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   Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:51 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

   • Bill Bennett

   Thanks @billbennett for pointing out that the AWS and Apple 'gift horse' might not be quite as generous as it appears. https://billbennett.co.nz/commece-commission-annual-telecommunications-monitoring-report-2023/ I wonder, too, Bill, if those corporations are enjoying the same profitable tax benefit loopholes that Microsoft has long exploited: https://davelane.nz/self-serving-generosity That'd be an interesting topic for an investigative journalist...

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     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:42 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Bill Bennett

     @billbennett I've long argued that, due to the very structure of the 'corporation' (the public listed one, that is), they're irredeemable. (c.f. https://davelane.nz/megacorps) And the evidence supporting that conclusion continues to mount every day.

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     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:46 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Bill Bennett

     @billbennett I think it's just correct. There's really no other way to interpret any of this. Anything else is just wishful thinking, and it plays right into their hands. Look where giving them the 'benefit of the doubt' thus far has landed us.

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     Bill Bennett (billbennett@mastodon.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:47 JST Bill Bennett

     in reply to

     @lightweight That’s too bleak, too cynical. And this is coming from me who is constantly accused of being too bleak and cynical.

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     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:48 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Bill Bennett

     @billbennett They are not allies to marginalised communities. They merely exploit those same communities for PR gain (and to hook those communities on their over-priced, agency-sapping proprietary tech). We need to call them out. They're not our friends or allies. They are actively exploiting us all and working against our best interest. Let's be honest with ourselves: they're the real enemy.

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     Bill Bennett (billbennett@mastodon.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:49 JST Bill Bennett

     in reply to

     @lightweight It’s complicated, but yes, in general they don’t pay much tax here, sales are booked overseas. This is a loophole that can only be fixed by international treaty, work is underway, but it will take ages. It is a huge topic that applies almost everywhere except the US (and there it still applies a bit).

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     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:54 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Bill Bennett

     @billbennett not at all. There are many perfectly moral commercial transactions. But none of the big tech corporations enjoy that high ground.

     But yes, a lot of otherwise 'nice' people have corrupted themselves by working in aid of those corporations.

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     Bill Bennett (billbennett@mastodon.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:46:55 JST Bill Bennett

     in reply to

     @lightweight On that basis almost every business, every commercial transaction is immoral… I’m not saying one can’t make that argument

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     Bill Bennett (billbennett@mastodon.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:47:38 JST Bill Bennett

     in reply to

     @lightweight We only have so much room for manoeuvre here. It’s like all the people around the world making an effort to cut their carbon footprint when it turns out a few hundred large corporations are behind the overwhelming majority of carbon emissions.

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     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:47:38 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Bill Bennett

     @billbennett we just have to stop allowing ourselves to think "yeah, those oil/pharma/processed food/softdrink/tech megacorporations are 'my brand' - I'm a big fan!" We need to call them out for what they are: our (humanity's) enemy.

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     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2023 19:47:40 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Bill Bennett

     @billbennett the fact that we continue to excuse their behaviour means they have all the social license they need... and they use it to make many of us complicit. We have to reject them entirely.