Corporatocractic Surveillance Just Got One Step More Invasive
By Makia Freeman
ActivistPost.com
OCTOBER 26, 2017
Corporatocratic surveillance (i.e. the broad spread surveillance of the public by the corporatocracy) has become even more creepy and invasive with the advent of new programs by Amazon and Walmart which allow these corporations to enter your home when you are not there. That’s right: Amazon is rolling out a new program called Amazon Key which will launch on November 8th, 2017. Amazon wants you to not only set up equipment to monitor yourself and your home, but also to pay $250 for their kit which includes an Amazon security camera (the Cloud Cam) and a “smart” lock for the privilege of doing so. This is an obvious continuation of the smart deception and smart invasion. As usual, this corporatocratic surveillance is being sold as trendy, useful and convenient; none of the grave privacy concerns of literally handing over the keys of your house or apartment to giant corporations are addressed.
Amazon Key: Amazon Wants Access to Your Front Door Lock
The Amazon Key system is quite a staggering leap forward in corporatocratic surveillance. Amazon literally wants to be able to send in its agents through your front door without you being there. More than that, it wants to set up a system (on its servers, of course) where you can remotely open the door for anyone, even if they don’t want work for Amazon, e.g. house cleaners, pet sitters and dog walkers. This means Amazon gets all the footage of the inside of your house. This article explains how it works:
You order something for delivery and click the “in-home” shipping option. When the delivery driver arrives, Amazon verifies the address and delivery time and allows him or her into your home. You can watch from your phone as the camera records the whole thing. Amazon says the delivery driver will not be given an access code or key. The service isn’t just for deliveries. Amazon says you can also use it to let family and friends into your house when you’re not home. And it will work for certain services like home cleaners, pet sitters and dog walkers.
Amazon Key will be available in 37 U.S. cities to start, and Amazon says it will add more.
Amazon is not the only corporate behemoth to begin such programs of remote delivery access. Walmart has also been testing a service that allows a delivery driver from the startup Deliv into your home (mostly for groceries) by teaming up with smart lock business August Home. The Walmart agent gets a one-time passcode for a smart lock and access to your fridge; as with Amazon Key, you are allowed to watch the delivery agent on your smartphone via the security cameras you installed in your home.
Corporatocratic Surveillance: The Future of Online Shopping?
If you think this is just some kind of side experiment, think again. This is the future of delivery as planned out by big online retailers, as this article states:
The move, in the works for more than a year, may help Amazon capture sales from shoppers who could not make it home to receive an order in person, and did not want the package stolen from their doorstep. It also signals Amazon’s ambitions in the growing market for home security devices, where Alphabet’s Nest Labs … competes.
“This is not an experiment for us,” said Peter Larsen, Amazon vice president of delivery technology, in an interview. “This is a core part of the Amazon shopping experience from this point forward.”
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It is unclear if such protections will persuade customers that the service is safe to use. Larsen said theft was “not something that happens in practice,” based on early tests of the Amazon Key program. He added that if a problem arises, “You can call customer service, file a claim and Amazon will work with you to make sure it’s right,” reimbursing customers in some cases.”
The Rest…HERE
