A job ad from Amazon, which was allegedly placed online by mistake and circulated on Twitter, has given corporate critics new food for thought. According to the ad, the company was looking for an “Intelligence Analyst” who would work for the “Global Intelligence Program” of the company’s “Global Security Operations” department. An analyst was therefore sought for the company’s own espionage program for worldwide security operations. The corresponding team is supposed to provide the corporate management with intelligence information. Trade unionists, activists, traders and politicians are apparently being monitored.
The job advertisement stated that it was important for Amazon’s top management to obtain worldwide intelligence information that would also lead to concrete measures. This would allegedly involve “sensitive, top-secret” issues, including union work and employee representation. For Amazon itself, these are “threats”. The job advertisement mentioned a team of several analysts. Some of the analysts are probably also supposed to work directly with the company’s lawyers and collect material that is to be used against activists in court. Dealers are probably also under observation, so that they can be encouraged to better “performance”.
In the meantime, an Amazon spokeswoman explained to Heise Online: “The job advertisement was not an exact description of the work – it was inadvertently placed and has since been corrected. According to the spokeswoman, it is the task of the analyst team to prepare Amazon for external influences. Examples include storms, power outages and demonstrations that could endanger traffic or the safety of Amazon facilities or employees. The daily work of the team was misrepresented by the published job advertisement. The U.S. magazine Business Insider reported on the job ad circulating on Twitter and asked Amazon for a statement. Thereupon the advertisement disappeared.
