Amazon monitors where it can – everything and everyone. Customers, users, suppliers, third parties

dossier

Amazons Recognition: Das profitabelste Polizeistaats-Unternehmen? “…Cameras everywhere: Amazon monitors workers in the warehouse with a network of cameras that record people's every step. (…) Large screens in the warehouses show footage of employees who have been caught stealing. This is intended to deter others from similar acts. Constant performance measurement (…) Amazon uses its own software to constantly analyze a variety of criteria to find out which stores in its Whole Foods grocery chain are exposed to the “risk” of unionization…“-Article “This is how Amazon monitors its employees in the USA” by Alexander Fanta on September 1st, 2020 at netzpolitik.org externer Link about monitored everyday work at Amazon in the USA. See also a report from France - where the situation looks at least somewhat different due to the resistance - and monitoring strategies throughout the entire chain:

Amazon delivery drivers' smart glasses reportedly take photos "almost continuously."
“Amazon has little to say about privacy when it comes to drivers wearing camera-equipped smart glasses.
Amazon deliveries could soon come with a new catch:The delivery people’s smart glasses will take photos of everything they see during the operation - including people and private property.Bloomberg reports , that the glasses could take “several thousand images during a typical shift of a single delivery person,” which Amazon plans to upload to its AI platform “Wellspring.” Asked whether customers will have the option to opt out, Amazon's Viraj Chatterjee told Bloomberg: "We haven't thought about that yet.”…” EnglishArticle by Stevie Bonifield from September 30, 2026 in The Verge (machine translated) – unknown whether “only” in the USA…
- See also our dossier:Controls at Amazon: The manager sees everything – Amazon saves everything
Criticism of control: Amazon surveillance videos often end up online
“In the past two weeks, more and more photos of drivers delivering packages for Amazon have appeared online.There are currently a number of recordings of Amazon delivery people on the social media portal Reddit. There is said to have been an increased upload of videos on the platform within the last two weeks at the corporate presence of Amazon's delivery service partners/DSP (r/AmazonDSPDrivers).These recordings include both clips from surveillance cameras from the delivery vehicles and recordings that were apparently filmed with a smartphone from surveillance monitors located in warehouses, reportsGolem with reference to the US news portalVICE . In addition to scenes and encounters from everyday delivery life, drivers can also see violations of applicable traffic laws.The recordings are said to have originally come from the cameras in the vehicles of the delivery people whose employers are Amazon DSP. The cameras from manufacturer Netradyne are AI-enabled and can monitor the speed, location and actions of drivers on the road. Not only the road would be recorded, but also the person behind the wheel. A declaration of consent is required from the drivers in order for the biometric data to be collected. The use of the technology is a security measure, as Vice reports with reference to a statement from Amazon two years ago, when the magazine already reported critically on the technology…”Post by Hanna Behn from July 20, 2023 in the amazon watch blog
From now on, Amazon will pay cash for insights into your data traffic - the value of data protection cannot be better represented
- Starting today, Amazon will pay cash for insights into your data traffic. Insights into data traffic and surveys: this is what participants are now rewarded for
  “At a time when prices are rising everywhere, opportunities to easily earn a few extra euros are more popular than ever. The Shopper Panel program, which has been running in the USA since the end of 2020, is now also starting in Germany, as reported by Golem, among others. Participants can get paid through short surveys or insights into their data traffic. But not all functions from the USA are also used here. (…) In the shopper panel app there are currently only two menu items through which rewards can be earned. On the one hand, these are paid surveys and, on the other hand, so-called ad verification. The panel participants are supposed to verify advertisements that they come across on Amazon and freely on the Internet with a click. There is a fixed amount of three euros per month.But be careful: If you agree to this, you accept that Amazon will set up a VPN connection (Virtual Private Network) on your own smartphone. This means that all of the smartphone's data traffic runs via Amazon servers. Although this simplifies ad verification, it also allows the company to access other data, at least theoretically. You should at least be aware of this before consenting. For the payment of the three euros, a minimum period of 48 hours per month must be guaranteed as a data basis…”Post by Ricarda Eichler from April 24, 2023 in the amazon-watchblog , see also:
- Shopper Panel: Amazon pays to monitor smartphone traffic
  “Amazon has launched the Shopper Panel in Germany. Anyone who lets Amazon monitor their data traffic on their smartphone gets paid for it…”Contribution by Ingo Pakalski from April 24, 2023 in Golem
Networked dashcam: Amazon brings Ring surveillance technology onto the streets - and thus intervenes even more deeply in public spaces
