to look at what's actually being banned. What's being banned are figures of characters like this:

Are you buying into the lie that this represents CP somehow? I'm not kidding, go look at the link Val posted.

If it's an algorithm they're using, though, it could easily be dumb enough to flag this because it trained to identify anything anime-shaped as "child porn" and now it's too expensive/would hurt the CEO's feelings to get a new algorithm in place. AI can be staggeringly stupid if it's not rigorously trained and the slightest mistake in what you train it for leads to "glue all the robot's legs together in a tower to fall over with" instead of "walk."

I still think it's more likely it's competing with a product of theirs or a closer partner's though. Amazon has a bad reputation for doing business with third party X for a few years, and then using the sales data it accumulated to go into X's business for themselves and eliminating X. They started out strictly selling books, after all, and everything since has been them gradually expanding into spheres of other companies that worked with them.

 

[Mimas]

Huh. Does it count as having joined the boycott if I don't normally use their services? I like seeing what I'm going to purchase, so I usually only purchase online if I can't find the product in my area.

I think the last time I used Amazon was to purchase a birthday present for a family member last year.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The newly formed Amazon Union has now established a hotline for disgruntled Amazon employees.

Union creates hotline for disgruntled Amazon staff

Unite urges workers to come forward to voice complaints about hours, pay, targets and breaks.

www.bbc.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

Fake News I say!

'Fake' Amazon workers defend company on Twitter

It comes after Amazon's official accounts hit back at criticism of the company.

www.bbc.co.uk

Twitter actually banned a number of these apparent fake Amazon employees who are shitting on Unions.

 

[Terthna]

You need to look at what's actually being banned. What's being banned are figures of characters like this:

Are you buying into the lie that this represents CP somehow? I'm not kidding, go look at the link Val posted.

Some people just seem to toss reason out the window whenever the topic of child porn is brought up, and the fact that an accusation has been levied is all they need to know in order to believe that banning something is justified. It's the same sort of mindset the regressive left has when it comes to accusations of racism, sexism, or any other sort of "ism".

 

[Husky_Khan]

Amazon has been hit with an antitrust lawsuit alleging collusion with book publishers in e-book price fixing. The lawsuit alleges that back in 2015, Amazon made deals with the big five book publishers by entering price agreements where these publishers would fix the price of their e-books 30% higher then they would on Amazon, protecting the latter from price competition.

This lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed back in 2011 where it was alleged Apple colluded with the same Big Five Publishers and the ensuing settlement which cost Apple $400 million dollars and the publishers millions more. It also prevented the Big Five publishers from interfering with retailer discounts for two years (2013 and 2014) where e-book prices actually dropped across several retailers.

Then, as the lawsuit alleges, these Publishers entered a new deal with Amazon in 2015.

Amazon hit with antitrust lawsuit alleging e-book price fixing

Amazon is accused of fixing the price of e-books sold on the e-commerce site through anticompetitive agreements with the nation’s top five publishers, according to a complaint filed Thurs…

thehill.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

In a blog post, Amazon apparently apologized after admitting, after initial denials, that in fact some of their delivery employees do pee in bottles.

Amazon acknowledges issue of drivers urinating in bottles in apology to Rep. Pocan

Amazon.com Inc has apologized to U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, admitting to scoring an "own goal" in its initial denial of his suggestion that its drivers were sometimes forced to urinate in bottles during their delivery rounds.

www.reuters.com

Of course the apology was directed at the Democratic Representative who brought up the allegations, not the delivery employees they're still presumably compelled into peeing into bottles.

Amazon initially issued a denial, saying in a tweet: “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us.” But it subsequently walked back those comments.

“This was an own goal, we’re unhappy about it, and we owe an apology to Representative Pocan,” Amazon said in its blog post, adding that its previous response only referred to staff at its warehouses or fulfillment centers.

 

[Captain X]

Well, I sure wouldn't work for them.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Amazon Warehouse workers in Alabama voted down the proposed Union formation by a margin of over two to one but the Union organizers plan to challenge the results, citing interference in the election.

Amazon Alabama workers reject union in key loss for U.S. organized labor

Amazon.com warehouse workers in Alabama voted against forming a union by a more than 2-to-1 margin in a major win for the retailer, but the union hoping to reignite the U.S. labor movement said on Friday it would challenge the results, citing election interference.

www.reuters.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

Amazon: How one cancer patient's story helps explain the Alabama union vote

Carla Jonson's story helps explain how Amazon won last week's union vote in Alabama.

www.bbc.com

Some insight on how Amazon beat the Union vote in that Alabama Warehouse and why the Union organizers say they are going to appeal the results of the election.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Whole Foods, a grocery store retailer owned by Amazon, says it will soon allow customers to pay for their goods via palm scan.

