[tdmule]

There are some historical examples of corporate control of people's lives.

Henry Ford's Sociological Department did unannounced visits to employees' homes to ensure they were "model Americans" and probe for union ties.[1][2]

Walmart "locking in" janitors.[3]

There are a lot more examples of negative environmental and financial impact, I picked these two as they are examples of controlling human freedoms.

[1] Negative source: https://jalopnik.com/when-henry-fords-benevolent-secret-poli... [2] Positive source: https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digita... [3] https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/us/workers-assail-night-l...

[theseatoms]

If you're engaged in a voluntary business relationship with a corporation, they're going to have their own terms, reasonable or not. And yes, the more asymmetric the relationship, the less reasonable the terms.

Fortunately, working for any particular corporation is voluntary. And thankfully, it seems that sunlight has disinfected these specific extreme practices. Hadn't heard of either.

Off-topic: This is the first I've encountered explicit citation of negative/positive sources. I like it.