"...Amazon is now bringing its private surveillance technology Ring from houses and properties onto the streets, thereby significantly expanding the density of video surveillance in public spaces. From February, a networked dashcam for cars will be available in the USA that can record both inside and outside the vehicle. It has not yet been announced when the device will come onto the market in Germany. The camera is connected to the house surveillance software Ring and its app and can be controlled by users at any time. In addition, the approximately 250 Dollar-priced camera equipped with sensors that switch on when the car is hit or broken into. (…) Amazon's Ring has long been criticized, especially in the USA, because the products contribute to the expansion of the total number of surveillance devices available. The company works closely with the police and is notoriously lax when it comes to providing data recorded with Ring cameras to authorities in fact, an expansion of state surveillance. In the USA, Ring has repeatedly released data to the police without a court order. This has apparently also happened in Germany “if law enforcement can prove an imminent threat and time is of the essence”. Ring's PR agency gave unclear information about this to netzpolitik.org. In the US, Ring offers law enforcement agencies its own interface. This allows the police to access video recordings directly using the “emergency button”.(…) The US civil rights organization EFF describes Ring as the “largest surveillance apparatus in the country” and calls for stricter regulation of private surveillance products like Ring. This includes, among other things, greater hurdles when requesting such material, a concrete suspicion, but also a clearer indication to Ring users that handing over material to the authorities is absolutely voluntary. In Germany, the use of Ring products is in the legal gray area; some functions are even banned in this country, says IT lawyer Jasper Prigge. The recording function of a Ring door camera, if it includes sound, is generally not permitted in Germany.“ Contribution by Markus Reuter from January 6, 2023 at Netzpolitik.org
[Amazon Shopper Panel] Data for money: Amazon pays for cell phone surveillance
“Amazon is particularly interested in the mobile data traffic of selected users and pays a small monthly amount for this through a program. In order to obtain data on people's shopping behavior, for example, Amazon in the USA has an app called “Shopper Panel”. This program makes it possible, for example, to upload the receipt after a purchase in a brick-and-mortar store and transmit the information to the e-commerce giant. The app can only be used by a specific user group that the company has invited to use it. You can receive up to 10 euros per month for the receipts submitted. It has recently become possible to make all cell phone data available to Amazon - and also receive compensation for it.like golem andThe Verge report. According to the report, the function that allows smartphone data to be sent to Amazon servers has been available in the app under the name “Ad Verification” since the end of November. Anyone who agrees to the procedure will receive $2 per month from Amazon for all data traffic. The prerequisite for this is that the data is actually completely transmitted to the company during this period. (…) The Shopper Panel is not available in Germanygbar.”Post by Hanna Behn from December 5th, 2022 in the Amazon Watchblog
2,000 data points collected per purchase: “Amazon is primarily a surveillance company”
“The Open Markets Institute criticizes Amazon's monitoring of customers and competing marketplace retailers in a comprehensive report. Every person and buyer who travels on the web leaves behind data that is the basis of the distribution of power in the online world. Few companies master collection and recycling as efficiently as Amazon. TheOpen Markets Institute analyzed , how Amazon uses data to monitor customers, users, suppliers and third-party sellers in the marketplace in various areas to defend its dominance. Already in autumn 2020, the US organizationSurveillance culture of Amazon's own employees examined. The author Daniel Hanley describes, among other things, Amazon's practices with the merchants on the marketplace, with Alexa and its cloud division Amazon Web Services, on which large parts of the Internet (Zoom, Twitter...) depend. (…) "Amazon is, first and foremost, a surveillance company. Surveillance of everyone involved - from employees to competitors to consumers - is a fundamental aspect of the company's operations. It uses invasive surveillance tactics to enable and facilitate its predatory behavior and consolidate its monopoly power," Hanley concluded…”Post by Markus Gärtner from July 16, 2021 in the Amazon Watchblog
“Face aux syndicats, Amazon échoue à faire installer des “caméras intelligents” sur ses sites français” by Guiillaume Bernard also on September 1st, 2020 at Rapports de Force reports the failure of a further monitoring step in the group's French branches. The envisaged new surveillance cameras were to be installed under the pretext of observing safety distances (i.e. a company that was not only criticized for its behavior during the epidemic, but was also legally prosecuted, suddenly tried to profile itself as a pioneer of security - Amazon was rightly not believed). The article quotes two elected union representatives of the workforce - one each from the CGT and SUD Solidaires - with their reports on how the unions have - successfully - organized the resistance of the workforce...

Amazon monitors where it can – everything and everyone. Customers, users, suppliers, third parties

dossier

See also Amazon's Big Brother world on LabourNet: