9 ms·

Our Positions

60 points by kevinsundar 7y ago

totaldude87 7y ago
search " Hong Kong" - results, none found [update] : ok , i get this is not an US issue, and get your feelings behind downvotes, but i didnt know this was just for US..
- api 7y ago
  These are positions on US issues.
  - totaldude87 7y ago
    gotcha..
  - jaynetics 7y ago
    With US companies and citizens excusing to China for excessive free speech, this is now arguably a US issue, too.
- philipov 7y ago
  Hong Kong is a US issue
  - justinzollars 7y ago
    Hong Kong is a Hong Kong issue. Ask a Hong Konger.
    - philipov 7y ago
      Both can be true. We live in an international community.
chipperyman573 7y ago
Interesting, almost all of these issues are social issues (LGBT rights, immigration policy, etc), but third from the bottom they slipped this in: "Counterfeiters should receive stronger penalties under federal law." and go on to talk about how bad counterfeiting is for americans.
- jaynetics 7y ago
  That is not the only point that contrasts with the feel-good parts in a really strange way...
- n4r9 7y ago
  I dunno, I think corporations talking about social issues stands out more because it's contentious. If I was to try and broadly categorise the topics: - min wage: economic - climate: environmental - energy: environmental - diversity: social/business - lgbt: social - immigration: social/political - govt tech: political - facial rec: legal/social - counterfeiting: legal - data: legal/political - tax: legal/business
- farisjarrah 7y ago
  They're taking a stand on things they have little to no control over. This way they can signal their virtue to us, but not actually have to take action. 100,000 electric vans is easy for Amazon, they can just throw money at the problem. As far as regulations are concerned at this point any regulations, like stronger penalties for counterfeiters, only help to entrench Amazon's positions. Amazon can definitely afford more regulations, however, this makes it much harder for smaller businesses to grow. This is very much like how Facebook is giving lip service to privacy these days. Facebook already has all the data, so by pressuring the government into making privacy laws they are further entrenching their positions by making it harder for new entrants into the market.
qsymmachus 7y ago
> We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform But also > Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology So, we support the rights of immigrants to not be abused, but we'd like to continue making a buck selling tech to agencies directly responsible for that abuse. Similarly, > Human-induced climate change is real, serious, and action is needed from the public and private sectors But but but! > The energy industry should have access to the same technologies as other industries Amazon even openly brags about how awesome their tech is for extracting that sweet, sweet oil: https://aws.amazon.com/oil-and-gas/ https://aws.amazon.com/oil-and-gas/ Its hilarious (and sad) how this position piece outlines what Amazon claims to believe, and simultaneously explains why they're going to keep doing things that directly contradict those stated beliefs. It's an insult to your intelligence as a reader. What a bunch of baloney
- reaperducer 7y ago
  > We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform But also > Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology So, we support the rights of immigrants to not be abused, but we'd like to continue making a buck selling tech to agencies directly responsible for that abuse. Perhaps Amazon should have clarified the sentence as "We strongly support the rights of legal immigrants and immigration reform." Then it wouldn't be incongruous.
  - qsymmachus 7y ago
    You're right, I totally forgot that it's ok to abuse the illegal ones only, cause they're not really people
- mc32 7y ago
  Some things aren’t black or white. Lots of things are complicated and necessitate compromise. Leaving out a stance on unions as others mentioned, is... interesting.
- ng12 7y ago
  I don't understand this utopianist view. Yes, I would like to see oil companies go away but we can't switch off our oil dependency like a light. Whether we like it or not, literally the entire world runs on oil in some capacity and we don't have the ability to wean ourselves off it in the immediate term. So we should ensure that oil companies have the best technology available to maximize efficiency and minimize the chances of catastrophic environmental disasters (which are almost always the direct result of a technological deficiency) while simultaneously working on the technology and policy that will allow us to minimize our oil dependence in the long term.
sciurus 7y ago
"We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform." and yet they haven't been responsive to employees and activists urging them to stop enabling ICE. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/12/no-tech-ice-protesters-demand-amazon-cut-ties-with-federal-immigration-enforcement/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/12/no-tech-i...
