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Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

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Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#21

Post by cm2187 »

Gaelan wrote: post #4
mankash666 wrote: post #3

The article missed one huge factor: date farming by AWS/Amazon. If one has data on pricing and sales across retail and online channels on a national scale, how risky would a purchase of a retailer really be? Not much, as you can pivot towards high sales, high profit products without doubting your strategy Target, Walmart & other retailers de-risked Amazon's purchase of wholefoods

Do we know Amazon's policy on "peeking" into people's AWS data? I feel like they would have something against that in their ToS/Privacy Policy.

I don't know about Amazon but I remember Microsoft sneaking into personal hotmail accounts to find who was leaking information to the press.

Microsoft issued a statement in justification saying that it didn't need a warrant since they consider that the data stored on their services is their, and no warrant is required to search oneself.

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#22

Post by sametmax »

didibus wrote: post #5

I don't know how strategic that move is in this case. It's not going to slow down Amazon's retail growth, and it'll just cost Target more to transition. They should have sound reasons to move away, like if they found cheaper and better alternatives. I don't know, it feels a little desperate from my point of view.

Not wanting your balls in the hand of the enemy is a fair reason to migrate.

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#23

Post by ovi256 »

cm2187 wrote: post #21
Gaelan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we know Amazon's policy on "peeking" into people's AWS data? I feel like they would have something against that in their ToS/Privacy Policy.

I don't know about Amazon but I remember Microsoft sneaking into personal hotmail accounts to find who was leaking information to the press. Microsoft issued a statement in justification saying that it didn't need a warrant since they consider that the data stored on their services is their, and no warrant is required to search oneself.

>Microsoft issued a statement in justification saying that it didn't need a warrant

Microsoft can not get a warrant in any case: they are not a law enforcement agency.

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#24

Post by origami777 »

cm2187 wrote: post #20
linkregister wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that Target is well-known to be good at security, but if AWS was discovered snooping on their data that would probably be the end of their business. Not to mention the tsunami of lawsuits launched by other companies spooked by the scandal. I can't imagine any manager or engineer willing to risk their career doing so. Then again, a director at Volkswagen agreed to intentionally cheat emissions tests, so perhaps an…

I can't imagine an engineer creating a Diesel engine designed for fraud. But it happened. I'd say that in a company with an aggressive business culture like Amazon this is only more likely.

What's the cost/benefit of them doing that to Target? On the upside they could see what's selling well, what margins they have, etc. What's the net value of that information to their retail unit? I'd say it's probably very small.

On the downside, they could lose their most profitable business unit.

Check out all the audits they go through. If you're an enterprise customer with this concern you can get access to those audit reports and see if it's one of the things being looked at by an independent third party.

Besides, all Target has to do is encrypt the data. Boom, non-factor.

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#25

Post by smegel »

If they are just doing this out of spite it is so silly. Do they think Amazon is going to go broke now and pull out of retail?

If they are paying more to another provider, they are making themselves less competitive in contrast to Amazon, although maybe Microsoft lured them with a discount on Azure.

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#26

Post by rtx »

didibus wrote: post #5

I don't know how strategic that move is in this case. It's not going to slow down Amazon's retail growth, and it'll just cost Target more to transition. They should have sound reasons to move away, like if they found cheaper and better alternatives. I don't know, it feels a little desperate from my point of view.

They have been trying to move away from longtime. Earlier Target.com was operated by Amazon.com.

https://www.geekwire.com/2011/target-finally-parts-ways-amaz...

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#27

Post by cm2187 »

ovi256 wrote: post #23
cm2187 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about Amazon but I remember Microsoft sneaking into personal hotmail accounts to find who was leaking information to the press. Microsoft issued a statement in justification saying that it didn't need a warrant since they consider that the data stored on their services is their, and no warrant is required to search oneself.

>Microsoft issued a statement in justification saying that it didn't need a warrant Microsoft can not get a warrant in any case: they are not a law enforcement agency.

Right. The actual statement actually said "court order".

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#28

Post by cm2187 »

origami777 wrote: post #24
cm2187 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine an engineer creating a Diesel engine designed for fraud. But it happened. I'd say that in a company with an aggressive business culture like Amazon this is only more likely.

What's the cost/benefit of them doing that to Target? On the upside they could see what's selling well, what margins they have, etc. What's the net value of that information to their retail unit? I'd say it's probably very small. On the downside, they could lose their most profitable business unit. Check out all the audits they go through. If you're an enterprise customer with this concern you can get access to those…

Unless they use the cloud merely as storage, the key will have to reside in the cloud for their servers to do anything useful. So the data is never really encrypted to the cloud provider.

I am not saying that the Amazon board will authorize a change in strategy to dig into every customer data. But if I believed that companies internal audit were enough to prevent fraud, there would be no need for a banking regulator for instance.

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#29

Post by dx034 »

I don't understand the synergies of AWS within Amazon. Amazon.com is probably one of the biggest clients, but probably not even the biggest. If they were to split up AWS from Amazon, the entities could be worth more than combined. AWS would lose restrictions of companies that don't like Amazon while Amazon.com could still access the systems.

Re: Target is plotting a big move away from AWS as Amazon takes over retail

#30

Post by dx034 »

Gaelan wrote: post #4
mankash666 wrote: post #3

The article missed one huge factor: date farming by AWS/Amazon. If one has data on pricing and sales across retail and online channels on a national scale, how risky would a purchase of a retailer really be? Not much, as you can pivot towards high sales, high profit products without doubting your strategy Target, Walmart & other retailers de-risked Amazon's purchase of wholefoods

Do we know Amazon's policy on "peeking" into people's AWS data? I feel like they would have something against that in their ToS/Privacy Policy.

Peeking into data would be risky and could be detected. But evaluating server logs is possible without affecting the user. If you know what servers target.com uses and evaluate their load, you can probably learn a lot about their business.
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