
Jeff Bezos Protests Privacy Invasion, as He Builds Surveillance State - sbuttgereit
https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/jeff-bezos-protests-the-invasion-of-his-privacy-as-amazon-builds-a-sprawling-surveillance-state-for-everyone-else/
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newscracker
> But Bezos, given how much he works and profits to destroy the privacy of
> everyone else (to say nothing of the labor abuses of his company), is about
> the least sympathetic victim imaginable of privacy invasion.

That hits the nail on the head. It seems kind of like poetic justice (though I
don’t personally agree with anyone’s privacy being violated).

From the Medium post by Jeff Bezos [1] linked in this article:

> “My stewardship of The Post and my support of its mission, which will remain
> unswerving, is something I will be most proud of when I’m 90 and reviewing
> my life, if I’m lucky enough to live that long, regardless of any
> complexities it creates for me.”

Seriously, how much of a cognitive dissonance and compartmentalization must
one have to not see the ill effects of his ruthless actions when contemplating
looking back on his life when he’s 90 (or old enough)? Having one thing to be
proud of and hundreds of other things to be ashamed of — is that a good sign
of introspection?

[1]: [https://medium.com/@jeffreypbezos/no-thank-you-mr-
pecker-146...](https://medium.com/@jeffreypbezos/no-thank-you-mr-
pecker-146e3922310f)

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faitswulff
"Jeff Bezos Protests Privacy Invasion" seems a bit of a stretch, since I can't
find him doing so anywhere on Medium or even in the linked article. He seems
to be merely dealing with the fallout without commenting on the privacy
issues.

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clouddrover
He says he doesn't want his personal texts and photos published. He says he
has retained an investigator to find out how these texts and photos were
acquired in the first place. That looks and sounds like a protest of the
privacy invasion to me.

~~~
zepto
In the context of blackmail

~~~
clouddrover
Of course. When else do privacy issues matter most?

~~~
zepto
All kinds of other ways - subtle manipulation, advertising, evaluation by
power structures etc.

~~~
clouddrover
I didn't say the other problems with a lack of privacy don't matter. I asked
when else does a lack of privacy matter most. It matters most when you receive
a direct and immediate threat as a consequence of your lack of privacy.

Jeff Bezos is finding out the hard way what a lack of privacy means. If he had
had actual privacy he wouldn't be in this position in the first place.

~~~
zepto
I think the other problems matter vastly more.

They are happening to all of us all the time, and are deeply corrosive to
society.

Blackmail is comparatively rare, and may not actually be as harmful even to
the individual who is the target.

Just because they are pervasive and so we learn to live with them, we should
not underestimate how severely damaging they are.

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all_blue_chucks
When will the media realize that Amazon didn't invent facial recognition
software? It would be here regardless of Bezos.

~~~
ebg13
This is a weird take. Does it extend to anything? Murder would be here
regardless, so it's NBD if any particular individual murders? Fraud is going
to be here regardless, so individual instances of fraud are NBD?

Why does it matter who invented something when the conversation is about
building an empire around it?

Here's the article summary to ponder:

> _If Bezos were the political victim of surveillance state abuses, it would
> be scandalous and dangerous. It would also be deeply ironic. That’s because
> Amazon, the company that has made Bezos the planet’s richest human being, is
> a critical partner for the U.S. Government in building an ever-more
> invasive, militarized and sprawling surveillance state._

Which of that ruffles you?

~~~
all_blue_chucks
It's disingenuous to compare a tool to an act. Would you blame Home Depot if
someone bought a pipe there and used it to bludgeon someone to death?

~~~
cam_l
If they marketed it as a bludgeoning tool.. Yes.

~~~
all_blue_chucks
Neither pipes nor facial recognition software are marketed for criminal
purposes. And neither amazon nor home depot invented them.

~~~
wurst_case
Now wait a minute. Serveillance technology is definitely sold as more than
just tools for building a house. They are tools of war and authoritarianism.
Sure you have your run of the mill equipment for securing your building. But
then you have massive networks of Spyware to catalog an entire nation's
activity embedded without notice into the products you use without your
consent. Your politician will sell you it for homeland security but the
companies that sell the tech to the government sell in the same way arms
dealers do. A Tomohawk missile is also a tool. And if home depot was selling
that, especially if they were selling it under the pretence of a 'self defence
tool' you but your shiny behind I'd have a problem with it. Wouldn't you?

Now consider home depot and Amazon are both warehouse businesses. Only one of
them is helping the US government extend its digital spy network and increase
its cyberwar capabilities.

~~~
all_blue_chucks
Surveillance is not unethical, it's not unique to Amazon, and it's not
remotely new.

Cameras are surveillance technology. Are you outraged at every manufacturer of
cameras? Cameras are directly marketed as security systems (aka
"surveillance").

A person staring at a CCTV looking out for a specific person holding a photo
has been around forever. Facial recognition makes them more efficient.

None of this is new. None of this is unique to Amazon. Making this about
amazon is dishonest.