- Notorious_BLT 7y ago
  I believe that's meant to be part of the meaning of one of the statements in this page: >Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- travisoneill1 7y ago
  Notice how it does not say "The US should not enforce its immigration laws."
Animats 7y ago
No mention of unions. No concept that Amazon should be held responsible as the seller when they resell a counterfeit item. No mention of antitrust or monopoly issues. Amazon doesn't have much of a GPDR/CCPA privacy problem because most of the data they collect is from their own customers, who have agreed to Amazon's terms. Amazon doesn't want to sell customer info because that would help their competitors compete with them. They have their own internal closed ecosystem.
- basch 7y ago
  google, facebook, salesforce, and linkedin dont really want to "sell data they collect" either. They want to sell access to data, or access to targeted attention. They dont want data leaking from their ecosystems, they want to keep you coming back to their tools to utilize data.
  - torkable 7y ago
    im shadowbanned but if anyone sees this, tell this dumbass that Cambridge Analytica says "Hi"
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  > Amazon doesn't have much of a GPDR/CPPA privacy problem because most of the data they collect is from their own customers, who have agreed to Amazon's terms. Amazon doesn't want to sell customer info because that would help their competitors compete with them. They have their own internal closed ecosystem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Ac... (California Consumer Privacy Act)
  - lazyasciiart 7y ago
    GPDR definitely affects data collected from customers who have consented, and even whether those terms are legal.
- krapp 7y ago
  > No mention of unions. Amazon is anti-union. >No concept that Amazon should be held responsible as the seller when they resell a counterfeit item. Amazon disagrees. >No mention of antitrust or monopoly issues. Amazon has no issues with being a monopoly, at all.
arch-angel 7y ago
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/3/17934194/amazon-minimum-wage-raise-stock-options-bonus-warehouse https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/3/17934194/amazon-minimum-w...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
falcolas 7y ago
As I read this, everything seems to boil down to: "We have inoffensive morals, but we don't let them interfere with making money."
- ropiwqefjnpoa 7y ago
  Whether they follow through or believe any of this is irrelevant, that's what lawyers are for.
- commandlinefan 7y ago
  “We believe whatever is currently most politically expedient to believe and is least likely to anger the sort of people who typically organize boycotts, but our core, strongly-held beliefs are subject to change as public opinions shift”
- krapp 7y ago
  "We are a business that needs to project a progressive, left-leaning front in the face of criticism from the party our CEO donates to, heading into an election cycle, in order to protect share prices and avoid antitrust rhetoric."
- lkbm 7y ago
  If you're a large group of people tied together by something other than political ideology, it's to be expected that the only things they would reach consensus on would be topics where society has reached widespread consensus. If every influential person in a large company agrees on a contentious issue like universal healthcare, that would suggest hiring is based on a litmus test around that issue. As much as I think we should have universal healthcare, I don't think support for that should be a requirement in the hiring process where I work. So you end up with agreement only non-contentious issues. (Or sometimes stances that are beneficial to the specific corporation.)
kingkawn 7y ago
Unions are a legitimate business activity by people who sell their labor. They are forming business associations to negotiate better terms company or industry wide in order to improve the efficacy of their market position. Union suppression is anti-free market.
- throwawaysea 7y ago
  So why is a union different from people forming a separate company and contracting out their labor? Why ask for special provisions (obligating all employees to join and pay dues) if it is just a 'business association' like any other. And if that association is industry-wide as you said, doesn't that make it anti-free market?
  - kingkawn 7y ago
    They are making a legit decision that reflects their position in the market and their relative economic strength as individuals vs as a group. If they don’t do this their relative economic position is unacceptably weak, and they should not be expected to shoulder it passively.
always_creating 7y ago
Ctrl-F "democracy" - Phrase not found. Ctrl-F "democratic" - Phrase not found. Ctrl-F "union" - Phrase not found.
smacktoward 7y ago
