#Corporate Service

[badolmen]

People against piracy fail to realize that no, I can’t just ‘buy it.’ They stopped making DVDs and Blu-Rays. They’re barely offering digital copies for download. I am not spending money I could use for food or bills to pay for a subscription service just so I can always have access to a beloved piece of media. Especially not when the service will remove media on a whim without concern for how the loss of access to that piece will make its artistic conservation nigh impossible.

For example, I recently learned that Disney+ had an original film called Crater. It’s scifi, family friendly, and seems cool - I would love to buy it as a holiday gift for my little brother! But: it’s exclusive to D+ and THEY REMOVED IT LITERALLY MONTHS AFTER ITS RELEASE.

The ONLY way I can directly access this film is through piracy. The ONLY available ‘copies’ of this film are hosted on piracy websites. Disney will NEVER release it in theaters, or as something to buy, and it may NEVER return to the streaming service. It will be LOST because we aren’t allowed to purchase it for personal viewing. If I can’t pay to own it, I won’t pay for the privilege of losing it when corporate decides to put it in a vault.

So yes, I’m going to pirate and support piracy.

#ra speaks #piracy #media piracy #pirate to make hondo ohnaka proud #obligatory ‘don’t fucking pirate small authors/artists works wtf dude’ statement. #anyone who’s seen my media bitching before knows I’m a hype man for indie films this ain’t about them #this is about corporate streaming services killing physical media bc sales numbers are less impressive than number of streams #edit: USAmericans stop telling me to buy DVDs and blurays at Walmart. think outside your borders for a hot sec. fun thought exercise. #your experiences are not universal #edit: WHO GOT THIS TO 100k. I JUST WANT TO TALK (this post is my second to hit 100k woahg.) #in other news: fix your fucking posture. drink some fucking water. and go the fuck to bed if it’s late bc it’s for me rn. peace and light.

[freelancingsolution]

#Corporate Service #Professional Service #Company Service #Client Service #Business Service #Business Support

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Amazon's bestselling "bitter lemon" energy drink was bottled delivery driver piss

Today (Oct 20), I'm in Charleston, WV at Charleston's Taylor Books from 12h-14h.

For a brief time this year, the bestselling "bitter lemon drink" on Amazon was "Release Energy," which consisted of the harvested urine of Amazon delivery drivers, rebottled for sale by Catfish UK prankster Oobah Butler in a stunt for a new Channel 4 doc, "The Great Amazon Heist":

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-great-amazon-heist

Collecting driver piss is surprisingly easy. Amazon, you see, puts its drivers on a quota that makes it impossible for them to drive safely, park conscientiously, or, indeed, fulfill their basic human biological needs. Amazon has long waged war on its employees' kidneys, marking down warehouse workers for "time off task" when they visit the toilets.

As tales of drivers pissing – and shitting! – in their vans multiplied, Amazon took decisive action. The company enacted a strict zero tolerance policy for drivers returning to the depot with bottles of piss in their vans.

That's where Butler comes in: the roads leading to Amazon delivery depots are lined with bottles of piss thrown out of delivery vans by drivers who don't want to lose their jobs, which made harvesting the raw material for "Release Energy" a straightforward matter.

Butler was worried that he wouldn't be able to list his product on Amazon because he didn't have the requisite "food and drinks licensing" certificates, so he listed his drink in Amazon's refillable pump dispenser category. But Amazon's systems detected the mismatch and automatically shifted the product into the drinks section.

Butler enlisted some confederates to place orders for his drink, and it quickly rocketed to the top of Amazon's listings for the category, which led to Amazon's recommendation engine pushing the item on people who weren't in on the gag. When these orders came in, Butler pulled the plug, but not before an Amazon rep telephoned him to pitch him turning packaging, shipping and fulfillment over to Amazon:

https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-let-its-drivers-urine-be-sold-as-an-energy-drink/

The Release Energy prank was just one stunt Butler pulled for his doc; he also went undercover at an Amazon warehouse, during a period when Amazon hired an extra 1,000 workers for its warehouses in Coventry, UK, in a successful bid to dilute pro-union sentiment in his workforce in advance of a key union vote:

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/the-great-amazon-heist-oobah-butler-review

Butler's stint as an Amazon warehouse worker only lasted a couple of days, ending when Amazon recognized him and fired him.

