Because of how many big names have fallen in the last few weeks due to sexual misconduct, abuse and harassment, you would think that I would consider 2017 as the year of abuse of power. However, when I know a lot of people think that this issue is dying down, I don’t think so at all.
There are entire industries which are not yet in the grip of it and the Congress has not even cleaned the house to stop this activity. Last week I told how Google was abusing its power in organizing the Amazon Echo Show, holding customers hostage to force Amazon to sell products it did not want to sell.
As if to prove a point, even last week, Amazon cut off every service offered to me as I disputed a series of charges on my credit card that I couldn’t cover. Suddenly, instead of seeing Amazon as a benign and engaging service, I was reminded of how much power these mega firms are gathering and how their employees can misuse it.
Imagine if I am using AWS for my business. I was SOL until I paid Amazon, whether I paid it or not. This seems dangerously close to blackmail, and it reflects the power abuse we see in 2018 and beyond some mega firms.
I will walk you through what happened to me and then close with my product of the year: the 25th anniversary ThinkPad, the best of what can be a dead breed – standalone laptop.
Abuse of power
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts” must be attributed to John Emrich Edward Dalberg Action (a sale in the names of that year), who returned it to Bishop Mendel Crayton in 1887 done.
The part of the dialect that is almost always left out is, “Great men are almost always bad men …”. His reference was to the absolute power of the monarchy, exemplary by the Roman emperors who proclaimed themselves God, and Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself emperor.
Today the most obvious demonstration for the possibility of misuse of power is North Korean business leader Kim Jong-un, who is elevating himself to divinity (apparently one of the recent claims that he can control the weather ).
The definition of the abuse of power of occupation dictionary, which is appropriate for this piece, is as follows: “The act of using one’s power in a derogatory manner. It can take many forms, such as to take advantage of, gain access to. . Information that should not be accessible to the public, or merely tampering with someone’s ability to punish them if they do not comply. ”
So far, I’ve been most concerned with Google and Apple – both use their power like a club. Well, Karma people wanted to teach me a lesson.
Now let me tell you my story.
My amazon nightmare
Two weeks ago I received a bill from Citibank for about US $ 2K on a card that I had largely stopped using for everything six months ago but some subscriptions – it was recently $ 100 to $ 200 It is done.
Looking at the bill, I saw a series of Amazon charges that I could not find in my Amazon account. I disputed the allegations, thinking that someone had hacked my account. (The information given did not say what the allegations were or who made the allegations.)
Last Sunday I deregister all my Kindle, deregister all my Fire TV and deregister all my Amazon Echos. Also, I was out of my Amazon account. This meant that none of the films or TV shows I purchased were accessible, and I was out of my paid-up music subscription. I could no longer even look at my account to discuss the allegations in dispute.
Now, I have become an Amazon customer since the beginning of Amazon (1998). I was one of its first staple customers, and I do most of my shopping on Amazon. I was supported and told that no one can help me – I just have to handle it over email or FAX. (Now who uses FAX?)
I asked that someone contact me to go over the charges and confirm that they were mine, but I was directed to pay the disputed charges if I wanted my goods back (any attempt to amputate the charges No). According to the email, if you dispute a charge on Amazon, it will close your account until you pay the disputed amount.
According to the email one of the disputed amounts was for $ 1,704.65, and I could see the order after the account was restored.
It was for an eco show that I gave as a gift. My Amazon account shows it costs $ 179 – so why was the charge around 10x? Suddenly I came to know why Amazon is so profitable. (After spending some time with Amazon after the fact, it did not charge me $ 1,704.65 – but apparently no one felt the need to tell me that in email or on the phone I was authorized to authorize this serious charge Was asked for.)