It's fascinating how many of these boil down to "We know we do terrible things. Somebody really ought to stop us!"
whydoyoucare 7y ago
"It’s critical that Amazon employees are also diverse and that we foster a culture where inclusion is the norm." is self-contradictory, since diversity does not imply inclusion, rather continued segregation. Climate science is not settled, so calling it "real, serious, human-induced" is misleading. A lot of political mumbo-jumbo here, my best guess is this is Bezos launching his political career... "Bezos for President" in 2024. :-)
nisuni 7y ago
When I go to the local butcher’s shop and buy a couple of steaks, I don’t care about his political views. Why should I in this case?
- davidw 7y ago
  I think that's a good question. One reason I might: Amazon has a lot more power and money than the local butcher.
- Symbiote 7y ago
  I care whether or not the meat is halal, which is a political (in some countries it is regulated by the government) as well as a religious view.
  - samstave 7y ago
    I find it super weird that Muslims have this halal meat rule (which I actually prefer over non halal) but at the same time treat other people like absolute shit.
    - wolco 7y ago
      Most Muslims are very kind and welcoming. Don't believe everything you see on tv.
      - samstave 7y ago
        I have nothing wrong with Muslims Jews womever, but I do have a problem with “government” in general
    - luckylion 7y ago
      If you don't mind me asking, why do you prefer halal meat (I understand it it's not for religious reasons)? Does killing an animal by cutting its throat and letting it bleed out improve the taste? Is it just an easy way to avoid pork?
ineedasername 7y ago
The domain makes me ask this question-- I mean, why not host off the main Amazon.com domain? So, is this really an official Amazon page?
- gouggoug 7y ago
  The SSL certificate was issued by Amazon, so it is legit.
  - mercora 7y ago
    Does that matter? i mean they are running their own CA for use with their offerings on AWS. I am not sure if it is the same CA though. EDIT: Just checked it and it is the same CA they use for AWS services.
- onei 7y ago
  I was curious as well. Especially as I thought they'd been allocated the .amazon TLD.
- dseravalli 7y ago
  It is linked to in the footer of amazon.com
- whoisjuan 7y ago
  There are a lot of *.amazon.com internal subdomains used for employee resources and infrastructure. So I think they just want to keep that reserved for very specific things
justinzollars 7y ago
On Climate Change. All of amazons shit is made in China, which does not the same environmental standards we have. This just seems like lip service.
- whydoyoucare 7y ago
  I think it is lobbying for more taxes than anything else.
godelski 7y ago
It is all talk till I see action. Action that could already be taken on these issues. > Human-induced climate change is real, serious, and action is needed from the public and private sectors. How about doing a better job at bundling items? Or encourage people to not use 2 day shipping? I'd argue Amazon actually incentivizes single package and fast shipping, which are counter to this message. > The rights of LGBTQ+ people must be protected. > We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform. > Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology. I think these three are tied together. I'll also say that with all the stuff coming out of the woodworks this week (in respect to Hong Kong) all this needs explicit action for people to believe that Amazon cares. We're seeing a lot of companies that say they care but act differently. So it is all talk until I see action as far as I'm concerned.
- ajhurliman 7y ago
  It looks like they're buying 100,000 electric delivery vehicles; seems like they're taking action.
  - godelski 7y ago
    Awesome! Thank you for letting me know. That is action that I am happy about.
ignoramous 7y ago
> We are using our position as one of the nation’s largest employers to encourage other companies to raise their wages and to lobby members of Congress and state legislatures to raise the minimum wage. I heard this first-hand from an Amazon HR who fought for the rights of the warehouse workers (factories as they call them) that during one of the bi-annual OLR (reviews) they were given feedback that they simply don't get the business and aren't a fit for the role. They said it was because they prevented warehouse contract workers or employees from being terminated without-cause, which would have saved Amazon money that they otherwise would have have paid as severance and absolved them from affording the workers a notice period. The factory workers (in their home-country) are no better than slaves as they do not understand their rights well enough and the managers take them for a ride to please their superiors in furthering narrative that serves as datapoints for their leadership qualities bi-annually. Amazon as a corporate might take an official stance, sure, but