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(I work at AWS) I know this is close to whataboutism so I will try to choose my words carefully, but does Amazon really have that much power over the Internet?
by belval 3y ago
(I work at AWS)
I know this is close to whataboutism so I will try to choose my words carefully, but does Amazon really have that much power over the Internet? Realistically Amazon does not have a large advert network, footing in mobile, operating systems or web browsers?
They have some control in the form of AWS/Route 53 but that's a far cry from some larger DNS, domain registrar and CDN providers.
Not denying that they have a lot of money, but even when using that money to try and buy a user base (Alexa or Fire Tablet/TV) their success has been pretty limited overall.
- krono 3y agoWithout meaning to imply anything, I do suppose that powering much of the western internet does indeed equal having much power over the internet.
- mr_toad 3y agoI think you overestimate how much of the internet runs on AWS. In terms of websites it’s less than 10%. Their share of the overall cloud is about 35%.
- krono 3y agoPerhaps, but you'll have to admit those numbers are far from insignificant and on top of that represent things that are rather more impactful than mere personal blogs such as even critical Dutch government services.
- thewildginger 3y agoWhen you control the most common way to buy and sell goods personal goods in the western world, you control a lot more than the internet. You control everything else.
- KerrAvon 3y agoThere are different forms of power. Pretend you could switch off AWS completely tomorrow. How much of the internet would disappear?
- est31 3y agoComparing with Google isn't fair, they are probably the company with the single most power over the internet out there.