The contrast between Amazon's ability to detect an undercover reporter and its inability to spot bottles of piss being marketed as bitter lemon energy drink says it all, really. Corporations like Amazon hire vast armies of "threat intelligence" creeps who LARP at being CIA superspies, subjecting employees and activists to intense and often illegal surveillance.

But while Amazon's defensive might is laser-focused on the threat of labor organizers and documentarians, the company can't figure out that one of its bestselling products is bottles of its tormented drivers' own urine.

In the USA, the FTC is suing Amazon for its monopolistic tactics, arguing that the company has found ways to raise prices and reduce quality by trapping manufacturers and sellers with its logistics operation, taking $0.45-$0.51 out of every dollar they earn and forcing them to raise prices at all retailers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

The Release Energy stunt shows where Amazon's priorities are. Not only did Release Energy get listed on Amazon without any quality checks, the company actually nudged it into a category where it was more likely to be consumed by a person. The only notice the company took of Release Energy was in its logistics and manufacturing department – the part of the business that extracts the monopoly rents at issue in the FTC case – which tracked Butler down in order to sell him these services.

The drivers whose piss Butler collected don't work directly for Amazon, they work for a Delivery Service Partner. These DSPs are victims of a pyramid scheme that Amazon set up. DSP operators lease vans and pay to have them skinned in Amazon livery and studded with Amazon sensors. They take out long-term leases on depots, and hire drivers who dress in Amazon uniforms. Their drivers are minutely monitored by Amazon, down to the movements of their eyeballs.

But none of this is "Amazon" – it's all run by an "entrepreneur," whom Amazon can cut loose without notice, leaving them with unfairly terminated employees, outstanding workers' comp claims, a fleet of Amazon-skinned vehicles and unbreakable facilities leases:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

Speaking to Wired, Amazon denied that it forces its drivers to piss in bottles, but Butler clearly catches a DSP dispatcher telling drivers "If you pee in a bottle and leave it [in the vehicle], you will get a point for that" – that is, the part you get punished for isn't the peeing, it's the leaving.

Amazon's defense against the FTC is that it spares no effort to keep its marketplace safe. As Amazon spokesperson James Drummond says, they use "industry-leading tools to prevent genuinely unsafe products being listed." But the only industry-leading tools in evidence are tools to bust unions and screw suppliers.

In her landmark Yale Law Review paper, "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox," FTC Chair Lina Khan makes a brilliant argument that Amazon's alleged benefits to "consumers" are temporary at best, illusory at worst:

https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox

In Butler's documentary, Khan's hypothesis is thoroughly validated: here's a company extracting hundreds of billions from merchants who raise prices to compensate, and those monopoly rents are "invested" in union-busting and countermeasures against investigative journalists, while the tools to keep you from accidentally getting a bottle of piss in the mail are laughably primitive.

Truly, Amazon is the apex predator of the platform era:

https://pluralistic.net/ApexPredator

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/20/release-energy/#the-bitterest-lemon

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

#pluralistic #release energy #channel 4 #amazon #corporate intelligence #labor #unions #amazon labor union #the great Amazon heist #catfish uk #oobah butler #delivery service partner

[weakzen]

lmao adobe/pantone charging a subscription fee for color palettes & replacing those colors with black on old pieces of artwork if you don’t pay up

#truly a blessed year for digital illustrators #between this #and csp moving to a subscription service #the rampant unending art theft by nft grifters #and '''''''''ai art''''''' grifters #on top of the already rampant unending art theft by multinational billion dollar corporations #nothing but love for MY dystopia

[reiverreturns]

probably a good thing i don’t live in london because i might be inclined to hunt this man down and kill him with my bare hands xox

#i am so sick of this island lmao #PEOPLE CAN'T AFFORD TO EAT OR HEAT THEIR HOMES #CAN'T AFFORD TO PUT SHOES ON THEIR CHILDREN'S FEET #'we all have to do our bit' while our gov passes multmillion £ contracts to their rich pals #ruining our public services while someone lines their pockets #large corporations consistently dodging tax and getting away with it #this IS the bad place honestly #fuck the tories

[jeffwhalley]

#Corporate service

[cormancatacombs]

