| NEW TECHNOLOGIES <> NEW FORMS OF WORK
 Most people have heard of Amazon.com, at least most in the richer countries. People like it for its low costs and the efficient delivery of consumer goods; people hate it for its ruthless cost cutting, with the impact on warehouse workers, delivery drivers and any business that competes with it, from bookshops to electrical goods stores and many others. But the key thing about its business is not that Amazon aims to move into all markets for goods and services. Amazon’s business is to be the market economicsofimperialism.blogspot.co.za/
There is a growing sense that something should be done about the growth, largely unchecked, of tech giants and the impact they are having on the economy, employment, privacy, news (fake and real) and income inequality. The problem is, nobody knows what action should be taken. sfchronicle.com/
Over the past few years, Uber has been fighting to avoid acknowledging its drivers as employees. Where drivers are inching closer towards forming a union, the company is finding ways to dissuade them. Its latest tactic: forcing drivers to listen to Uber podcasts about voting rights, collective bargaining and city council hearings. businessinsider.com/
The radio-frequency identification tag now lodged between his index finger and thumb will allow Bengtson to open doors and log onto his computer at work with a wave. washingtonpost.com/
Between April and June, Google completed a major revision of its search engine. Since the implementation of the changes, many left wing, anti-war and progressive web sites have experienced a sharp fall in traffic generated by Google searches. The World Socialist Web Site has seen, within just one month, a 70% drop in traffic from Google. wsws.org/
It is and it was only a matter of time. Convincing evidence has emerged that Google is actively suppressing public access at least a dozen left wing sites, very likely including Black Agenda Report by algorithms which game the keyword search results it presents to users. blackagendareport.com/
Recent studies are showing that deepening use of automation will cause widespread disruption in many sectors and even whole economies. Worse, it is the developing countries that are estimated to lose the most, and this will exacerbate the already great global inequalities. twn.my/ |
While researching the recently published book Apartheid Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit, Open Secrets collected approximately 40,000 archival documents from 25 archives in seven countries. This treasure trove contains damning details of the individuals and corporations that propped up apartheid and profited in return. 
New York City is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency, a man-made“complex emergency” that’s shaped by a combination of forces that have led to a large-scale “displacement of populations” from their homes. What makes the crisis especially startling is that New York has the most progressive housing laws in the country and a mayor who has made tenants’ rights and affordable housing a central focus of his administration. 
The disappeared Palestinian-Syrian software developer and open Internet advocate Bassel Khartabil, also known as Bassel Safadi, was executed in late 2015. Khartabil was arrested in Damascus in March 2012, one year into the uprising in the country, and held in incommunicado detention. 
In November 1932, Leon Trotsky delivered a speech in Copenhagen (Denmark). It was the 15th anniversary of the revolution. In defending the October revolution he set the record straight on the real processes that unfolded in Russia 1917, as opposed to the doctored version presented by the Stalinists.
