Technology's frightful five: They've got us

This is the most glaring and underappreciated fact of internet-age capitalism

A few weeks ago, I bought a new television. When the whole process was over, I realised something incredible: To navigate all of the niggling details surrounding this one commercial transaction — figuring out what to buy, which accessories I needed, how and where to install it, and whom to hire to do so — I had dealt with only a single ubiquitous corporation: Amazon.
 
It wasn’t just the TV. As I began combing through other recent household decisions, I found that in 2016, nearly 10 per cent of my household’s commercial transactions flowed through the Seattle retailer, more