Amazon's vulture-culture is hiding in the plain sight for all to see. > Amazon prioritizes equal pay, and since we’ve been measuring and publishing the ratio over the past several years, women have earned between 99.5 and 101.5 cents for every dollar that men have earned in the same jobs. Why is that an ex-teammate of another Amazonian I spoke to who had issues with their eyesight struggled immeasurably to get promoted before quitting or being made to quit? Why do they stack-rank someone undergoing personal trauma or chronic illness to the bottom and treat them like a perishable resource? Again, official stance is one thing, ground realities are another. Lying with statistics is one thing, actually confronting the elephant in the room... Well, that's not their forte. > Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology. https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/search?q=Ring https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/search?q=Ring > Our customer-centric approach has led us to follow privacy-by-design principles since our founding. It is well-known that Amazon would copy your product and manufacture it themselves if there's enough money in it. How do they know? Well, they mine the hell out of the buying behaviour they track. They conveniently can target market segments to optimise returns. Not to mention prominent placement for Amazon Brands in search results. Also, I believe, they do share buyer's personal information with the seller, per purchase. And show ads. None of this screams privacy-by-design, to me. > Corporate tax codes should incentivize investment in the economy and job creation. Why isn't there a bullet point abt social responsibility? Continuing to corner massive amt of wealth for your board, your shareholders, your VPs and employees is plain greed after a point. I guess, I'm just grumpy and need to lighten up.
alkonaut 7y ago
Good. Now add something about international relations (such as consistently supporting individual freedo vs authoritarian regimes) and in support of trade unions, and I won’t put you in the naughty column with NBA/Blizzard/Disney/Apple.
wheelie_boy 7y ago
A cynical reading: - The federal minimum wage in the U.S. is too low and should be raised (We'd like it if Walmart had higher labor costs) - Human-induced climate change is real, serious, and action is needed from the public and private sectors - The energy industry should have access to the same technologies as other industries (Yes, through lobbying and lies the oil companies are fucking over our planet. But we're going to keep them as customers. Somebody should do something, but not us.) - Diversity and inclusion are good for business—and more fundamentally—simply right - We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform (It'd be cool if there were more programmers for us to hire, more cheaply) The rights of LGBTQ+ people must be protected (We want to continue to employ LGBTQ+ people) - Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology (Yeah, we're also going to keep providing services to ICE and China or whoever) - Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology (We recognize that someone should do something about this, but it's not going to be us) - Counterfeiters should receive stronger penalties under federal law (Nobody counterfeits Kindles or other Amazon brands on Amazon, but somehow the problem is impossible for us to solve for anyone else. Or we'd make less money, which is kind of the same thing when you think about it) - Consumer data privacy should be protected under federal law (Fuck facebook)
- tzs 7y ago
  > A cynical reading ... > The rights of LGBTQ+ people must be protected > > (We want to continue to employ LGBTQ+ people) Huh? The lack of some rights for LGB+ people under current law does not prevent Amazon from employing them. In fact, that lack of rights probably actually makes it easier for Amazon to employ them by easily extending benefits beyond what are required. Once those rights are legally granted, all employers will have to extend them, reducing Amazon's advantage. > Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology > > (We recognize that someone should do something about this, but it's not going to be us) They are doing something about it. It takes government to establish regulatory frameworks, so they are lobbying for that. > Counterfeiters should receive stronger penalties under federal law > > (Nobody counterfeits Kindles or other Amazon brands on Amazon, but somehow the problem is impossible for us to solve for anyone else. Or we'd make less money, which is kind of the same thing when you think about it) No one counterfeits Kindles on Amazon because no one but Amazon is allowed to sell Kindles on Amazon. The lack of Kindle counterfeits there gives no useful information about the difficulty of keeping counterfeits out of markets that allow multiple sellers for a given product.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

