Lost in the Amazon jungle
Another article which I read over the Christmas holiday, on the Verge site, was called
"Prime and Punishment",
which is about the problems faced by various people who make their living selling things through the Amazon websites and had encountered a range of "dirty tricks," sabotage and copyright theft from rival suppliers, most often tactics designed to make Amazon think that the innocent supplier is acting fraudulently so that the company will freeze their account.
It is an informative and rather frightening account. This is the online world which is likely to form a greater and greater part of the economy in the future. Governments are not policing this market effectively - the traditional model of government would be completely unable to do so - so the company has had to do so itself, acting like a "quasi-state" with all the problems involved in being "judge jury and executioner" (That's a quote from the article.)
The last words of the article are a quote from someone who helps the victims of such dirty tricks appeal against unfair bans, and who despite having seen enough of such dirty tricks to make Professor Pangloss himself turn cynical, remains a fan of Amazon.
I emphasise - this is someone with a positive view of Amazon described and quoted.
“She’s also wary. She knows how Amazon works, and she’s given the company a lot of data about her business.
'I figure I’m going to get everything I can out of it while the getting’s good,' she says, reaching for another sci-fi reference. 'I mean it’s like the Borg. Someday, we will all be assimilated.'”
"Prime and Punishment",
which is about the problems faced by various people who make their living selling things through the Amazon websites and had encountered a range of "dirty tricks," sabotage and copyright theft from rival suppliers, most often tactics designed to make Amazon think that the innocent supplier is acting fraudulently so that the company will freeze their account.
It is an informative and rather frightening account. This is the online world which is likely to form a greater and greater part of the economy in the future. Governments are not policing this market effectively - the traditional model of government would be completely unable to do so - so the company has had to do so itself, acting like a "quasi-state" with all the problems involved in being "judge jury and executioner" (That's a quote from the article.)
The last words of the article are a quote from someone who helps the victims of such dirty tricks appeal against unfair bans, and who despite having seen enough of such dirty tricks to make Professor Pangloss himself turn cynical, remains a fan of Amazon.
I emphasise - this is someone with a positive view of Amazon described and quoted.
“She’s also wary. She knows how Amazon works, and she’s given the company a lot of data about her business.
'I figure I’m going to get everything I can out of it while the getting’s good,' she says, reaching for another sci-fi reference. 'I mean it’s like the Borg. Someday, we will all be assimilated.'”
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