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The power to completely cut off someone’s access to a service without recourse or explanation, be it email or food delivery or something else, is one of the mos

The power to completely cut off someone’s access to a service without recourse or explanation, be it email or food delivery or something else, is one of the most horrifying and dystopian realities we as an industry have willed into existence. Glad to see municipalities finally taking some territory on this, it’s long overdue. Edit: typo

_2z1p 3y ago
[flagged]
- arcticbull 3y ago
  They were loading up encampments with propane and diesel fuel [1] mere feet from the Parliament buildings. The threat was dispersed peacefully, including by temporarily suspending access to bank accounts - as a Canadian I fully support the government's actions. Those whackadoodles are free to - and continue to - protest things that don't exist to this very day [2]. I believe one of them continues to believe she's the Queen of Canada. [3] You know, the Queen who died last year. This was not about what they were protesting, but how, and the threat it posed. This is completely different from a few different perspectives but the most relevant is that they lost access by judicial process with legal recourse. This article however is about private companies making (from some people's perspectives) capricious business decisions with no recourse because gig workers are not deemed employees. [1] https://www.newsweek.com/ottawa-police-seize-fuel-truckers-amid-ongoing-protests-1676800 https://www.newsweek.com/ottawa-police-seize-fuel-truckers-a... [2] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/national-security-officials-planning-for-2023-freedom-convoy-reboot-adviser-to-pm-1.6177787 https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/national-security-officials-... [3] https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n8aw/queen-of-canada-roman-didulo-qanon-global https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n8aw/queen-of-canada-roman...
  - lockhouse 3y ago
    > They were loading up encampments with propane and diesel fuel [1] mere feet from the Parliament buildings. You make it sound like the fuel was intended to blow up Parliament or something. Clearly it was meant to keep their trucks running and the propane was for cooking and heating the people within the encampment. This was a completely non-violent protest.
    - arcticbull 3y ago
      No, I implied it was a dangerous situation and I said it had to end. These whackadoodles fell down the conspiracy rabbit hole during COVID, like many others. They were irrational people making irrational decisions. Who knows what they would have done with that fuel when a month or two went by and nobody was listening to them. Maybe some oil-powered camp fires? One of their leaders was the QAnon Queen of Canada. We'd waited long enough. Imagine how the US government would have reacted to a stockpile of fuel outside the gates to the White House. There would have been no survivors. That's true in most jurisdictions around the world. The Canadian government ended this stand-off peacefully -- with people who were demanding things that literally couldn't physically be delivered. That's a damn miracle. The inquiry found the government's actions justified [1], and the ringleaders in this zero-ring circus have pled guilty or are on trial. [2, 3] And now that it's over, everyone is free to go back and protest! Stop sticking up for these nutbags, lol. It's time to put this whole COVID-induced mania behind us. Pretending these are somehow ideologues holding rational positions and making good decisions on that basis is just divorced from reality. At the time, 2/3 of Canadians supported this action. Less than 1/4 were strongly opposed. Not just that but all the Premiers from across the political spectrum and all the Federal politicians had to sign off too! This went about as well as it could have. Respectfully based on your post history it sounds like you're American. It doesn't seem like you really have the context on this one. [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/17/trudeaus-use-of-emergency-powers-to-end-convoy-justified-panel https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/17/trudeaus-use-of-eme... [2] https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/key-freedom-convoy-figure-pleads-guilty-to-counselling-mischief-released-from-jail-1.5947767 https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/key-freedom-convoy-figure-pleads-g... [3] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/criminal-trial-for-freedom-convoy-organizer-pat-king-to-begin-in-november-1.6491852 https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/criminal-trial-for-freedom-c...
