PBS at TCA: Another Bad Day for Alexa

On the PBS panel were Raney Aronson executive producer of Frontline filmmaker and correspondent James Jacoby director of last yearamp8217s Frontline special The Facebook Dilemma Stacy Mitchell a researcher and codirector of the Institute of Local Self Reliance and Frank Foer a writer for The Atlanticamp160 They were all involved in this production and were clearly concerned about the ongoing insertion of Amazon into all aspects of lifeThe session began with one critic who is already unnerved by the hold Amazon and by extension Bezos have on society wanting to know how Amazon makes its fulfillment amp8220magicamp8221 happenamp160 That was her word which she used to describe the fact that she could order almost anything via Amazon and receive it the next dayamp8220It happens because there is a militarylike precision and focus to their operations which is both awesome and something to be feared as wellamp8221 Jacoby explainedamp160 amp8220Itamp8217s a company where they have brilliant engineering minds that have come up with systems to get you that package really quickly amp160But it does come at a cost amp8230 to the labor force as well as to the environment and other factors that we donamp8217t really think about when we order and need our dog food the next dayamp160 Weamp8217ve all been really accustomed now to this convenienceamp8221amp8220Ten years from now do you expect this documentary is going to look too critical or too positiveamp8221 another critic asked amp160amp8220Or will Jeff Bezos have destroyed all copies of itamp8221When the laughter died down Jacoby replied amp8220I think that the film will be spot on in ten years We donamp8217t know where Bezos is going to bring us ten years from now amp160A lot of people really donamp8217t understand the infrastructure that heamp8217s building both the delivery infrastructure and the cloud computing amp160Estimates indicate 40 percent of all computing in the cloud happens on Amazon web services amp160Thatamp8217s huge infrastructureamp160 I think that they claim Alexa has been embedded into more than 20000 different devicesamp8221amp8220Itamp8217s become such an unthinking habit in all of our livesamp8221 Foer notedamp160 amp8220When we have the itch to consume the first place we kind of unthinkingly go is to Amazon amp160That comfort we have with Amazon has allowed us to keep inviting Amazon further and further into our homes whether itamp8217s a speaker thatamp8217s listening to us all the time in our kitchen or bedroom or whether itamp8217s having their cameras on our doorpostsamp160 The essential question that the film is raising is the question of power amp160When you have a company that has so cemented itself within our existence that is a major contractor with the federal government that is increasingly an entertainment powerhouse amp8212 I think a third of the streaming video market runs through Amazon what does it mean to have so much power concentrated within a single companyamp160 Furthermore what does it mean to have so much power harbored within a single individual amp160Thatamp8217s a big open looming question over the Amazon narrative amp160Are we ultimately going to begin to wrestle with one man and one companyamp8217s poweramp8221Mitchell asserted that we have to deal with Amazon from both an economic and a democracy perspectiveamp160 amp8220It can be hard to wrap our minds around Amazon because it does so many different thingsamp8221 she saidamp160 amp8220Theyamp8217re becoming one of the largest apparel makers in the world just to name one amp160But itamp8217s really about the nature of Amazonamp8217s power amp160Look at other companies amp160They try to dominate markets amp160Amazon is intent on being the marketamp8220Most Americans when they search for something online no longer go to a search engineamp8221 she addedamp160 amp8220Two thirds of Americans start right on Amazon amp160What that means is if you make or retail anything any kind of consumer good if you want to reach the online market you have to ride Amazonamp8217s railsamp160 The same is true with its web services amp160If you develop software more and more of our computing processes are happening in the cloud amp160If you sell to big companies you have to be on AWSamp160 If you make a device that you want to have connected to the internet a dishwasher or a home security system everything is becoming more and more interconnected amp160Alexa is going to be the operating systemamp8220What that means is Amazon has this godlike view of everything that is happening amp160It can spy on not only us as consumers but all of its competitors all of its suppliers and it can strategically pick off parts of the business it wants itself and then it can essentially levy a kind of a toll or a tax on all the other playersamp160 amp160Itamp8217s a fundamentally different kind of monopoly problem than say Walmartamp8217s power and itamp8217s one weamp8217ve really got to face up to from the perspective of citizensamp8221At one point the panel was asked about the impact Amazon is having on small shops and larger brick and mortar storesamp8220I run the independent business initiative within the Institute for Local Self Reliance and we did a survey last year of about a thousand independent businesses across the countryamp8221 Mitchell repliedamp160 amp8220Ninety percent of them said their business was being negatively affected by Amazonamp8220Weamp8217ve talked to a lot of businesses that built up really successful websites and ecommerce sites themselvesamp8221 she continuedamp160 amp8220They had brick and mortar and they also sold to their customers onlineamp160 amp160amp160But four or five years ago they noticed a shift and it was really the rise of Prime amp160As more and more people joined Prime they kind of defaulted to shopping on Amazonamp8221Now many independent businesses are caught in the Amazon webamp160 amp8220For many of them itamp8217s a very bitter decisionamp8221 Mitchell saidamp160 amp8220If they choose to sell on Amazon they give up a lot of their product knowledge and expertise because Amazon is watching what theyamp8217re doing amp160And they give up a big cut of their revenue a pretty sizeable cut and thereamp8217s no real competition amp160There are no other platforms like that amp160So theyamp8217re sort of stuck amp160If they donamp8217t sell on Amazon where else are they going to go amp160Are they going to give up the online market amp160Weamp8217re seeing a collapse in the number of small businesses in this country and also a sharp decline in the rate at which weamp8217re forming new businesses amp160In the amp821780s we created about three times as many new businesses each year than we do now and a lot of this seems to be about concentrated poweramp8221The show traces Bezosamp8217 career from the mid amp821790s to the present amp160amp8220You certainly do see kind of a physical transformation and you also see his cultivation of this very goofy affable image very early onamp8221 Jacoby saidamp160 amp8220Some of his early employees talk to us about how that belied a sort of Napoleonic ambition amp160The contrast between what early Amazon employees are saying as youamp8217re watching footage of Jeff acting like a brilliant goofball but really running a ruthless enterprise inside is really strongamp160 Later on the footage is used to help understand what Jeff was saying and thinking at times when weamp8217re kind of more embedded in what the company was doing amp160For instance he talks a lot about his philosophy of failure and that he believes that taking big bets are the way to really win amp160At the same time weamp8217re learning about his relationship with Wall Street that Wall Street really invested in him and allowed him this leeway to fail which is unlike really the leeway Wall Street has afforded any other CEOamp8221Mitchell asserted that we have to deal with Amazon from both an economic and a democracy perspectiveamp160 amp8220It can be hard to wrap our minds around Amazon because it does so many different thingsamp8221 she saidamp160 amp8220Theyamp8217re becoming one of the largest apparel makers in the world just to name oneamp160 But itamp8217s really about the nature of Amazonamp8217s poweramp160 Look at other companiesamp160 They try to dominate marketsamp160 Amazon is intent on being the marketamp8221The Frontline special Amazon Empire The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos will be telecast February 18 on PBSClick on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160amp160

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PBS at TCA: Another Bad Day for Alexa

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Ed Martin

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PBS at TCA: Another Bad Day for Alexa

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