9 ms·

I'm all for the Amazon hate train but this is pretty weak. The journalist first says Pinkerton was hired in Poland to investigate irregularities in their applic

by kayson 6y ago

I'm all for the Amazon hate train but this is pretty weak. The journalist first says Pinkerton was hired in Poland to investigate irregularities in their application process. Amazon says they only hire Pinkerton to "secure shipments". The "acquired document" says that Amazon tracks social media information about labor organization and strokes. It's all over the place, and even assuming all parties report the truth, no one actually says that Pinkerton is doing surveillance related to unions. Maybe NPR is missing something from the original article, which I couldn't find linked, but come on.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rmrfrmrf 6y ago
From the article: > We need to note that Amazon is an NPR funder. The original Motherboard article [0] is extensive. The NPR version is deliberately incoherent. [0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports-expose-spying-warehouse-workers-labor-union-environmental-groups-social-movements https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports...
- fennecfoxen 6y ago
  Who needs to be coherent or honest when you can thrill your listeners by smearing some company you both already hate? Things like honesty and integrity are wicked when they fail to serve the cause; this is a time for deliberate obfuscation! — npr, probably Geez, guys. There's so many good reasons to go after Amazon; you'd think one of them would be enough, but nooooo.
  - rmrfrmrf 6y ago
    Amazon was recently polled to be the most trusted institution among US Democrats [0], which comprises the majority of NPR's listenership and donors. They know what they're doing. [0] http://aicpoll.com/ http://aicpoll.com/
    - chipotle_coyote 6y ago
      Two points here at least worth footnoting: (1) That poll is from July 2018, and while that's technically recent, in terms of news about big tech that can affect perceptions, a lot's happened in the last two years. (2) According to the poll, Amazon was the third most-trusted institution among US Republicans, just behind "military" and "local police", and was the second-most trusted institution behind the military across all respondents. I think you're putting more emphasis on partisan affiliation here with respect to Amazon than the data warrants.
      - nerdponx 6y ago
        That, or, Amazon knows from history (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, even going as far back as Standard Oil) that the public trust is not to be taken for granted. They have strong incentives to stay ahead of any negative sentiment that might arise.
- jamiequint 6y ago
  You actually believe that Amazon has editorial control over NPR and specifically exerted that leverage to make this article incoherent?
  - rmrfrmrf 6y ago
    One of the common threads in media critiques like Manufacturing Consent and Hate, Inc. is that direct editorial control is not necessary in order to promote your agenda. Control of money and access, along with ideological indoctrination of journalists at elite universities, is all that's needed. See also my comment below about NPR listenership and trust in Amazon as an institution.
    - WC3w6pXxgGd 6y ago
      Are you unironically referencing Manufacturing Consent?
    - Aerroon 6y ago
      You just need to have influence over who hires the journalists. If they like you then they'll hire people who will probably also like you.
    - jmcgough 6y ago
      Semi-off-topic but Manufacturing Consent really changed the way I see the world and think about media. As a kid I never questioned that Iraq War-era Time magazine article with diagrams of a mobile nuclear weapons facility. It should be required reading.
      - mleonhard 6y ago
        Same for me. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get along with some close relatives after my change in perspective.
  - claudeganon 6y ago
    You actually believe that NPR doesn’t edit articles to protect the people who fund them?
dalbasal 6y ago
This isn't a quality article, but it's not lying. There have been sporadic reports for about a year of major hiring/contracting related to internal security and union activity. EG: publicly posted positions that said the "quite part out loud," anonymous whistleblowers and some leaked docs. I think this article specifically relates to a report by motherboard a week or two ago where they got emails leaked to them from Amazon's "Global Security Operations Center." Here's a better article by Vice. They Pinkerton hire seems to have been confirmed by amazon spokesperson. https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports-expose-spying-warehouse-workers-labor-union-environmental-groups-social-movements https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports... "Internal emails sent to Amazon's Global Security Operations Center obtained by Motherboard reveal that all the division's team members around the world receive updates on labor organizing activities at warehouses that include the exact date, time, location, the source who reported the action, the number of participants at an event (and in some cases a turnout rate of those expected to participate in a labor action)"

by kayson 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

rmrfrmrf 6y ago

From the article: > We need to note that Amazon is an NPR funder. The original Motherboard article [0] is extensive. The NPR version is deliberately incoherent. [0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports-expose-spying-warehouse-workers-labor-union-environmental-groups-social-movements https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports...

fennecfoxen 6y ago
Who needs to be coherent or honest when you can thrill your listeners by smearing some company you both already hate? Things like honesty and integrity are wicked when they fail to serve the cause; this is a time for deliberate obfuscation! — npr, probably Geez, guys. There's so many good reasons to go after Amazon; you'd think one of them would be enough, but nooooo.
- rmrfrmrf 6y ago
  Amazon was recently polled to be the most trusted institution among US Democrats [0], which comprises the majority of NPR's listenership and donors. They know what they're doing. [0] http://aicpoll.com/ http://aicpoll.com/
  - chipotle_coyote 6y ago
    Two points here at least worth footnoting: (1) That poll is from July 2018, and while that's technically recent, in terms of news about big tech that can affect perceptions, a lot's happened in the last two years. (2) According to the poll, Amazon was the third most-trusted institution among US Republicans, just behind "military" and "local police", and was the second-most trusted institution behind the military across all respondents. I think you're putting more emphasis on partisan affiliation here with respect to Amazon than the data warrants.
    - nerdponx 6y ago
      That, or, Amazon knows from history (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, even going as far back as Standard Oil) that the public trust is not to be taken for granted. They have strong incentives to stay ahead of any negative sentiment that might arise.
jamiequint 6y ago
You actually believe that Amazon has editorial control over NPR and specifically exerted that leverage to make this article incoherent?
- rmrfrmrf 6y ago
  One of the common threads in media critiques like Manufacturing Consent and Hate, Inc. is that direct editorial control is not necessary in order to promote your agenda. Control of money and access, along with ideological indoctrination of journalists at elite universities, is all that's needed. See also my comment below about NPR listenership and trust in Amazon as an institution.
  - WC3w6pXxgGd 6y ago
    Are you unironically referencing Manufacturing Consent?
  - Aerroon 6y ago
    You just need to have influence over who hires the journalists. If they like you then they'll hire people who will probably also like you.
  - jmcgough 6y ago
    Semi-off-topic but Manufacturing Consent really changed the way I see the world and think about media. As a kid I never questioned that Iraq War-era Time magazine article with diagrams of a mobile nuclear weapons facility. It should be required reading.
    - mleonhard 6y ago
      Same for me. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get along with some close relatives after my change in perspective.
- claudeganon 6y ago
  You actually believe that NPR doesn’t edit articles to protect the people who fund them?

dalbasal 6y ago

This isn't a quality article, but it's not lying. There have been sporadic reports for about a year of major hiring/contracting related to internal security and union activity. EG: publicly posted positions that said the "quite part out loud," anonymous whistleblowers and some leaked docs. I think this article specifically relates to a report by motherboard a week or two ago where they got emails leaked to them from Amazon's "Global Security Operations Center." Here's a better article by Vice. They Pinkerton hire seems to have been confirmed by amazon spokesperson. https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports-expose-spying-warehouse-workers-labor-union-environmental-groups-social-movements https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports... "Internal emails sent to Amazon's Global Security Operations Center obtained by Motherboard reveal that all the division's team members around the world receive updates on labor organizing activities at warehouses that include the exact date, time, location, the source who reported the action, the number of participants at an event (and in some cases a turnout rate of those expected to participate in a labor action)"