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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.

19 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.
    1. Re:Block AWS and... by Red_Forman · · Score: 3, Funny

      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.

      Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who was washing Waldo Woo.

      FTFY, dumbass.

  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 poet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If you remove Linux you can not:

      Run an Android phone
      Use In-Flight Entertainment
      Use the Internet AT ALL
      No Netflix
      No Prime
      If you drive a Dodge/Chrysler you can't start your car

      The list just goes on and on.

      --
      Get your PostgreSQL here: http://www.commandprompt.com/
    2. Re:If you think that was hard... by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

      I think that was the point he was trying to make -- Amazon has reached a level similar to government services.

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

      When did Linux become a company?

    4. Re:If you think that was hard... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes who can forget the evil Linux megacorporation and their conniving CEO, Dr. Gnu Linux, charging their users so much that they can't afford to shave.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    5. Re: If you think that was hard... by EndlessNameless · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yeah!

      Like when the government drove up the price on all those interstate highways that private individuals built before the big Eisenhower program nationalized them.

      Seriously, capitalism doesn't solve all problems. It's usually a significant part of the good solutions, but to pretend it's the only answer is disingenuous at best.

      --

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      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
  3. Antitrust concerns by footNipple · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting article. Any US company that is so omnipresent in the lives of its customers and has an active corporate policy to crush or, at least, impede competition does indeed warrant a good look by the US Treasury Department. And I'm not a big government, anti-capitalist kind of guy by any stretch of the imagination.

    1. Re:Antitrust concerns by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm pretty sure that was Cornelius Vanderbilt's strategy with railroads in the early 20th century. I think the anti-monopoly laws of the era have some provision for dealing with it because control of the transport network (equivalent of the info network today) was a key strategy.

  4. Oh, nonsense! by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Funny

    Turns out, it is impossible to keep Amazon off your life.

    All you have to do is turn your computer(s) off and leave them off. And yes, your cellphone is a computer....

    Now, if you want to have the conveniences of modern life along with no Amazon, that's another story. Note that she'd have the same sort of difficulties if she tried to get completely away from the electric company....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  5. I don't think she tried hard enough. by bob4u2c · · Score: 5, Informative

    If she really wanted to be cut off from Amazon, or any company for that matter, its pretty simple. Buy a log cabin in the woods with no power, no internet, cell connectivity, at least 30 miles away from any neighbor. Then Amazon will completely disappear from your life. Of course this presents other problems.

    Seriously why are you trying so hard to block one company or anything they touch? Afraid you'll get cooties? You want all the modern amenities there are things you'll just have to accept. I'm not saying to swallow the Kool-Aid and just go with it, just realize that at some point you are doing business with a company you may not agree with. You can minimize your contact, but you can't really prevent it. Well, I guess there is that log cabin option, but I'm betting thats not an option for you either.

    1. 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.

  6. what a mind numbingly stupid exercise by zlives · · Score: 3, Interesting

    " largest cloud provider" then goes to show how cloud services didn't work without it?
    WTF
    its like complaining you can't shit after you sew your ass shut.

    Sorry about the vulgar language but the author clearly wants to converse in this manner.

  7. Color me surprised by GrumpySteen · · Score: 4, Funny

    A tech journalist can't avoid the big tech companies due to their career depending on using the technology those companies produce.

    Who would have thought?

  8. 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.
    1. Re:It was easy. by jwhyche · · Score: 3

      I don't think you understand the point. The most high tech thing I had on me was digital watch that told the time/date, and had a stop watch. The whole point of the exerciser was to be as free of technology as possible.

      I would recommend it. Refresh the soul. I'm due for another outing. Time to make some plans.

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      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.