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Comment by dominotw | Hacker News Reader

sorry if this is a stupid question, why would amazon only copy things hosted/using aws?

AWS can see traffic and usage. They can predict the "next big thing". Facebook allegedly did the same with their VPN services that analyzed what apps people were using on their phones.

Not that I disbelieve you, but it would be interesting to see a source for that claim.

The Wikipedia article about Onavo[0] has multiple articles linked about it.

[0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo

There's probably no way for me to convince you otherwise, but I'll say it anyway:

This isn't how the world works.

Gathering intelligence and moving into their partners/supply chains territory is literally the DNA of Amazon. I know of no other company that does it as verociously as Amazon, who went after every partner that helped them grow (fulfilment, delivery, third party sellers, manufacturers).

And the example of Facebook with Onavo is also not plucked out of thin air[0].

Sure, it's not how all of the world works but for the big players, it's a important tool in their toolbox.

[0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo

"verociously": a portmanteau of "ferociously" and "voraciously". ;)

Whoops! I'll stand by it :D

Industrial espionage is a real thing, if you believe it or not.

AWS knows more precise numbers than the public, and they may know an app or a service is really popular before it crests in the public zeitgeist, but I don't believe they would know earlier enough than the rest of the public to make competitive product roadmap decisions.

Does Amazon allow human employees to review the analytics of client sites? If I was a big customer like Netflix, I would demand that a restriction like this be written into the contract.

Of course, Amazon could lie, but now if Netflix has a reason to suspect wrongdoing, they could sue.

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