#did yall forget how GoT ended up? #not to mention the other BS HBO Max has pulled #I’m not saying every remaining HBO Max Original should be punished for David Zaslav’s crimes but your optimism is baffling #and i dont think its a coincidence that House Of The Dragon and the Last Of Us teaser dropped shortly after they fucked over so many shows #house of the dragon #hbo max #hbo max originals #fuck david zaslav #meme #wtf #game of thrones #GoT #streaming #streaming services #corporations are not your friends #last of us #animation #infinity train #mao mao: heroes of pure heart #sesame street

[itswhatyougive]

What I don't get about the password-sharing fiasco is....if it was the olden days and you rented a couple DVD/VHS movies, until you brought them back to the shop you could do whatever with them.

You could give them to other people to watch. You could show a movie to a group of ten friends. You had already paid for the tapes, so who was going to care what you did with them in that time?

Similarly, if you have already paid for a Netflix/Max/Dianey+/Paramount+/whatever subscription, you're getting charged monthly for that. The companies have already decided how much it is worth to rent their entire catalogue to you for a month.

So during your "rental period" for these movies and shows, who are they to say what you do with them? If you have someone over for Netflix and chill, they aren't part of your household, so should they not be able to watch a movie you are renting? If you want your friends to see something cool, who cares if they live a town away? That movie is still being paid for, and your "rental" will renew the following month when you pay your bill.

It feels like going to a video store, paying for a bunch of movies, then having to march back to the store with the friend who's going to watch them with you so they can also pay for the movies......while you're still renting them.

#corporate greed #netflx #paramount+ #disney+ #hbo max #studio executives #streaming services #streaming shows #nickel and diming #digital media #television series #television #movies #film #tv series #tv shows #video streaming #video store #video rental

[wuntrum]

HAAATE hate how companies with subscriptions try to put manipulative retention tactics whenever you try to cancel a subscription. its like noooo you can't leave, you'll make us so sad :((( we're literally soooo sad right now and we can't process your request until you tell us why youre being so cruel and leaving us </3333

#personal #like please i just dont want to pay for your service anymore. you are a corporation. stop trying to make me feel bad 😭

[twilight-deviant]

Watcher fans sure are entitled and a little insane, ngl. "No one is going to sign up for your service! We're all poor! You've made the worst decision, and you'll be back in no time!" Saying this directly to the creators really reminds you of how low the respect for people you don't personally know has gone. I miss the forth wall between creator and audience.

I get and fully understand not having the money to support them, but... Watcher does have fans with money. A lot of them actually. They have merch sales. Their live tour sells out most venues. They have thousands of supporters on Patreon, where the cheapest tier is $5. They're able to gauge the rough finances of their staunchest supporters; that's how they landed on the subscription price. Yes, this move will reduce their viewership in sheer numbers, but to say all of their fans are broke and none will follow/support is factually incorrect.

It may not be a decision everyone agrees with, but severing the limitations of advertisers and youtube in favor of artistic freedom is a good thing. Yes, even if it comes with a loss of revenue. They understand that risk.

Also, I'm begging people to stop treating this like "another Netflix" or something and instead look at it as, "I am supporting a creator I like, similar to Patreon." They literally said in the video that they don't care if you share accounts. Get five friends, and you'll pay $1/mo.

I hate feeling compelled to rant in favor of their decision because I have my own reservations about whether it's the best move. However, I know it's not a choice they made lightly, and I like to think they understand that they'll need to branch out like crazy to entice subscribers.

#Fair-weather fans #I speak as someone currently undecided if I'll sign up for their service or not #I have my own budget to consider #But the waves of people poor-mouthing AT Watcher directly is ridiculous and embarrassing #“They're underestimating how many of us are poor” #Okay but that's not how business works #They just need enough people who aren't poor #and they may well have those numbers #Do you think they would have made such a drastic decision if they didn't??? #If they want to focus on fans who support them even if their hard work isn't free that's their choice #People are trying to be so anti-capitalism on this they've actually circled back around to saying #“Just take ad revenue from these companies so they can profit off your content and I don't have to pay out of MY pocket.” #That's... that's not the anti-capitalism stance you think it is #Maybe (and this is crazy) asking for a few dollars directly instead of through the vehicle of youtube‚ google‚ and all its advertisers is #... not spitting on the fans? #Please stop trying to guilt small content creators to their face while simping for large corporations #Watcher

[witchrealms]

(x)

#u #lip service #fashion #web finds #old lip service #goth #gothic #gothgoth #2000s #early 2000s #00s #y2k #alternative #vampy #vampirecore #corporate goth

[uncanny-tranny]

It's so hard to fully encapsulate my rage at just how much people buy into the idea that capitalism will uniquely incentivize people to innovate when... it isn't about innovation. It is about profit, and those two things are not mutually inclusive ideas.

