Sinking quick from intraday highs, I was close to shorting around $1625 but decided to buy FNGD instead, so far so good
If You Care About Privacy, Throw Your Amazon Alexa Devices Into the Sea Matt Novak Yesterday 4:15pm 3404 Photo: AP Remember a couple of weeks ago when we learned that humans were monitoring Amazon Alexa commands, essentially spying on users in the name of product improvement? Well, we’ve got some more bad news about the always-on microphone that we’ve all invited into our homes. Employees at Amazon can “easily” discover any user’s home address. The report comes from unnamed Amazon employees who talked with Bloomberg News about the distressing situation: Team members with access to Alexa users’ geographic coordinates can easily type them into third-party mapping software and find home residences, according to the employees, who signed nondisclosure agreements barring them from speaking publicly about the program. Bloomberg makes clear that there haven’t been any reports of Amazon employees or contractors actually abusing this power and tracking down users at home. But they say that this backend feature gives employees “unnecessarily broad access to customer data.” Amazon doesn’t deny that its employees can easily locate users but downplays the significance of today’s revelations. “Access to internal tools is highly controlled, and is only granted to a limited number of employees who require these tools to train and improve the service by processing an extremely small sample of interactions,” an Amazon spokesperson told Gizmodo by email. The only problem? Amazon didn’t specify how many a “limited number” of employees might be. According to Bloomberg, it might be in the thousands. “Our policies strictly prohibit employee access to or use of customer data for any other reason, and we have a zero tolerance policy for abuse of our systems.” the spokesperson continued. “We regularly audit employee access to internal tools and limit access whenever and wherever possible.” But somehow it gets even worse. Bloomberg spoke to one Amazon employee who said that Amazon’s backend also displayed user phone numbers. That feature has allegedly been taken offline, but who knows what else is going on over there? Certainly not Alexa consumers. The Amazon Alexa technology really is one of the perfect products for our era. It’s easy, it’s convenient, and it’s a privacy nightmare that serves as a constant reminder of the fact that we live in a techno-dystopia of our own making. If you still have an Alexa or any other voice assistant in your home, you were warned. If you haven’t tossed your Echo into the sea by now, that’s on you. Because Silicon Valley clearly has no interest in honoring your privacy.
Amazon asks FCC for approval of Project Kuiper broadband satellite operation https://www.geekwire.com/2019/amazon-asks-fcc-approval-project-kuiper-broadband-satellite-operation/
Thanks for the article, but this seems much ado about nothing. When you sign up for Amazon, don't you have to give them your home address and a phone contact number anyways? How will things be shipped to you if you don't provide them with an address? When you send someone a snail-letter, don't you put your return address on there in case it bounces? And who cares if Amazon employees have your address? If you've ever received a catalog, or piece of junk mail or bill, or have a file on your credit history at one of the Big 3, your address is "out there". I do disagree with these devices having a mic "always on". It should only send your commands and voice to the cloud after you have asked them specifically for something to fetch, such as information, music and the like.
The EU vs. Amazon Another busy day for Margrethe Vestager, the EU's antitrust chief, who is nearing the end of her five-year term. The EU is expected to launch an investigation into how Amazon uses the data from other sellers, following a preliminary investigation into the company since last year. That investigation could be announced as early as today. In other EU news, Ursula von der Leyen, former German defense minister, was narrowly approved as the next president of the European Commission. FT
Amazon Squeezed On Faster Delivery Amazon said it spent more than $800 million to increase next-day shipping, the company said in its results on Thursday, news didn't sit entirely comfortably with analysts, after the company also projected operating income short of expectations. Overall profits were still rising, but the second-quarter did end the company's streak of record profits over the last four quarters. WSJ
Amazon Lifts FedEx Ban The retailer told its merchants that they could use FedEx's ground shipping networks for orders under the Prime membership program again on Tuesday, after a month-long ban amid a standoff between the two companies. Amazon said in December that the ban was because FedEx was not delivering Prime orders fast enough. WSJ