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Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

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Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#201

Post by onetokeoverthe »

permo-w wrote: post #160
Yeri wrote: post #28

Summary: The YouTuber had his Amazon affiliate account canceled after 7 years without warning or evidence of wrongdoing. The reason given was that purchases made through his links were for personal use or made by friends and family, which he denies. He finds the timing suspicious as it came a week after he made a video criticizing Amazon for canceling a customer's account for a racist doorbell claim. He argues that t…

similarly, a few days ago I was working on a project with a couple of people and I had our meeting notes in a Google Doc. I went to share the doc with the people and was told that it wouldn't be possible due to "inappropriate content". after a quick scan of the text I realised that it was because the notes contained the word "imagery" - in relation to a logo. once removed, the problem went away, but it's disgusting t…

[dead]

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#203

Post by plagiarist »

world-set-free wrote: post #148
arthur_sav wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just Amazon. All big tech companies have this "trigger happy" approach to closing down accounts. Especially payment companies. I believe we need to pass down new consumer laws to protect the people. We pretty much rely on their services and they have no accountability.

You'll have to outbid the payments the tech companies have on the senators they own. You need more money than Vangaurd and Blackrock's A.L.A.D.D.I.N

Those bribes are depressingly low amounts. Just fly a SCOTUS out for a fun quarter-million vacation and their next completely original interpretation of the Constitution will be in your favor.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#204

Post by kkielhofner »

Yeri wrote: post #28

Summary: The YouTuber had his Amazon affiliate account canceled after 7 years without warning or evidence of wrongdoing. The reason given was that purchases made through his links were for personal use or made by friends and family, which he denies. He finds the timing suspicious as it came a week after he made a video criticizing Amazon for canceling a customer's account for a racist doorbell claim. He argues that t…

The power of any of these large platforms (and how they apply their "policies") is bewildering.

I once listed some GPUs for sale on Amazon. Out of nowhere, without warning, they closed every account I had across Amazon platforms (including AWS). That was fun. Many people have reported the same thing with Google.

Just this week a woman tweeted about a Lyft ride that went sideways. Of course some skepticism is warranted on versions of events because it is a bizarre story but Lyft summarily cancelled her account for "jumping out of" a Lyft ride[0]. Even after multiple attempts to give her side of the story they refused to re-open her account. It was only after the social media response that they reversed their position - which is incredible because they seemed to do this without any new facts. If she was really that dangerous to the platform they would/should have stood their ground.

I have a similar story - I once had someone join me for an Uber ride and they yelled at the driver. The next day Uber sent me a notice that they "don't tolerate violence on the platform" and banned me from Uber worldwide for life (their description). It was embarrassing, I don't condone it, but I have to think the driver likely reported it as some kind of physical contact because I have no idea how yelling constitutes "violence". I didn't bother to pursue it in any way because if they don't want my money I won't give it to them.

[0] - https://twitter.com/katlynskye24/status/1670819610138931202

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#205

Post by scioto »

And that's why I don't leave reviews on Amazon, or pretty much any site these days. I have purchased (okay, indefinitely rented) too much media on Amazon, eBooks, videos, etc., and I don't want to lose them because of a non-five-star review.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#206

Post by mysterydip »

permo-w wrote: post #160
Yeri wrote: post #28

Summary: The YouTuber had his Amazon affiliate account canceled after 7 years without warning or evidence of wrongdoing. The reason given was that purchases made through his links were for personal use or made by friends and family, which he denies. He finds the timing suspicious as it came a week after he made a video criticizing Amazon for canceling a customer's account for a racist doorbell claim. He argues that t…

similarly, a few days ago I was working on a project with a couple of people and I had our meeting notes in a Google Doc. I went to share the doc with the people and was told that it wouldn't be possible due to "inappropriate content". after a quick scan of the text I realised that it was because the notes contained the word "imagery" - in relation to a logo. once removed, the problem went away, but it's disgusting t…

> not only has Google given themselves the right to scan your documents

You agreed to it: "We may review content to determine whether it is illegal or violates our Program Policies, and we may remove or refuse to display content that we reasonably believe violates our policies or the law." https://www.google.com/drive/terms-of-service/?hl=en

Their list of policy violations is quite long: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/148505#zippy=

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#207

Post by toldyouso2022 »

Lutger wrote: post #73
kossTKR wrote: post #5

So Amazon wrongly accuses some random dude of racism after he says "Excuse me how can i help you" from their robotic doorbell, then bricks all of his amazon smarthome products remotely, then bans this man from their associates program for even making a video about it on youtube after 10 years. Are we living inside of the movie demolition man now? I absolutely hate large corporations. Racism off course is never ok, bu…

The Chinese point system is exactly what this reminds me of. It is ironic that unrestrained capitalism actually ends in a variant of communism where it are the corporations, rather than the party, that rule society.

There is no unrestrained capitalism. This is the doing of the managerial class, and they managed to get so much power because of central banks. Especially after 2008 the major central banks have bought assets on the stock market and financed all kinds of projects without a second thought. They print money and make companies like amazon huge. This is 100% government 's doing. Total fake economy. In a free market there is no limited liability, but even if there was companies are subject to profit and loss. The profit and loss mechanism has bren destroyed by goverment, companies now operate based on incentives derived from what's fashionable among the managerial class, not what serves customers and make money.

Also I would not exclude that these companies can be put in their place by using already existing laws. No need for new laws, it's a matter of political will.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#208

Post by RobotToaster »

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #87
arthur_sav wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just Amazon. All big tech companies have this "trigger happy" approach to closing down accounts. Especially payment companies. I believe we need to pass down new consumer laws to protect the people. We pretty much rely on their services and they have no accountability.

Or maybe don't rely on their services, use a kind of money that doesn't close accounts. Like cash, or something that must not be named on HN.

Yeah sure, just give me a loan of a few billion dollars to start my own bank.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#209

Post by zyx321 »

nonethewiser wrote: post #158
phpisthebest wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon suspended a persons account because a Amazon delivery driver thought they heard a racist comment come from a video doorbell... in reality it was a standard automated response that the customer happen record from another camera but they had to prove to amazon there was no racist comment made, and it took 1 or 2 weeks for them to unsuspend the account During that time all of their Amazon Devices (echo, alexa aut…

I don’t even care if it was a racist doorbell - shitty move by Amazon.

That's the problem with giant do-everything companies like Google and Amazon. People should never be locked out of critical infrastructure without (the equivalent of) a fair trial. I mention Google because they have been banning people who [feces]post on Youtube, locking them out from all services including accessing content they paid for, checking the calendar on their phones, and even receiving emails.

It is possible to do better. Valve does what should be the absolute minimum; tracking community forum bans separately from anticheat bans, neither of which stops you from accessing single-player content you paid for.

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