Shell Game
via Kieren McCarthy, reporting for the venerable El Reg, comes timely reportage exposing the greed (not to mention the hubris) of the shell game being played by ISOC, ICANN and others of note. Redact Away, Me Buckos!
Forbrukerrådet: New Study's Conclusion - The Advertising Industry Are Law Breakers On A Massive Scale
Outstanding reports - via Norwegian Forbrukerrådet detailing the systematic criminal behavior exhibited by Advertising Entites and their Ilk, with the resultant aglommeration of data which permits them significant and increasing leverage against the owners of that personal data (and the ability to generate significant revenue with the sale of that data). Time for this to end, don't you agree? H/T
Spoilsports: The AT&T Gambit
Well, there-they-go-again: The Spoilsports of mandated internet speeds - poo-pooing speed increases under discussion to-and-for the contemplated FCC-led Rural Digital Opportunity Fund - all in the name profits. Read it and Weep, me hearties. Today's Must Read and a finalist in this week's Big Cry.
Jack's Unfortunate Accident, A Tale Of Greed - Disguised
Via the expert scrivening of Shaun Nichols at El Reg. h/t
California Assembly Member Leveraging Familial Connection To Ring
via Kate Cox, writing at Ars Technica, comes this superb reportage; in which, Ms. Cox details the highly troubling connections between California Assemblywoman Irwin, her husband Jon Irwin, COO of Ring (a subsidiary of Amazon LLC (NASDAQ: AMZN) (the corporate owner of Ring)) and several hundred police organizations.
More than simply a conflict of interest, California Assembly Member Jacqui Irwin's actions are borderline Fascist in nature. Read all about it, and weep for your country.
"The California legislature worked through the summer to finalize the text of the state's landmark data privacy law before time to make amendments ran out on Friday. In the Assembly (California's lower house), Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin has been a key voice and vote backing motions that would weaken the law, and a new report says her reasoning may be very, very close to home." "A review of state ethics documents conducted by Politico found that Ms. Irwin is married to Jon Irwin, the chief operating officer of Amazon's controversial Ring home surveillance business. That company stands to benefit if the California law is weakened in certain key ways before it can take effect." - via Kate Cox, writing at Ars Technica, with this superb piece
Forsooth! What Sort Of Villainy Makes It's Evil Pestilence Known?
Apparently, Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) has taken up the $10 Billion Evil Gauntlet and is running with it (kids, don't do that at home...), if reports are to be believed. Read it and weep for the Interweb's lowly bookseller, turned to the darkside... Today's Must Read.
Facebookery: All The Many Datas of Zuckerberg
via Sam Biddle, writing at The Intercept, comes this astonishing story of manifest Facebookery firmly situated within the rarified telecom world of data sharing between and betwixt the telecom leviathans and that scourge of privacy Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq:FB). h/t
“What they’re doing is filtering Facebook users on creditworthiness criteria and potentially escaping the application of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. … It’s no different from Equifax providing the data to Chase.” - via Sam Biddle, reporting for The Intercept, with this superb article
Google Utilizing Consumer Gmail Accounts to Track Purchases, Financial Transactions
News of recently revealed and egregious tracking behaviors at Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG); specifically Google is using your Gmails account to track your purchases. Our suggestions is to immediately remove any financial transaction related messaging from your Gmail accounts without delay - unless of course, you trust Google...
"While Google told us that you can delete this information at any time, they did not mention how much of a pain it is to do so. Instead of having a single setting that allows you to control how this data is saved, you need to go into each and every purchase and click on the Remove Purchase button. This will bring you to the original email that the data was pulled from and once this email is trashed, the purchase will be removed from the Purchases page. " - via Lawrence Abrams, reporting at Bleeping COmputer
FCC Chairman Pai Front-Loads FCC Consumer Advisory Panel With Anti-Consumer Functionaries
The Chairman has apparently decided it's OK to front load a consumer level commission with anti-consumer business 'leaders'... Pai's behavior as Chairman certainly crosses the line into the realm of corruption and, at the very least malfeasance. When will this clown's malign actions be investigated?
'Sprint and T-Mobile had quit ALEC in 2012 and 2015, respectively, "leav[ing] Comcast, Charter Communications, CenturyLink, and Cox Communications as the last major telecom companies sticking with the corporate bill mill," PR Watch reported in November 2018,..' via Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica
Airbnb's Webcam Problems: Violations of Guest Privacy, State Law
News, via Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica, that Airbnb initially took no steps to stop a property owner recording an Airbnb guest. What was Airbnb thinking? Apparently, they were not thinking at all...