Whole Foods will soon let customers pay for groceries with palm scan

Whole Foods is getting into palm reading, and yes — the idea is to separate you from your money as quickly as possible. The upscale grocer said Wednesday that its parent company Amazon’…

nypost.com

Palm scanning is already a method of payment used in most of Amazon's dozen or so physical stores and is operated by a subsidiary known as 'Amazon One.' The company plans on offering their palm scanning technology to other businesses like stadiums, retailers and office buildings in the future.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Christian Smalls, a former Amazon worker, is trying to form a Union at Amazon's Staten Island location.

Smalls and Amazon have a complicated history. The company fired him from his warehouse managerial position last March after he organized a protest against unsafe working conditions at the facility. Since then, Smalls has sued Amazon and founded The Congress of Essential Workers, a nonprofit organization focused on helping workers achieve better working conditions. The Congress, in turn, has created its own union, the Amazon Labor Union.

Amazon Labor Union is unaffiliated with any major union, unlike the recent Bessemer, Alabama unionization drive for Amazon warehouse workers with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. By forming a new, independent union, Smalls hopes to be able to have a fresh start.

Amazon fired him. Now, he’s helping Staten Island workers unionize.

Christian Smalls's Amazon Labor Union says it has already collected several hundred signatures in support.

www.protocol.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

An Appellate Court finds Amazon can be held liable for defective products sold by third party businesses on its platform.

The dispute centers on a lawsuit filed by Kisha Loomis, who purchased a $370 hoverboard on Amazon in 2015 as a Christmas gift for her son. She sustained burns to her hands and feet trying to extinguish a fire started after her son plugged the device in to charge it.

Amazon collected a $39.99 subscription fee from manufacturer TurnUpUp, and a 15% referral fee totaling $55.50 from Loomis’ purchase. Amazon collected around $110,000 in fees from roughly $736,000 worth of hoverboards TurnUpUp sold on Amazon from September through December 2015, before Amazon’s own investigation of fire or smoke incidents triggered by defective hoverboards caused it to pull the product from its marketplace.

Appellate Court Finds Amazon Can Be Held Liable for Defective Products

The giant commercial marketplace can be sued over defective products from third-party sellers.

www.courthousenews.com

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

An Appellate Court finds Amazon can be held liable for defective products sold by third party businesses on its platform.

Appellate Court Finds Amazon Can Be Held Liable for Defective Products

The giant commercial marketplace can be sued over defective products from third-party sellers.

www.courthousenews.com

While this is good for the costumer, I suspect it will push Amazon's industry espionage of third-party properties into overdrive.

 

[Doomsought]

While this is good for the costumer, I suspect it will push Amazon's industry espionage of third-party properties into overdrive.

No, this is only bad for the consumer.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

No, this is only bad for the consumer.

Why is it bad?

 

[Doomsought]

Why is it bad?

Anything that increases expense and risk on the supply chain reduces supply, which will reduce consumer choice and increase cost. This is especially bad when the carrier is impacted unfairly, because the carrier will overcompensate. The carrier has to overcompensate too, because of how the risk impacts their business.

This decision will make amazon favor megacorp brand names, and will heavily prejudice them against small businesses.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Amazon is reportedly in talks to purchase MGM Studios for an estimated Nine Billion dollars.

Amazon negotiating deal to buy MGM Studios for $9 billion

Amazon is reportedly several weeks into negotiations on a deal to buy MGM, the Hollywood studio behind the “James Bond” franchise.

nypost.com

MGM is considered a 'Mini-Major' Film Producer and thus not one of the big Hollywood Studios (ie Disney, Warner Bros/New Line, Universal, Paramount and Sony) but still a large filmmaking company. MGM used to be considered a major studio before its bankruptcy troubles over a decade ago.

Current franchises/libraries it has control of include James Bond, Rocky, and the Barbershop and Legally Blonde film series. They also serve as a distributor for other filmmaking companies. It's believed this is largely being pursued by Amazon so they can expand the Amazon Prime Video Library.

 

[Bassoe]

Amazon’s New ‘AmaZen’ Program Will Show Warehouse Workers Meditation Videos

New initiatives aimed at reducing injuries will feature "positive affirmations, calming scenes with sounds, and more," and hourly wellness prompts at work stations.

www.vice.com

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

Amazon’s New ‘AmaZen’ Program Will Show Warehouse Workers Meditation Videos

New initiatives aimed at reducing injuries will feature "positive affirmations, calming scenes with sounds, and more," and hourly wellness prompts at work stations.

www.vice.com

One of these days, a group of disgruntled and scientistically inclined workers are going to grab whatever superiors they can get a hold on, take them to the roof of the workplace, and test if they spontanously develop the abilty to fly.