60 points by kevinsundar 7y ago

search " Hong Kong" - results, none found [update] : ok , i get this is not an US issue, and get your feelings behind downvotes, but i didnt know this was just for US..

api 7y ago
These are positions on US issues.
- totaldude87 7y ago
  gotcha..
- jaynetics 7y ago
  With US companies and citizens excusing to China for excessive free speech, this is now arguably a US issue, too.
philipov 7y ago
Hong Kong is a US issue
- justinzollars 7y ago
  Hong Kong is a Hong Kong issue. Ask a Hong Konger.
  - philipov 7y ago
    Both can be true. We live in an international community.

chipperyman573 7y ago

Interesting, almost all of these issues are social issues (LGBT rights, immigration policy, etc), but third from the bottom they slipped this in: "Counterfeiters should receive stronger penalties under federal law." and go on to talk about how bad counterfeiting is for americans.

jaynetics 7y ago
That is not the only point that contrasts with the feel-good parts in a really strange way...
n4r9 7y ago
I dunno, I think corporations talking about social issues stands out more because it's contentious. If I was to try and broadly categorise the topics: - min wage: economic - climate: environmental - energy: environmental - diversity: social/business - lgbt: social - immigration: social/political - govt tech: political - facial rec: legal/social - counterfeiting: legal - data: legal/political - tax: legal/business
farisjarrah 7y ago
They're taking a stand on things they have little to no control over. This way they can signal their virtue to us, but not actually have to take action. 100,000 electric vans is easy for Amazon, they can just throw money at the problem. As far as regulations are concerned at this point any regulations, like stronger penalties for counterfeiters, only help to entrench Amazon's positions. Amazon can definitely afford more regulations, however, this makes it much harder for smaller businesses to grow. This is very much like how Facebook is giving lip service to privacy these days. Facebook already has all the data, so by pressuring the government into making privacy laws they are further entrenching their positions by making it harder for new entrants into the market.

qsymmachus 7y ago

> We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform But also > Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology So, we support the rights of immigrants to not be abused, but we'd like to continue making a buck selling tech to agencies directly responsible for that abuse. Similarly, > Human-induced climate change is real, serious, and action is needed from the public and private sectors But but but! > The energy industry should have access to the same technologies as other industries Amazon even openly brags about how awesome their tech is for extracting that sweet, sweet oil: https://aws.amazon.com/oil-and-gas/ https://aws.amazon.com/oil-and-gas/ Its hilarious (and sad) how this position piece outlines what Amazon claims to believe, and simultaneously explains why they're going to keep doing things that directly contradict those stated beliefs. It's an insult to your intelligence as a reader. What a bunch of baloney

reaperducer 7y ago
> We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform But also > Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology So, we support the rights of immigrants to not be abused, but we'd like to continue making a buck selling tech to agencies directly responsible for that abuse. Perhaps Amazon should have clarified the sentence as "We strongly support the rights of legal immigrants and immigration reform." Then it wouldn't be incongruous.
- qsymmachus 7y ago
  You're right, I totally forgot that it's ok to abuse the illegal ones only, cause they're not really people
mc32 7y ago
Some things aren’t black or white. Lots of things are complicated and necessitate compromise. Leaving out a stance on unions as others mentioned, is... interesting.
ng12 7y ago
I don't understand this utopianist view. Yes, I would like to see oil companies go away but we can't switch off our oil dependency like a light. Whether we like it or not, literally the entire world runs on oil in some capacity and we don't have the ability to wean ourselves off it in the immediate term. So we should ensure that oil companies have the best technology available to maximize efficiency and minimize the chances of catastrophic environmental disasters (which are almost always the direct result of a technological deficiency) while simultaneously working on the technology and policy that will allow us to minimize our oil dependence in the long term.

sciurus 7y ago

"We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform." and yet they haven't been responsive to employees and activists urging them to stop enabling ICE. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/12/no-tech-ice-protesters-demand-amazon-cut-ties-with-federal-immigration-enforcement/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/12/no-tech-i...