- freshpots 3y ago
  "We are today serving notice if your truck is being used in these illegal blockades, your corporate accounts will be frozen. The insurance on your vehicle will be suspended," Blocking up city streets for weeks, disrupting people's lives, preventing emergency services from operating because of it, all while "protesting" when >90% of truckers were vaccinated, far greater than the average population, oh and all major trucking companies supported vaccines and mandates for obvious reasons. Meanwhile a select few "truckers" some funded by US interests, were, as you call it.... protesting. Give me a break.
  - barbazoo 3y ago
    > some funded by US interests Most of it apparently! > Donor information that was leaked from the GiveSendGo campaign—which has raised more than $9.5 million—revealed that more than half the donations going to protest organizers have come from the U.S. > An analysis of the data by Newsweek found that California, Texas, Florida, New York and Michigan topped the list of the highest number of U.S. donations by state.
    - dragonwriter 3y ago
      > An analysis of the data by Newsweek found that California, Texas, Florida, New York and Michigan topped the list of the highest number of U.S. donations by state. California, Texas, Florida, and New York also top the list of the highest number of people in the US by state (and while Michigan is the whole way down at #10 rather than #5, the gap between #10 and #5 isn’t that big – much smaller than the gap between #4 an #5), so this much of the analysis says very little, because the very large size differences of the few largest states are masking anything interesting that might exist in the distribution.
      - barbazoo 3y ago
        True, superfluous part of the quote I pasted. The point was that donations came mostly from the US.
dmoy 3y ago
Note that's not strictly speaking what this article is about This article is about cutting off the workers' employment with the delivery/etc app, not the end users' ability to use the app
- blahedo 3y ago
  Yes, but remember that the polite fiction of the rideshare companies is that they're providing a service to the drivers by connecting them with riders. So the gp's point is a sound one even in this context.
- jjulius 3y ago
  Not strictly speaking, sure, but I believe that the applicable phrase here is, "Same difference."
- YeBanKo 3y ago
  Gig companies call it a two-sided market place and just use different names to describe “producer” and “consumer”. From this point of view both are users.
hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
I’m wondering if the biggest problem is that at some point in history, losing access to an email account wasn’t the biggest deal - fast forward 20 years and I’d prefer to lose access to my physical mailing address, anything important is sent electronically. I’m still not sure if there’s anything preventing TLD providers from revoking your domain for any purposes (higher bidder, etc).
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  There needs to be a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to a US government provided email, electronic money account that can never be blocked from receiving and sending money, and identity verification services as part of everyone’s rights.
  - water9 3y ago
    That is a law. It is illegal to seize domestic mail without a warrant.
    - sodality2 3y ago
      Nothing in the comment mentions domestic mail, just email
      - water9 3y ago
        Nothing in the constitution distinguishes the two they’re both mail.. which is obvious from the root word in the two.
        marcus0x62 3y ago
        The constitution provides that: > The Congress shall have Power...To establish Post Offices and post Roads It does not obligate the congress to do so, and most certainly (and unsurprisingly) does not contain language that guarantees any sort of right to email service.
galkk 3y ago
This is unrelated to the access to the service, this is about gig workers who do the service but can be cut by Uber/Amazon/etc.
winter_blue 3y ago
> The power to completely cut off someone’s access to a service without recourse or explanation This is also relevant a different context: Google (or some other similar provider) cutting off your access suddenly, throwing your life suddenly into extreme disarray.