Maybe I'm getting too old, but all of these "new innovative" ideas were shit we had in ye olden days - movies, renting, delivery services, taxis, housing - we had all of those services, except now, it's exorbitantly more expensive because of price gouging.

You aren't witnessing innovation; you are witnessing the modern invention of the wheel behind a ludicrous pay wall.

#anti capitalism #politics #my dad and i ruminate about going to bastings to rent movies and just how much shit they had there #and i just worry that people are so blinded behind the glitz and glamour that *corporations are invested in propagating*... #...that they'd willingly let companies do whatever even if it isn't a luxury service #the profit drive will eat you alive and still come away hungry #i use luxury services because it's one of the easier and more glarongly obvious examples #i really need to sleep it's way too late #i just. think about this a lot

[freelancingsolution]

#Company Service #Client Service #Corporate Service #Business Service #Business Support

[professional-sephiroth-scrungler]

Seriously not a fan of Sephiroth’s new costume. I just saw it and it’s such a huge yuck for me. Like, yeah fictional character blah blah but this character is still 12-15. It looks like a “fan service” costume but that’s not okay because you are giving “fan service” of a 12-15 year old character. What “fans” are you “servicing” with this costume? Hopefully I don’t even have to say it. Ugh. I don’t care if it’s like “oh, lore and shinra implications.”

I’m not trying to be toxic or have discourse or anything. Think what you will about it, but it’s pretty gross to me.

#sephiroth #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #ff7 #final fantasy vii #ff7 ever crisis #ever crisis #final fantasy 7 ever crisis #young sephiroth #miniroth #i try and keep this blog fun but man. I really hate when corporations do shit like this #ff7r #rant #if this costume was on adult Sephiroth that would be fine. great even. but this is a child character #and they are using the fan service elements of his adult uniform on 12-15 year old version #ffvii ever crisis #ffvii sephiroth

[invested-in-your-future]

Reason #42542 why RWBY ending when it did is good, actually

You bet they would have spent whole Volume 10 moralizing about how Vacuo people are "unfair" and "evil" for hating on their literal oppressors being dropped into their Kingdom with no warning.

With Team RWBY literally flip flopping from their previous position about Atlas and how the Kingdom deserves to fall.

Because you see, once the story goes into the actual social dynamics of prejudice, the guys from Texas just CAN'T make the oppressed be in the right. It's suddenly about "balance" and "listening to both sides" and how "we all should unite against the LiterallyBasicallySatan in the big (literally)biblical apocalypse."

I don't even want to talk about how AWFUL the OPTICS are for this considering the literal real life doomsday cult about a certain land where an entire other nation got dropped onto the people who live there. RWBY ain't the show to EVER handle even fraction of that with sensitivity and respect.

#rwby #rwde #rwby volume 10 #can these writers just for a second STOP being extremely offensive????? #ALWAYS HIRE THE SENSITIVITY READERS PLEASE I BEG YOU #I understand beginner writers not doing that and I don't expect fanfic writers hire paid services but this is LITERALLY A BIG CORPORATION

[iowaisms]

Binjpipe Recommends: Becoming one with our algorithms.

#iowa cas #binjpipe #for those not in the know about lore of random trivia games #binjpipe is basically an eldritch abomination masquerading as a streaming service #so if she looks a little uncanny valley that's why #we were going for ''white woman that corporations assume is nonthreatening but there's something very off'' #as a cookie fictive. i have a lot of strong opinions about binjpipe. #none positive. #but i wanted to play with the cc of the second set #which i've used the head before but i wanted to repurpose it here #edit basically she's their advertising mascot and bosses canon cookie around #i like to think binjpipe and binjpipe lady are not quite one in the same but they're part of each other