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'I Tried to Block Amazon From My Life. It Was Impossible.' (gizmodo.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Kashmir Hill, a reporter at Gizmodo, spent weeks trying to avoid and block Amazon -- and every service that is owned by Amazon or uses Amazon's web services (AWS). She went to great lengths such as getting her own custom-built VPN. Turns out, it is impossible to keep Amazon off your life. An excerpt from the report: Launched in 2006, AWS has taken over vast swaths of the internet. My VPN winds up blocking over 23 million IP addresses controlled by Amazon, resulting in various unexpected casualties, from Motherboard and Fortune to the U.S. Government Accountability Office's website. (Government agencies love AWS, which is likely why Amazon, soon to be a corporate Cerberus with three "headquarters," chose Arlington, Virginia, in the D.C. suburbs, as one of them.) Many of the smartphone apps I rely on also stop working during the block.

8 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Block AWS and... by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Weird. Who would think that blocking AWS would block the customers of AWS. What an interesting experiment.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  2. If you think that was hard... by Red_Forman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's like complaining you hate your government and then complain you can't drive anywhere because you can't use the roads they built.

    Now if you really want to complain, try living without Google, Microsoft, Apple, Linux and Amazon. Those companies are, like it or not, part of our modern life.

    1. Re:If you think that was hard... by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When did Linux become a company?

    2. Re:If you think that was hard... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      I'm waiting for the right wing posters to actually come up with a decent argument against AOC's agenda rather than a continual stream of stupid shit like your post.

      I suspect hell will freeze over first.

  3. Re:I don't think she tried hard enough. by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The point of cutting off the beast is to learn how far the tentacles reach.

  4. It was easy. by jwhyche · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A few summers ago I was able to block Google, Amazon, and Netflix for life for just about two week. I left the phone on the counter, no service where I was going. Put the tent, the sleeping back, and supplies in the back of the car. Pointed North and drove off for some hiking and camping.

    Technology doesn't have to enslaved you if you don't want it too. It's just another tool.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  5. Re:The point is NOT to provide Amazon tracking dat by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It shouldn't be mandatory to use it to access any govt service. Period.

    Give this a little more thought. Must a government website run on government-owned servers, with traffic routed on government-owned lines? Of course not - governments can and do rent space or time in private data centers. Amazon is one of many private data centers.

    My library uses Overdrive to lend ebooks.

    And they probably loan CDs and DVDs and a number of other proprietary formats which require some specific company's technology to use.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  6. Re:Today I learned by WaffleMonster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    https://www.linuxfoundation.or...

    Linux is NOT a company.

    Saying Linux is a company because companies exist that support Linux makes no sense whatsoever.

    It's like saying 'Trees' are a company because tree farms exist.

    Did Linux exist prior to Linux foundation? YES.
    Does Linux's continued existence depend on Linux foundation? NO.
    Would Linux exist if the Linux foundation didn't? YES.