_2z1p 3y ago

[flagged]

arcticbull 3y ago
They were loading up encampments with propane and diesel fuel [1] mere feet from the Parliament buildings. The threat was dispersed peacefully, including by temporarily suspending access to bank accounts - as a Canadian I fully support the government's actions. Those whackadoodles are free to - and continue to - protest things that don't exist to this very day [2]. I believe one of them continues to believe she's the Queen of Canada. [3] You know, the Queen who died last year. This was not about what they were protesting, but how, and the threat it posed. This is completely different from a few different perspectives but the most relevant is that they lost access by judicial process with legal recourse. This article however is about private companies making (from some people's perspectives) capricious business decisions with no recourse because gig workers are not deemed employees. [1] https://www.newsweek.com/ottawa-police-seize-fuel-truckers-amid-ongoing-protests-1676800 https://www.newsweek.com/ottawa-police-seize-fuel-truckers-a... [2] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/national-security-officials-planning-for-2023-freedom-convoy-reboot-adviser-to-pm-1.6177787 https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/national-security-officials-... [3] https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n8aw/queen-of-canada-roman-didulo-qanon-global https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n8aw/queen-of-canada-roman...
- lockhouse 3y ago
  > They were loading up encampments with propane and diesel fuel [1] mere feet from the Parliament buildings. You make it sound like the fuel was intended to blow up Parliament or something. Clearly it was meant to keep their trucks running and the propane was for cooking and heating the people within the encampment. This was a completely non-violent protest.
  - arcticbull 3y ago
    No, I implied it was a dangerous situation and I said it had to end. These whackadoodles fell down the conspiracy rabbit hole during COVID, like many others. They were irrational people making irrational decisions. Who knows what they would have done with that fuel when a month or two went by and nobody was listening to them. Maybe some oil-powered camp fires? One of their leaders was the QAnon Queen of Canada. We'd waited long enough. Imagine how the US government would have reacted to a stockpile of fuel outside the gates to the White House. There would have been no survivors. That's true in most jurisdictions around the world. The Canadian government ended this stand-off peacefully -- with people who were demanding things that literally couldn't physically be delivered. That's a damn miracle. The inquiry found the government's actions justified [1], and the ringleaders in this zero-ring circus have pled guilty or are on trial. [2, 3] And now that it's over, everyone is free to go back and protest! Stop sticking up for these nutbags, lol. It's time to put this whole COVID-induced mania behind us. Pretending these are somehow ideologues holding rational positions and making good decisions on that basis is just divorced from reality. At the time, 2/3 of Canadians supported this action. Less than 1/4 were strongly opposed. Not just that but all the Premiers from across the political spectrum and all the Federal politicians had to sign off too! This went about as well as it could have. Respectfully based on your post history it sounds like you're American. It doesn't seem like you really have the context on this one. [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/17/trudeaus-use-of-emergency-powers-to-end-convoy-justified-panel https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/17/trudeaus-use-of-eme... [2] https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/key-freedom-convoy-figure-pleads-guilty-to-counselling-mischief-released-from-jail-1.5947767 https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/key-freedom-convoy-figure-pleads-g... [3] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/criminal-trial-for-freedom-convoy-organizer-pat-king-to-begin-in-november-1.6491852 https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/criminal-trial-for-freedom-c...
freshpots 3y ago
"We are today serving notice if your truck is being used in these illegal blockades, your corporate accounts will be frozen. The insurance on your vehicle will be suspended," Blocking up city streets for weeks, disrupting people's lives, preventing emergency services from operating because of it, all while "protesting" when >90% of truckers were vaccinated, far greater than the average population, oh and all major trucking companies supported vaccines and mandates for obvious reasons. Meanwhile a select few "truckers" some funded by US interests, were, as you call it.... protesting. Give me a break.
- barbazoo 3y ago
  > some funded by US interests Most of it apparently! > Donor information that was leaked from the GiveSendGo campaign—which has raised more than $9.5 million—revealed that more than half the donations going to protest organizers have come from the U.S. > An analysis of the data by Newsweek found that California, Texas, Florida, New York and Michigan topped the list of the highest number of U.S. donations by state.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    > An analysis of the data by Newsweek found that California, Texas, Florida, New York and Michigan topped the list of the highest number of U.S. donations by state. California, Texas, Florida, and New York also top the list of the highest number of people in the US by state (and while Michigan is the whole way down at #10 rather than #5, the gap between #10 and #5 isn’t that big – much smaller than the gap between #4 an #5), so this much of the analysis says very little, because the very large size differences of the few largest states are masking anything interesting that might exist in the distribution.
    - barbazoo 3y ago
      True, superfluous part of the quote I pasted. The point was that donations came mostly from the US.

dmoy 3y ago

Note that's not strictly speaking what this article is about This article is about cutting off the workers' employment with the delivery/etc app, not the end users' ability to use the app

blahedo 3y ago
Yes, but remember that the polite fiction of the rideshare companies is that they're providing a service to the drivers by connecting them with riders. So the gp's point is a sound one even in this context.
jjulius 3y ago
Not strictly speaking, sure, but I believe that the applicable phrase here is, "Same difference."
YeBanKo 3y ago
Gig companies call it a two-sided market place and just use different names to describe “producer” and “consumer”. From this point of view both are users.

hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago

I’m wondering if the biggest problem is that at some point in history, losing access to an email account wasn’t the biggest deal - fast forward 20 years and I’d prefer to lose access to my physical mailing address, anything important is sent electronically. I’m still not sure if there’s anything preventing TLD providers from revoking your domain for any purposes (higher bidder, etc).

lotsofpulp 3y ago
There needs to be a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to a US government provided email, electronic money account that can never be blocked from receiving and sending money, and identity verification services as part of everyone’s rights.
- water9 3y ago
  That is a law. It is illegal to seize domestic mail without a warrant.
  - sodality2 3y ago
    Nothing in the comment mentions domestic mail, just email
    - water9 3y ago
      Nothing in the constitution distinguishes the two they’re both mail.. which is obvious from the root word in the two.
      - marcus0x62 3y ago
        The constitution provides that: > The Congress shall have Power...To establish Post Offices and post Roads It does not obligate the congress to do so, and most certainly (and unsurprisingly) does not contain language that guarantees any sort of right to email service.

galkk 3y ago

This is unrelated to the access to the service, this is about gig workers who do the service but can be cut by Uber/Amazon/etc.

winter_blue 3y ago

> The power to completely cut off someone’s access to a service without recourse or explanation This is also relevant a different context: Google (or some other similar provider) cutting off your access suddenly, throwing your life suddenly into extreme disarray.