Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#101

Post by ctvo » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:12 PM UTC

anotha1 wrote: post #92

whoknew1122 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon != AWS. As someone who has access to customer data in AWS, I'm very limited in what information I can access (to the point where it actively makes my job in Premium Support harder than it would be otherwise). I also have to provide a legitimate business reason for access to data. Not only is there an audit trail for what I do internally, but any calls I make to review customer data is published in the customer…

Given everything mentioned in your comment, I don't see how it implies that amazon can't cast a dragnet at some level you're not aware of.

Let's put it in terms of business. What does Amazon gain reading the data of retailers in AWS that they don't already have? How much more money would this make them?

How much brand damage and lost of business to AWS (their most profitable organization) would they lose if this were to leak? The more prevalent their use of this AWS customer data, the higher the chance it gets leaked.

Why do you think Amazon, one of the most logical and data driven companies, would make such a bad business decision?

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#102

Post by amalcon » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:13 PM UTC

oblio wrote: post #41

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk if USPS is truly an example of excellence, even if they are an example of govt excellence. In 2020 they shipped 70 billion packages, of which 90% was spam.

> In 2020 they shipped 70 billion packages, of which 90% was spam. Is that their problem, though? I don't think anyone expects the post to police package contents.

They do police package contents to a degree, but only for actual crimes. Postal spam isn't a crime (and probably shouldn't be, as much as I'd like to get rid of the spam).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Inspectio...

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#103

Post by FridayoLeary » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:13 PM UTC

spaceribs wrote: post #2

Amazon should be nationalized. All these 3rd party companies want is a "farmers market", a stall to sell their wares. Give them the municipal software infrastructure they need to do so and maintain it as a public good.

>Give them the municipal software infrastructure they need to do so and maintain it as a public good.

oof. Amazons actual website is frankly horrible, but i shudder to think how terrible it would be if it was run by the government. I'm cringing at the thought. There would just be an endless stream of news about gross mismanagement, incompetence, wasting taxpayers money ad nuseaum. No. The only thing that could possibly be worse then Amazon in its current format would be if it were run as a government enterprise.

And to the whataboutism; "who says Amazon doesn't have those problems etc, it's different. I don't have to be bothered so much by the internal affairs of a private company. A government company otoh, it would just be all over the news.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#104

Post by shiftpgdn » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:13 PM UTC

oblio wrote: post #41

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk if USPS is truly an example of excellence, even if they are an example of govt excellence. In 2020 they shipped 70 billion packages, of which 90% was spam.

> In 2020 they shipped 70 billion packages, of which 90% was spam. Is that their problem, though? I don't think anyone expects the post to police package contents.

They do police package contents, pretty heavily even. They allow spam (presorted bulk mail in post office terms) because the spammers have a strong lobby.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#105

Post by sneak » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:17 PM UTC

suprfsat wrote: post #44

LightG wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a catch-22 ... would Amazon be this innovative had it been nationalised? At what point do you nationalise? Is there a next technology which will be stifled if it was nationalise? Does nationalisation sttifle innovation? I've been wrestling with these questions as I actually don't like Amazon for all the reasons that have been well publicised ... but their customer service is excellent. Which sets me against a st…

Jeff Bezos will testify in front of congress that he will cease to be innovative if required to pay taxes.

Amazon pays mountains of payroll taxes, as they are one of the largest employers in the world.

The "Amazon pays no taxes" meme is a false one.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#106

Post by alex_anglin » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:19 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #91

whoknew1122 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon != AWS. As someone who has access to customer data in AWS, I'm very limited in what information I can access (to the point where it actively makes my job in Premium Support harder than it would be otherwise). I also have to provide a legitimate business reason for access to data. Not only is there an audit trail for what I do internally, but any calls I make to review customer data is published in the customer…

> This report has 0 to do with AWS Same company, leadership and culture. If you compete with Amazon, or could compete, it would be pretty stupid to put your jewels on AWS.

On the other hand, it seems to be working out pretty well for Netflix.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#107

Post by varispeed » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

ch4s3 wrote: post #94

varispeed wrote: post #72

Amazon should be split into separate independent companies - logistics, AWS, marketplace and whatever else they do now. We need laws that will limit growth of companies to become too big to fail and have all the money to buy laws, destroy competition and in general do as they please without consequences. It's a loophole in capitalism that has to be closed. Big businesses should follow the same rules as your mom and p…

> too big to fail How is Amazon "too big to fail" in your opinion? That phrase "I think they're too large", it means that a business is so central to the functioning on the broader economy and to several other industries that their failure would tank the whole economy. Think Boeing or JP Morgan Chase Bank. > and have all the money to buy laws, What exact laws has Amazon bought?

- Well, imagine what would have happened if AWS closed overnight. It would not only affect the economy, but also governments that run their infrastructure on AWS.

- What I meant by that is also the money can ensure that new laws are not introduced, or investigations not carried out. Have you seen reports of Amazon Basics, where they ask sellers to hand over their leads and then months later Amazon introduces pretty much the same product undercutting the seller? I would imagine if that was done by a small company, they would have been closed down. Yet when you are big, anything goes.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#108

Post by ErikVandeWater » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

fnord77 wrote: post #9

"we have a policy against this, but we violate it all the time"

Is there a maxim for this?

When a group of people are highly incentivized to do something bad, they'll conspire to do something bad. Don't call me a conspiracy theorist.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#109

Post by swiley » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:22 PM UTC

spaceribs wrote: post #2

Amazon should be nationalized. All these 3rd party companies want is a "farmers market", a stall to sell their wares. Give them the municipal software infrastructure they need to do so and maintain it as a public good.

No. As it is I can still go to other sellers if I want to, if Amazon were nationalized then you might not have any other choice.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#110

Post by choward » Mon, May 03, 2021, 1:23 PM UTC

smhost wrote: post #62

nerbert wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon the marketplace isn’t terribly innovative. It’s a marketplace supported by fantastic logistics, and most of it is backed by USPS anyways. There’s only so much you can do to remove the pains from buyers, sounds like we’re there.

"Innovation" refers to practices like staying in the red for a decade and bypassing antitrust laws by owning (rather than monopolizing) markets. It has little to do with technological innovation.

Right. I wonder how much competition Amazon has eliminated over the years with their shady business practices. That competition may have driven innovation even further.