Amazon: Lobbying Is a Component of the Model Of Course

November 23, 2021

Small news item from the trusted source Thomson Reuters. The title of the item is “Amazon Wages Secret War on Americans’ Privacy, Documents Show.” What’s interesting is that the trusted outfit has tapped into Amazon “internal documents.” These content objects reveal to the intrepid trusted real news folks that

“Amazon.com has killed or undermined privacy protections in more than three dozen bills across 25 states, as the e-commerce giant amassed a lucrative trove of personal data on millions of American consumers.”

In my lectures about this online bookstore I described some of Amazon’s public documents about its data wrangling, data stores, and data analytics capabilities. Sure, my lectures were directed at law enforcement and intelligence professionals.

How can an old person like myself using open source intelligence capture the scope, capabilities, and functionality of Amazon’s capabilities without resorting to the use of company confidential information.

If a person were to reveal company confidential information about Thomson Reuters or any of its subsidiaries, how might the Thomson Reuters “trust” brigade react to this situation?

I am no cheerleader for Amazon. I have been critical of leakers, including the cutesy Edward Snowden person.

Lobbying is an established component of many business organizations processes. Let’s think about big pharma, shall we? No, let’s not. What about those Beltway Bandits? No, let’s not.

“Trust” is an interesting concept, and I am disappointed that sensationalism and confidential information is what helps define “trust.”

Yep, real journalism. Why not rely more on open source information and good old fashioned analysis, interviews, and research? Is “too good to pass up” a factor? Blocking and tackling, right?

Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2021

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