Notorious_BLT 7y ago
I believe that's meant to be part of the meaning of one of the statements in this page: >Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
travisoneill1 7y ago
Notice how it does not say "The US should not enforce its immigration laws."

Animats 7y ago

No mention of unions. No concept that Amazon should be held responsible as the seller when they resell a counterfeit item. No mention of antitrust or monopoly issues. Amazon doesn't have much of a GPDR/CCPA privacy problem because most of the data they collect is from their own customers, who have agreed to Amazon's terms. Amazon doesn't want to sell customer info because that would help their competitors compete with them. They have their own internal closed ecosystem.

basch 7y ago
google, facebook, salesforce, and linkedin dont really want to "sell data they collect" either. They want to sell access to data, or access to targeted attention. They dont want data leaking from their ecosystems, they want to keep you coming back to their tools to utilize data.
- torkable 7y ago
  im shadowbanned but if anyone sees this, tell this dumbass that Cambridge Analytica says "Hi"
toomuchtodo 7y ago
> Amazon doesn't have much of a GPDR/CPPA privacy problem because most of the data they collect is from their own customers, who have agreed to Amazon's terms. Amazon doesn't want to sell customer info because that would help their competitors compete with them. They have their own internal closed ecosystem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Ac... (California Consumer Privacy Act)
- lazyasciiart 7y ago
  GPDR definitely affects data collected from customers who have consented, and even whether those terms are legal.
krapp 7y ago
> No mention of unions. Amazon is anti-union. >No concept that Amazon should be held responsible as the seller when they resell a counterfeit item. Amazon disagrees. >No mention of antitrust or monopoly issues. Amazon has no issues with being a monopoly, at all.

arch-angel 7y ago

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/3/17934194/amazon-minimum-wage-raise-stock-options-bonus-warehouse https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/3/17934194/amazon-minimum-w...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

falcolas 7y ago

As I read this, everything seems to boil down to: "We have inoffensive morals, but we don't let them interfere with making money."

ropiwqefjnpoa 7y ago
Whether they follow through or believe any of this is irrelevant, that's what lawyers are for.
commandlinefan 7y ago
“We believe whatever is currently most politically expedient to believe and is least likely to anger the sort of people who typically organize boycotts, but our core, strongly-held beliefs are subject to change as public opinions shift”
krapp 7y ago
"We are a business that needs to project a progressive, left-leaning front in the face of criticism from the party our CEO donates to, heading into an election cycle, in order to protect share prices and avoid antitrust rhetoric."
lkbm 7y ago
If you're a large group of people tied together by something other than political ideology, it's to be expected that the only things they would reach consensus on would be topics where society has reached widespread consensus. If every influential person in a large company agrees on a contentious issue like universal healthcare, that would suggest hiring is based on a litmus test around that issue. As much as I think we should have universal healthcare, I don't think support for that should be a requirement in the hiring process where I work. So you end up with agreement only non-contentious issues. (Or sometimes stances that are beneficial to the specific corporation.)

kingkawn 7y ago

Unions are a legitimate business activity by people who sell their labor. They are forming business associations to negotiate better terms company or industry wide in order to improve the efficacy of their market position. Union suppression is anti-free market.

throwawaysea 7y ago
So why is a union different from people forming a separate company and contracting out their labor? Why ask for special provisions (obligating all employees to join and pay dues) if it is just a 'business association' like any other. And if that association is industry-wide as you said, doesn't that make it anti-free market?
- kingkawn 7y ago
  They are making a legit decision that reflects their position in the market and their relative economic strength as individuals vs as a group. If they don’t do this their relative economic position is unacceptably weak, and they should not be expected to shoulder it passively.

always_creating 7y ago

Ctrl-F "democracy" - Phrase not found. Ctrl-F "democratic" - Phrase not found. Ctrl-F "union" - Phrase not found.

smacktoward 7y ago

It's fascinating how many of these boil down to "We know we do terrible things. Somebody really ought to stop us!"

