What’s New
‘Block Amazon For Me’ app
advances boycott of retail giant
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
A small group of anony-mous
activists, artists
and tech industry
workers launched an
app on Dec. 3 designed to block in-ternet
users from purchasing from
Amazon or its affiliates. The code for
the Chrome extension is available
on Github.
“It could be structured to be a good
company,” said a group member and
Queens resident who wishes to only
be identified as Woody. “But it’s not.”
Woody coded the app “Block Ama-zon
For Me” to work like an ad-blocker,
a type of software designed to prevent
advertisements from appearing on a
website.
After installing the app into their
web browser, every time a user at-tempts
to visit Amazon’s website or
the website of a company owned
by Amazon, a pop up message will
appear.
If a user wishes to ignore the mes-sage
and enter the site they must first
uninstall the browser extension.
“This is meant to put people in
an imaginative space,” said Woody.
12 DECEMBER 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
“What would the world be like without
Amazon?”
Since Amazon announced that
one of the location for its HQ2
would be in Long Island City, politi-cians,
local residents and activists
have protested its impending arrival
in 2019. While many Queens resi-dents
and politicians believe that
Amazon will ultimately prove to have
a positive impact on the borough
and the City at large by bringing
jobs and stimulating the economy,
others view it as an unethical be-hemoth
bent on displacing local
residents.
The apps website includes a section
listing reasons to boycott Amazon.
Environmental impact, workers rights
and supporting local business are
listed as reasons to not purchase from
the home-delivery giant.
In addition, the four creators of the
site thought the app would benefit
internet consumer culture as a whole
by educating internet users what other
companies make money off of Amazon.
“So if The New York Times and
Wirecutter tries to send us to Amazon
to make money on that affiliate, this
pushes back on that,” said Woody. “We
are not without agency.”
/www.qns.com
