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I watched the all hands today. I just want to comment on the journalism here. For one, whoever this employee is that email buzz feed news is taken as representa

I watched the all hands today. I just want to comment on the journalism here. For one, whoever this employee is that email buzz feed news is taken as representative to general feelings for all of Amazon employees which is ridiculous. Also the article makes this assertion "Though the company-wide Q&A was not meant to only address concerns about Amazon’s facial recognition deals with law enforcement, it was a major topic on employees’ minds.", which it has no data to back up. One question at the tail end of a 90 minute all hand does not make it a major topic.

fizwhiz 8y ago
looks like you have an ex-Googler working at your company.
FiloSottile 8y ago
So you are here to tell us that employees don't actually care as much as reported about the ethics implications of their work, and that leadership didn't actually meaningfully address the topic. ... is that meant to be a comment in defence of the company?
- smurfysmurf 8y ago
  The comment is not really addressing the topic at hand, just how the article here makes bigger claims than it actually has data to prove.
  - FiloSottile 8y ago
    Not addressing the topic at hand, preferring to discuss technical points is precisely the industry tend that concerns me.
    - writepub 8y ago
      > trend that concerns me. No one cares about what trends concern any one person.
    - mmirate 8y ago
      This is Hacker News, not Manager News or Lawyer News.
    - bradleyjg 8y ago
      You are perfectly welcome to find another industry if you don’t like this one.
      - rexpop 8y ago
        This is a disingenuous statement. Given the common understanding that "software is eating the world," your suggestion is about as earnest as "you are perfectly welcome to find another planet."
      - dang 8y ago
        Please don't get personal in HN arguments. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
zaru27 8y ago
News should only be taken with a grain of salt in 2018
- craftyguy 8y ago
  This is not some new phenomena that didn't exist until very recently. Critical thinking has been required since, well, 'news' was a thing.
  - zaru27 8y ago
    I agree it’s not a new phenomena and never said that it was. I’d argue that our news was historically fair-minded up until the recent mass-scale polarization.
- JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
  More like, news from certain sources should be taken with a grain of salt. There are plenty of good journalists with high reputation that you can certainly take more than a pinch of salt with.
  - rock_hard 8y ago
    Samples?
    - callalex 8y ago
      Anything that hits the front page of nytimes.com or washingtonpost.com for example. Opinion pieces are a different ballgame, obviously.
  - thesagan 8y ago
    Even reputations are hotly debated in this climate. I think a good habit is to read from as many sources as possible, including controversial ones, and making a private determination as to how to weight reporting.
    - 8y ago
danso 8y ago
I think you make a solid point here. I do think Amazon and its employees should be debating their concerns on this topic. But if the only question/talk of Rekognition vis-a-vis law enforcement during the all-hands is that one question quoted by the article, then that doesn't justify a news story just on that one question at the meeting. That's not to say BuzzFeed isn't justified in continuing to report on the controversy and debate, just that this recent moment at the all-hands isn't news in itself. Before the big Google walkout this week, there was at least one HN discussion about it a few days prior, with some commenters questioning the purpose/courage of a walkout if the employees aren't willing to quit. Well, even if Google employees didn't put money where their mouths were, participating in the walkout at the very least is a public statement. And when 20,000 [0] employees make that statement, there is no debate at all if a reporter describes the Google controversy as one that has sparked significant company-wide strife.

fizwhiz 8y ago

looks like you have an ex-Googler working at your company.

FiloSottile 8y ago

So you are here to tell us that employees don't actually care as much as reported about the ethics implications of their work, and that leadership didn't actually meaningfully address the topic. ... is that meant to be a comment in defence of the company?

smurfysmurf 8y ago
The comment is not really addressing the topic at hand, just how the article here makes bigger claims than it actually has data to prove.
- FiloSottile 8y ago
  Not addressing the topic at hand, preferring to discuss technical points is precisely the industry tend that concerns me.
  - writepub 8y ago
    > trend that concerns me. No one cares about what trends concern any one person.
  - mmirate 8y ago
    This is Hacker News, not Manager News or Lawyer News.
  - bradleyjg 8y ago
    You are perfectly welcome to find another industry if you don’t like this one.
    - rexpop 8y ago
      This is a disingenuous statement. Given the common understanding that "software is eating the world," your suggestion is about as earnest as "you are perfectly welcome to find another planet."
    - dang 8y ago
      Please don't get personal in HN arguments. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

zaru27 8y ago

News should only be taken with a grain of salt in 2018

craftyguy 8y ago
This is not some new phenomena that didn't exist until very recently. Critical thinking has been required since, well, 'news' was a thing.
- zaru27 8y ago
  I agree it’s not a new phenomena and never said that it was. I’d argue that our news was historically fair-minded up until the recent mass-scale polarization.
JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
More like, news from certain sources should be taken with a grain of salt. There are plenty of good journalists with high reputation that you can certainly take more than a pinch of salt with.
- rock_hard 8y ago
  Samples?
  - callalex 8y ago
    Anything that hits the front page of nytimes.com or washingtonpost.com for example. Opinion pieces are a different ballgame, obviously.
- thesagan 8y ago
  Even reputations are hotly debated in this climate. I think a good habit is to read from as many sources as possible, including controversial ones, and making a private determination as to how to weight reporting.
  - 8y ago

danso 8y ago

I think you make a solid point here. I do think Amazon and its employees should be debating their concerns on this topic. But if the only question/talk of Rekognition vis-a-vis law enforcement during the all-hands is that one question quoted by the article, then that doesn't justify a news story just on that one question at the meeting. That's not to say BuzzFeed isn't justified in continuing to report on the controversy and debate, just that this recent moment at the all-hands isn't news in itself. Before the big Google walkout this week, there was at least one HN discussion about it a few days prior, with some commenters questioning the purpose/courage of a walkout if the employees aren't willing to quit. Well, even if Google employees didn't put money where their mouths were, participating in the walkout at the very least is a public statement. And when 20,000 [0] employees make that statement, there is no debate at all if a reporter describes the Google controversy as one that has sparked significant company-wide strife.