whydoyoucare 7y ago

"It’s critical that Amazon employees are also diverse and that we foster a culture where inclusion is the norm." is self-contradictory, since diversity does not imply inclusion, rather continued segregation. Climate science is not settled, so calling it "real, serious, human-induced" is misleading. A lot of political mumbo-jumbo here, my best guess is this is Bezos launching his political career... "Bezos for President" in 2024. :-)

nisuni 7y ago

When I go to the local butcher’s shop and buy a couple of steaks, I don’t care about his political views. Why should I in this case?

davidw 7y ago
I think that's a good question. One reason I might: Amazon has a lot more power and money than the local butcher.
Symbiote 7y ago
I care whether or not the meat is halal, which is a political (in some countries it is regulated by the government) as well as a religious view.
- samstave 7y ago
  I find it super weird that Muslims have this halal meat rule (which I actually prefer over non halal) but at the same time treat other people like absolute shit.
  - wolco 7y ago
    Most Muslims are very kind and welcoming. Don't believe everything you see on tv.
    - samstave 7y ago
      I have nothing wrong with Muslims Jews womever, but I do have a problem with “government” in general
  - luckylion 7y ago
    If you don't mind me asking, why do you prefer halal meat (I understand it it's not for religious reasons)? Does killing an animal by cutting its throat and letting it bleed out improve the taste? Is it just an easy way to avoid pork?

ineedasername 7y ago

The domain makes me ask this question-- I mean, why not host off the main Amazon.com domain? So, is this really an official Amazon page?

gouggoug 7y ago
The SSL certificate was issued by Amazon, so it is legit.
- mercora 7y ago
  Does that matter? i mean they are running their own CA for use with their offerings on AWS. I am not sure if it is the same CA though. EDIT: Just checked it and it is the same CA they use for AWS services.
onei 7y ago
I was curious as well. Especially as I thought they'd been allocated the .amazon TLD.
dseravalli 7y ago
It is linked to in the footer of amazon.com
whoisjuan 7y ago
There are a lot of *.amazon.com internal subdomains used for employee resources and infrastructure. So I think they just want to keep that reserved for very specific things

justinzollars 7y ago

On Climate Change. All of amazons shit is made in China, which does not the same environmental standards we have. This just seems like lip service.

whydoyoucare 7y ago
I think it is lobbying for more taxes than anything else.

godelski 7y ago

It is all talk till I see action. Action that could already be taken on these issues. > Human-induced climate change is real, serious, and action is needed from the public and private sectors. How about doing a better job at bundling items? Or encourage people to not use 2 day shipping? I'd argue Amazon actually incentivizes single package and fast shipping, which are counter to this message. > The rights of LGBTQ+ people must be protected. > We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform. > Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology. I think these three are tied together. I'll also say that with all the stuff coming out of the woodworks this week (in respect to Hong Kong) all this needs explicit action for people to believe that Amazon cares. We're seeing a lot of companies that say they care but act differently. So it is all talk until I see action as far as I'm concerned.

ajhurliman 7y ago
It looks like they're buying 100,000 electric delivery vehicles; seems like they're taking action.
- godelski 7y ago
  Awesome! Thank you for letting me know. That is action that I am happy about.

