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I reject that entirely - we're talking about giving people access to a selling platform, not a social website which depends on maximum user growth and minimal b

by gbrown 7y ago

I reject that entirely - we're talking about giving people access to a selling platform, not a social website which depends on maximum user growth and minimal barrier to participation. Amazon has prioritized growing the number of sellers, but they're in complete control of who they allow to sell on their platform, and what they require from sellers prior to beginning. You seem to be accepting, uncritically, the argument of "platforms" everywhere who don't want to be held responsible for what their "users" do. I don't agree with that perspective generally, and I think it's especially silly with respect to a web commerce company like Amazon.

spookthesunset 7y ago
You can reject all you want, but the reality is that it is almost impossible to block people on the internet. You cannot change this fact no matter how much you wish it were so. This is probably why amazon wants to get law enforcement involved. Those folks can stop the people behind the fraud....
- gbrown 7y ago
  > "is almost impossible to block people on the internet" That doesn't actually mean anything though; the modern internet isn't some homogeneous medium people choose how to interact with, it's a federation of privately managed networks and services. Amazon can control exactly what is required for people to become sellers on their network, and it sounds like they may actually be starting to do just that.
- dasil003 7y ago
  Account verification is orthogonal to communication channel. There's nothing about the internet that precludes identity and other KYC checks. Your argument only makes sense if Amazon needs an extremely high throughput and low latency of new vendors coming online. The status quo has certainly been fantastic for their business, but I don't see any reason why they can't afford to add a little friction there.
  - bryan_w 7y ago
    So what do you do when someone passes KYC and is still a fraudster? I would think you would report them to the authorities... which seems like what they are doing
    - kelnos 7y ago
      You ban them from your platform, and since you know them, they'll have a really hard time getting back on. And yes, report them to the authorities too.
      - spookthesunset 7y ago
        If you think it is that simple, clearly you’ve never worked in the field.
        kelnos 7y ago
        I never said anything about it being simple. But what's the alternative? Just give up, and accept bad behavior?
- kelnos 7y ago
  > it is almost impossible to block people on the internet This isn't just "people on the internet", though. These are people who have some sort of physical presence that they ship goods from, and have some interaction with the financial system so they can accept payment. There are finite ways that they can do this, and that provides a way to actually identify the person across account signups in order to keep them blocked. No, it's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than, say, trying to block someone from HN who is determined to keep creating new accounts using VPNs, proxies, whatever.

by gbrown 7y ago

spookthesunset 7y ago

You can reject all you want, but the reality is that it is almost impossible to block people on the internet. You cannot change this fact no matter how much you wish it were so. This is probably why amazon wants to get law enforcement involved. Those folks can stop the people behind the fraud....

gbrown 7y ago
> "is almost impossible to block people on the internet" That doesn't actually mean anything though; the modern internet isn't some homogeneous medium people choose how to interact with, it's a federation of privately managed networks and services. Amazon can control exactly what is required for people to become sellers on their network, and it sounds like they may actually be starting to do just that.
dasil003 7y ago
Account verification is orthogonal to communication channel. There's nothing about the internet that precludes identity and other KYC checks. Your argument only makes sense if Amazon needs an extremely high throughput and low latency of new vendors coming online. The status quo has certainly been fantastic for their business, but I don't see any reason why they can't afford to add a little friction there.
- bryan_w 7y ago
  So what do you do when someone passes KYC and is still a fraudster? I would think you would report them to the authorities... which seems like what they are doing
  - kelnos 7y ago
    You ban them from your platform, and since you know them, they'll have a really hard time getting back on. And yes, report them to the authorities too.
    - spookthesunset 7y ago
      If you think it is that simple, clearly you’ve never worked in the field.
      - kelnos 7y ago
        I never said anything about it being simple. But what's the alternative? Just give up, and accept bad behavior?
kelnos 7y ago
> it is almost impossible to block people on the internet This isn't just "people on the internet", though. These are people who have some sort of physical presence that they ship goods from, and have some interaction with the financial system so they can accept payment. There are finite ways that they can do this, and that provides a way to actually identify the person across account signups in order to keep them blocked. No, it's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than, say, trying to block someone from HN who is determined to keep creating new accounts using VPNs, proxies, whatever.