Amazon: Difference between revisions
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|Amazon uses [[dark patterns]] for its premium subscription | |Amazon uses [[dark patterns]] for its premium subscription | ||
|2023 – Present | |2023 – Present | ||
|Systematically designing the cancelling steps to be complicated and long; using tricks to enroll users into the subscription.<ref>{{cite web |date=2023-06-21 |title=FTC Takes Action Against Amazon for Enrolling Consumers in Amazon Prime Without Consent and Sabotaging Their Attempts to Cancel |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/ftc-takes-action-against-amazon-enrolling-consumers-amazon-prime-without-consent-sabotaging-their |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129015417/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/ftc-takes-action-against-amazon-enrolling-consumers-amazon-prime-without-consent-sabotaging-their |archive-date=2025-01-29 |website=Federal Trade Commission | |Systematically designing the cancelling steps to be complicated and long; using tricks to enroll users into the subscription.<ref>{{cite web |date=2023-06-21 |title=FTC Takes Action Against Amazon for Enrolling Consumers in Amazon Prime Without Consent and Sabotaging Their Attempts to Cancel |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/ftc-takes-action-against-amazon-enrolling-consumers-amazon-prime-without-consent-sabotaging-their |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129015417/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/ftc-takes-action-against-amazon-enrolling-consumers-amazon-prime-without-consent-sabotaging-their |archive-date=2025-01-29 |website=[[Federal Trade Commission]]}}</ref> See "Project Illiad". | ||
|Continues to occur. | |Continues to occur. | ||
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===Amazon Prime (2005–Present)=== | ===Amazon Prime (2005–Present)=== | ||
Amazon uses [[dark patterns]] for its subscription services, including tricking users into subscribing and making it very complicated to cancel. Moreover, some features of the service, such as free deliveries, are region locked to where you initially subscribed, forcing you to buy another subscription to be able to use the service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geo-blocking |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo-blocking |url-status=live |access-date=2026-04-06 |website= | Amazon uses [[dark patterns]] for its subscription services, including tricking users into subscribing and making it very complicated to cancel. Moreover, some features of the service, such as free deliveries, are region locked to where you initially subscribed, forcing you to buy another subscription to be able to use the service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geo-blocking |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo-blocking |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260325112847/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo-blocking |archive-date=2026-03-25 |access-date=2026-04-06 |website=[[Wikipedia]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mabood |first=Wasay |date=2023-02-22 |title=Geo-block Content Using Amazon Location and Edge Services |url=https://aws.amazon.com/de/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/geo-block-content-using-amazon-location-and-edge-services/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260415190723/https://aws.amazon.com/de/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/geo-block-content-using-amazon-location-and-edge-services/ |archive-date=2026-04-15 |access-date=2026-04-06 |website=[[Amazon Web Services (AWS)]]}}</ref> | ||
Prime video further only allows for HD streaming on Windows and MacOS, despite streaming services such as Netflix allowing HD streaming on Linux <ref>{{Cite web |title=Prime Video System Requirements for Computers |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=atv_unsupported_systems_bannerlink?nodeId=GUVGB3QMQRYRERYW |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260214133717/https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GUVGB3QMQRYRERYW |archive-date=2026-02-14}}</ref>. | Prime video further only allows for HD streaming on Windows and MacOS, despite streaming services such as Netflix allowing HD streaming on Linux <ref>{{Cite web |title=Prime Video System Requirements for Computers |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=atv_unsupported_systems_bannerlink?nodeId=GUVGB3QMQRYRERYW |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260214133717/https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GUVGB3QMQRYRERYW |archive-date=2026-02-14}}</ref>. | ||
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On July 1st 2024, Amazon removed 3rd party list support from the Alexa service, resulting in only lists hosted by Amazon being supported<ref>{{Cite web |access-date=2025-09-16 |title=Deprecated Features |website=Amazon Developer Documentation |url=https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/ask-overviews/deprecated-features.html#shopping-lists |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250522134122/https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/ask-overviews/deprecated-features.html#shopping-lists |archive-date=2025-05-22 }}</ref>. While it is still possible to manage lists via Alexa skills, these now require the skill activation phrase to be used (e.g. "Alexa, ask AnyList to add XYZ to my shopping list"). This followed from a [[Google#Google Assistant 3rd Party List Support|similar move by Google]] in 2023. | On July 1st 2024, Amazon removed 3rd party list support from the Alexa service, resulting in only lists hosted by Amazon being supported<ref>{{Cite web |access-date=2025-09-16 |title=Deprecated Features |website=Amazon Developer Documentation |url=https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/ask-overviews/deprecated-features.html#shopping-lists |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250522134122/https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/ask-overviews/deprecated-features.html#shopping-lists |archive-date=2025-05-22 }}</ref>. While it is still possible to manage lists via Alexa skills, these now require the skill activation phrase to be used (e.g. "Alexa, ask AnyList to add XYZ to my shopping list"). This followed from a [[Google#Google Assistant 3rd Party List Support|similar move by Google]] in 2023. | ||
Sometime in 2025 Amazon added an upgrade nag widget to Alexa for "Alexa+" that is impossible to turn off. In some cases the upgrade was automatic, and users had to opt-out<ref>{{Cite web |last=Campbell-Hicks |first=Jennifer |date=2026-01-13 |title=Amazon is automatically upgrading Prime members to Alexa+. Here's how to opt out |url=https://www.12news.com/article/news/nation-world/amazon-automatic-upgrade-alexa-plus-how-to-opt-out/507-3105c319-0f52-421a-b741-9ad6919f22e5 |url-status=live |website=[[12news]]}}</ref> | Sometime in 2025 Amazon added an upgrade nag widget to Alexa for "Alexa+" that is impossible to turn off. In some cases the upgrade was automatic, and users had to opt-out<ref>{{Cite web |last=Campbell-Hicks |first=Jennifer |date=2026-01-13 |title=Amazon is automatically upgrading Prime members to Alexa+. Here's how to opt out |url=https://www.12news.com/article/news/nation-world/amazon-automatic-upgrade-alexa-plus-how-to-opt-out/507-3105c319-0f52-421a-b741-9ad6919f22e5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/eAbrI |archive-date=2026-04-15 |website=[[12news]]}}</ref> | ||
===All Louis Rossmann videos covering Amazon=== | ===All Louis Rossmann videos covering Amazon=== | ||