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Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

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Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#91

Post by fallingknife »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #39

They pissed off the left by being sociopathic big businesses that treated people poorly. They pissed off the right by exerting perceived control over public discourse. They've pissed off government in general by swinging around their power when called out on these things. It wasn't a question of if the feds would screw them it was a question of when.

That's not really why they pissed off the left though. What other industry treats its workers better than tech?

They pissed off the left by moving in on their turf. Big tech is a direct threat to universities, journalism, media, and entertainment industries. It's not a threat, and even a benefit to transportation, oil/gas/mining, and agriculture, which are more republican industries.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#92

Post by legitster »

legitster wrote: post #51
rootusrootus wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What makes Amazon different in this regard? Safeway/Kroger/Costco do not have direct third-party merchants, do they? They are just resellers. This is fundamentally different from what Amazon is doing.

I worked for Frito Lay as a salesperson and yes perhaps only 20% - 40% of grocery store inventory is maintained by the store staff. The rest was space that we were allocated to sell our stuff. Stores would pay for the inventory, but we would rebate them for what would not sell as an incentive to make sure we put out products that actually sold. But I would literally come in every day to the larger stores and put prod…

Also, continuing on, grocery stores are a very apt comparison. Foot traffic and purchase behaviors are very heavily tracked.

Firstly in an analogue ways - managers are always watching were customers are going/ what they are looking at/etc. The security team at a one co-op bragged that their cameras could read the time on your watch.

Secondly, there are all sorts of new tools stores are trying out to automate this. Software that analyzes footage to generate heatmaps. Or using the in-store wifi access points to generate heatmaps (even if you don't connect, your phone will give away your position when looking for networks). This is especially important in mall settings where they need to calculate foot traffic estimates as a way of pricing storefronts.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#93

Post by handrous »

pmoriarty wrote: post #79
ethbr0 wrote: post #54

I've come around and landed more on the opinion that we're now enabling our jailors. Light tech regulation was exactly the correct approach in the 1990s (and arguably the 2000s). It enabled mind-boggling rapid and stunning innovation. ... However, the massive corporate fortunes built by the winners of those times are now primarily enabling rent seeking. Google and Facebook's other work is interesting in the same way…

The technology field has much deeper problems that increased competition alone won't fix. One of the most pernicious effects of tech advances in recent decades has been the rise of surveillance state and surveillance capitalism, and the loss of privacy that comes with that. This enabling of spying on everyone is not going to be addressed by more competition, and might even enable it further if innovation in that spac…

> One of the most pernicious effects of tech advances in recent decades has been the rise of surveillance state and surveillance capitalism, and the loss of privacy that comes with that.

Exactly this! Two out of five of FAANG derive effectively all their revenue from global-scale dragnet spying, and all five of them use that kind of data collection as a highly effective moat against competition.

It should simply be outlawed. That should be step #1 for breaking the tech monopolies.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#94

Post by mindslight »

Cerium wrote: post #22
fhrow4484 wrote: post #4

> Jeff Bezos, this one’s for you. This provision aims at Amazon’s practice of using data it collects from third-party merchants to enhance its own private label offerings. If it passes, the practice would be blatantly illegal. Would it equally apply to physical stores like Safeway, Kroger, Costco's private labels like "Private Selection", "Simple Truth", "Kirkland", ... What makes Amazon different in this regard? Is…

Trader Joe's is the closest to Amazon in this regard. They introduce new products as the name brand, the best sellers are cloned and then replaced with the store brands.

But Trader Joe's doesn't sell anything that is name brand? The whole store is store brand.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#96

Post by akiselev »

dave5104 wrote: post #63
akiselev wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They take on the vast majority of the inventory risk, which is the fundamental detail everyone seems to miss. They own what they sell. The complications come from trying to manage that risk - manufacturers who have better products or marketing can afford to pay for prime shelf space which also means it'll move faster.

I don't believe this is true in all cases. Maybe for some products, but at least other commenters here are confirming that some manufacturers refund the grocer for any unsold product. (So, Safeway only pays for the inventory that gets sold.) Seems risk-free for grocers on the products they have those sorts of deals with.

Yep they do that too but it's not risk free for physical stores because they take up shelf space. Anything that isn't moving off storefront shelves isn't making them any revenue - unlike Amazon they can't present every product through a paginated digital catalog while charging for warehouse storage.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#97

Post by mindslight »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #83
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aldi is similar, which is kind of interesting because Trader Joes is one of the Aldis. I always wonder how they get away with blatant trademark infringement. They come up with similar product design for the purpose of confusing consumers. I assume they have deals with most of the name brand products, or their parent companies.

From what I've read, TJ's doesn't infringe. They simply pay the original manufacturer to make a run of the product with TJ's label on it.

Part of the agreement seems to be that the manufacturer goes out of their way to make a worse version for TJ's. Honestly they should be taken to task for flooding the market with fake competition, but that applies to the majority of brands in these days of megaconsolidation.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#98

Post by spullara »

rdtwo wrote: post #82
zer00eyz wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sale of contaminated beef has happened many many times in my lifetime, leading to massive recalls, even lettuce has seen contamination and outbreaks. The liability has not been on the store, rather the supplier/manufacturer of those products. The local ford dealer wast at fault for your pinto exploding of the tires blowing off your SUV. You didn't get to sue the store that sold you cigarets or round up that gave…

Yeah but if the manufacturer went kaput or the store was negligent in sourcing beef you could sue. Both of these are a problem with amazon. If target sold Chinese cribs that killed kids for example you can bet folks would sue target and not the manufacturer

No, they wouldn't. Target had nothing to do with it.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#99

Post by threatofrain »

legitster wrote: post #92
legitster wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for Frito Lay as a salesperson and yes perhaps only 20% - 40% of grocery store inventory is maintained by the store staff. The rest was space that we were allocated to sell our stuff. Stores would pay for the inventory, but we would rebate them for what would not sell as an incentive to make sure we put out products that actually sold. But I would literally come in every day to the larger stores and put prod…

Also, continuing on, grocery stores are a very apt comparison. Foot traffic and purchase behaviors are very heavily tracked. Firstly in an analogue ways - managers are always watching were customers are going/ what they are looking at/etc. The security team at a one co-op bragged that their cameras could read the time on your watch. Secondly, there are all sorts of new tools stores are trying out to automate this. So…

One thing I've always wondered is whether there's any interest in using in-store cameras for tracking the information people show on their phones, such as location, health, financial data, or even passwords.

Esp. since COVID I imagine a lot of people inputting their passwords in front of a camera at the register.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#100

Post by frumper »

spullara wrote: post #98
rdtwo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but if the manufacturer went kaput or the store was negligent in sourcing beef you could sue. Both of these are a problem with amazon. If target sold Chinese cribs that killed kids for example you can bet folks would sue target and not the manufacturer

No, they wouldn't. Target had nothing to do with it.

It's odd to say that the only company you had a direct business relationship with had nothing to do with it. Product liability does apply to the seller of that product, in addition to the manufacturer and distributor. That doesn't mean retailers won't fight it, or that it is easy to prove. It's just how the laws are in the US.
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