 Amazon probing staff data leaks San Francisco (AFP) Sept 16, 2018 - Amazon is investigating allegations that some of its staff sold confidential customer data to third party companies particularly in China, the online giant confirmed on Sunday. According to a Wall Street Journal report, which did not give figures, employees of the e-retailer sell internal data and other confidential information -- usually through intermediaries -- to merchants who sell their goods on the US giant's website. On Amazon, customers can buy products sold directly by the company along with goods from many other merchants. The practice under investigation is a violation of company policy. It is particularly present in China, the paper said, citing the example of intermediaries in Shenzhen working for group employees and selling information on sales volumes for payments ranging from 80 to more than 2,000 dollars. An Amazon spokesperson told AFP in a brief statement that the company is "conducting a thorough investigation of these claims." "We have zero tolerance for abuse of our systems and if we find bad actors who have engaged in this behavior, we will take swift action against them, including terminating their selling accounts, deleting reviews, withholding funds, and taking legal action," the statement said. Fake reviews by purported customers are among the concerns of the internal probe, according to the WSJ, which said Amazon has been investigating this topic for months. Amazon employs approximately 560,000 people worldwide.
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Robots will handle 52 percent of current work tasks by 2025, almost twice as many as now, a World Economic Forum (WEF) study said Monday.
The sharp increase could also see a net gain in "new roles" for humans, who will have to revamp skills to keep pace with the "seismic shift" in how we work with machines and computer programmes, the forum estimated.
"By 2025 more than half of all current workplace tasks will be performed by machines as opposed to 29 percent today," a statement by the Swiss non-profit organisation said.
Simultaneously, rapid changes in machines and algorithms, or computer processes that are designed to solve problems, "could create 133 million new roles in place of 75 million that will be displaced between now and 2022," the group forecast.
Based near Geneva, the WEF is known for the annual pow-wow of wealthy individuals, politicians and business leaders that it organises in Davos, Switzerland.
Its report, The Future of Jobs 2018, foresees robots swiftly replacing humans in the accounting, client management, industrial, postal and secretarial sectors.
Jobs that require "human skills" such as sales, marketing and customer service should see demand increase meanwhile, along with e-commerce and social media.
A major challenge will be to retrain workers, who will themselves be pressed to update skills especially in the areas of "creativity, critical thinking and persuasion", the study found.
It surveyed personnel directors and senior executives from a broad range of companies around the world that account for 70 percent of global output.
Between now and 2022, they believe the aviation, travel and tourism sectors in particular will have to retrain workers, and identified an overall trend towards lifelong learning and adaptation.
Governments were advised meanwhile to prepare safety nets for workers and communities threatened by what the WEF concluded would be "a significant shift" in the quality and permanency of the new jobs.
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All about the robots on Earth and beyond!
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