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An offshore workforce is training Amazon’s warehouse-monitoring algorithms

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Re: An offshore workforce is training Amazon’s warehouse-monitoring algorithms

#51
post #42

>In the summer of 2020, Amazon’s warehouse in Bolton, England, was rolling out a new stowing system — known internally as “Nike” — that relied on computer vision and manual checks from workers in India and Costa Rica. I hope I wasn't the only one to notice that. The person who named it must be truly diabolical.

I'm not sure what the issue is with the italicized text (I get the neo-Dickensian awfulness of the article). Nike is Greek for Victory though.

I was imagining Bezos watching from somewhere and screaming into a mic "JUST DO IT".

Re: An offshore workforce is training Amazon’s warehouse-monitoring algorithms

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Surely, one would agree that recording a cop while on the job is necessary (for both cop and others), so what is the line that separates a delivery worker? are delivery workers regularly shooting or beating up people as part of their jobs and then saying it was necessary force?

Sure, but would one codify this if they wanted to make it law? The complexity of that is what I was trying to point out. And obviously, in its absence, we have deliver workers being recorded on the truck, because it’s simply so cheap now.

you do it on a law that says jobs that are involved with public safety are surveiled and otherwise not. I guess I don't see the complexity of this in comparison to other laws and regulations.

Re: An offshore workforce is training Amazon’s warehouse-monitoring algorithms

#53
post #47

What I don't understand is why tech people (who have plenty of job opportunities) want to work for a company which does things like this.

Have you been to India? There is high income inequality and poverty and labor is cheap. People are willing to do anything to have a better life and they don’t care if it affects other people . With 1.3 billion people competition for survival is fierce and empathy for others may lead to your downfall as only the fittest survive . The education is geared towards STEM to be highly employable and make money to get out of…

I should probably have been more specific in my comment; I fully understand people who are working on visa's (or wanting to obtain one) working for these companies.

What I don't understand is why people who have no "nothing to lose" incentive (for example are "native" citizens of a country such company is based in) want to work for these companies. These people can lead perfectly comfortable lives without working for companies which behave questionably.

Re: An offshore workforce is training Amazon’s warehouse-monitoring algorithms

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but would one codify this if they wanted to make it law? The complexity of that is what I was trying to point out. And obviously, in its absence, we have deliver workers being recorded on the truck, because it’s simply so cheap now.

you do it on a law that says jobs that are involved with public safety are surveiled and otherwise not. I guess I don't see the complexity of this in comparison to other laws and regulations.

What is public safety? Surely, driving a vehicle on the road affects public safety, so recording the driving would be allowed.

A nurse giving injections to people is public safety, so recording that would have to be allowed.

Cleaning floors so they are not slippery is public safety, as well as preparing food.

Playing with spreadsheets on a computer is maybe one thing that does not involve public safety.

Re: An offshore workforce is training Amazon’s warehouse-monitoring algorithms

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you do it on a law that says jobs that are involved with public safety are surveiled and otherwise not. I guess I don't see the complexity of this in comparison to other laws and regulations.

What is public safety? Surely, driving a vehicle on the road affects public safety, so recording the driving would be allowed. A nurse giving injections to people is public safety, so recording that would have to be allowed. Cleaning floors so they are not slippery is public safety, as well as preparing food. Playing with spreadsheets on a computer is maybe one thing that does not involve public safety.

first of all in an American context the cleaning floors example would probably be laughed out of court as in no way being understood as Public safety, which would probably go with something like this https://www.austintexas.gov/blog/what-public-safety

>Legal scholars define public safety as “the protection of the general public,” and they reference groups like police officers and firefighters as Public Safety Officers. Many governments form their policies on this idea of protecting people’s physical welfare. They often focus on combating crime in an effort to help community members feel secure, and they hire for roles like law enforcement officers and medical emergency responders.

however I am getting the feeling you have never actually been involved in the writing of a law before

Defining public safety occupations would be pretty easy, although a lot of lawmakers in order to cut down on the misunderstandings might just go ahead and write a list of occupations that count as public safety if they did not want to let the courts decide. In a Napoleonic system I might expect the defining of public safety and it's meanings to take up a page or two of work, depending on how the makers wanted to define it (list of occupations affected, defining characteristics of occupations that would be affected)

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