ignoramous 7y ago

> We are using our position as one of the nation’s largest employers to encourage other companies to raise their wages and to lobby members of Congress and state legislatures to raise the minimum wage. I heard this first-hand from an Amazon HR who fought for the rights of the warehouse workers (factories as they call them) that during one of the bi-annual OLR (reviews) they were given feedback that they simply don't get the business and aren't a fit for the role. They said it was because they prevented warehouse contract workers or employees from being terminated without-cause, which would have saved Amazon money that they otherwise would have have paid as severance and absolved them from affording the workers a notice period. The factory workers (in their home-country) are no better than slaves as they do not understand their rights well enough and the managers take them for a ride to please their superiors in furthering narrative that serves as datapoints for their leadership qualities bi-annually. Amazon as a corporate might take an official stance, sure, but Amazon's vulture-culture is hiding in the plain sight for all to see. > Amazon prioritizes equal pay, and since we’ve been measuring and publishing the ratio over the past several years, women have earned between 99.5 and 101.5 cents for every dollar that men have earned in the same jobs. Why is that an ex-teammate of another Amazonian I spoke to who had issues with their eyesight struggled immeasurably to get promoted before quitting or being made to quit? Why do they stack-rank someone undergoing personal trauma or chronic illness to the bottom and treat them like a perishable resource? Again, official stance is one thing, ground realities are another. Lying with statistics is one thing, actually confronting the elephant in the room... Well, that's not their forte. > Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology. https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/search?q=Ring https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/search?q=Ring > Our customer-centric approach has led us to follow privacy-by-design principles since our founding. It is well-known that Amazon would copy your product and manufacture it themselves if there's enough money in it. How do they know? Well, they mine the hell out of the buying behaviour they track. They conveniently can target market segments to optimise returns. Not to mention prominent placement for Amazon Brands in search results. Also, I believe, they do share buyer's personal information with the seller, per purchase. And show ads. None of this screams privacy-by-design, to me. > Corporate tax codes should incentivize investment in the economy and job creation. Why isn't there a bullet point abt social responsibility? Continuing to corner massive amt of wealth for your board, your shareholders, your VPs and employees is plain greed after a point. I guess, I'm just grumpy and need to lighten up.

alkonaut 7y ago

Good. Now add something about international relations (such as consistently supporting individual freedo vs authoritarian regimes) and in support of trade unions, and I won’t put you in the naughty column with NBA/Blizzard/Disney/Apple.

wheelie_boy 7y ago

A cynical reading: - The federal minimum wage in the U.S. is too low and should be raised (We'd like it if Walmart had higher labor costs) - Human-induced climate change is real, serious, and action is needed from the public and private sectors - The energy industry should have access to the same technologies as other industries (Yes, through lobbying and lies the oil companies are fucking over our planet. But we're going to keep them as customers. Somebody should do something, but not us.) - Diversity and inclusion are good for business—and more fundamentally—simply right - We strongly support the rights of immigrants and immigration reform (It'd be cool if there were more programmers for us to hire, more cheaply) The rights of LGBTQ+ people must be protected (We want to continue to employ LGBTQ+ people) - Governments at all levels—federal, state, and local—should have access to the best technology (Yeah, we're also going to keep providing services to ICE and China or whoever) - Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology (We recognize that someone should do something about this, but it's not going to be us) - Counterfeiters should receive stronger penalties under federal law (Nobody counterfeits Kindles or other Amazon brands on Amazon, but somehow the problem is impossible for us to solve for anyone else. Or we'd make less money, which is kind of the same thing when you think about it) - Consumer data privacy should be protected under federal law (Fuck facebook)

tzs 7y ago
> A cynical reading ... > The rights of LGBTQ+ people must be protected > > (We want to continue to employ LGBTQ+ people) Huh? The lack of some rights for LGB+ people under current law does not prevent Amazon from employing them. In fact, that lack of rights probably actually makes it easier for Amazon to employ them by easily extending benefits beyond what are required. Once those rights are legally granted, all employers will have to extend them, reducing Amazon's advantage. > Governments should work quickly to put in place a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology > > (We recognize that someone should do something about this, but it's not going to be us) They are doing something about it. It takes government to establish regulatory frameworks, so they are lobbying for that. > Counterfeiters should receive stronger penalties under federal law > > (Nobody counterfeits Kindles or other Amazon brands on Amazon, but somehow the problem is impossible for us to solve for anyone else. Or we'd make less money, which is kind of the same thing when you think about it) No one counterfeits Kindles on Amazon because no one but Amazon is allowed to sell Kindles on Amazon. The lack of Kindle counterfeits there gives no useful information about the difficulty of keeping counterfeits out of markets that allow multiple sellers for a given product.

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