'Airbnb's response was troubling, Nealie Barker said. Customer service reps "didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of the issue. They were treating it like a canceled booking," she told CNN. Airbnb temporarily suspended the listing and promised to investigate, CNN wrote. But when Barker contacted Airbnb again two weeks later, "the company told her that the host had been 'exonerated,' and the listing reinstated."' - news, via, Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica
Office Depot & Support.com Cough Up $35,000,000: FTC Smackdown Of Scammer Corporations
via Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica, comes the story of a total of $35 million dollars paid by two sketchy retail corporations (Office Depot and it's partner in crime - Support.com) in the US, whom have fallen from grace most profoundly. Read it and rejoice for a US Federal Agency living up to it's mandate and doing the Rght Thing.
The FTC yesterday announced that Office Depot and its software supplier, Support.com, have agreed to pay a total of $35 million in settlements with the agency. Office Depot agreed to pay $25 million while Support.com will pay the other $10 million. The FTC said it intends to use the money to provide refunds to wronged consumers. - via Jon Brodkin, writing superb reportage at Ars Technica
FCC Coughs Up $43,000 For Hiding Net Neutrality Records
You Can Successfully Bet The Chairman Will Be Implicated In This...
via Jon Brodkin, writing at Condé Nast media property Ars Technica, in which, Mr. Brodkin reports on bad news for Chairman Ajit Pai, as the FCC was forced to settle a suit (to the tune of 43K) brought by independent writer Jason Prechtel where the FCC refused to comply with a FOIA request for data related to the Commissions'repeal of net neutrality. Folks, that's $43,000 of US taxpayer money paid out (legitimately) to a suit plaintiff (and rightly so, to cover his attorney's fees and court costs), that would not have occurred if we had an honest FCC Chairman in place.
"The FCC didn't comply with the request and allegedly didn't even approve or deny the FoIA request within the legally allotted timeframe, so Prechtel sued the commission in September 2017. One year later, a US District Court judge presiding over the case ordered the FCC to stop withholding certain records sought by Prechtel, although the ruling didn't give Prechtel everything he asked for." via Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica, in a report detailing a settlement forced on the FCC by Judge Christopher Cooper of US District Court for the District of Columbia (Ars Technica's PDF link).
Disturbing New Tracking Revelations. The Latest Culprit? Foursquare.
Don't have an account at Foursquare - then why is the company tracking you? The answers' both simple and profound: You are their Product. The latest revelations are part of the sideshow at SXSW 2019 in Austin, Texas and a component of it's 'Hypertrending' construct. What are they thinking?
"You might think you don’t use Foursquare, but chances are you do. Foursquare’s technology powers the geofilters in Snapchat, tagged tweets on Twitter; it’s in Uber, Apple Maps, Airbnb, WeChat, and Samsung phones, to name a few. (Condé Nast Traveler, owned by the same parent company as WIRED, relies on Foursquare data.)" - via the erudite Paris Martineau, writing for Condé Nast-owned Wired.
December's Feet of Clay Award : Verizon/AOL Is Selling Our Kid's Personal Data
Woo Hoo! December's Feet of Clay Award has been summarily bestowed upon those nearly perfect examples of corporate scumbaggery: Verizon/AOL! Congratulations (and a $4.95 Million Fine) are in order targeting the sellers of our children's innocence! Read It And Weep for Our Descendents.
"The Attorney General’s Office found that AOL conducted billions of auctions for ad space on hundreds of websites the company knew were directed to children under the age of 13. Through these auctions, AOL collected, used, and disclosed personal information from the websites’ users in violation of COPPA, enabling advertisers to track and serve targeted ads to young children. The company has agreed to adopt comprehensive reforms to protect children from improper tracking and pay a record $4.95 million in penalties, the largest penalty ever in a COPPA enforcement matter in U.S. history." - via the Office of New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood
The Deep Disingenuousness of the Leviathan of Redmond
via Nathaniel Mott, writing at Tom's Hardware comes the truth regarding Microsoft Corporation's (Nasdaq: MSFT) call to 'regulate' Facial Recognition systems.
Rather Than Focusing On Fixing Lame Windows Update System, Microsoft CEO Targets New Electronic Cricket Bat
Smart Move - Satya - Smart Move Now, what was it you were going to do about the October Creators Update for Windows 10 nagging problem of deleting user documents and other files en mass? Was this a redirection marketing tactic to deflect attention from the recent rash of Microsft Windows Update failures plaguing Redmond; or is it a Lack of Focus Mr. Nadella? (Update: News from Martin Brinkmann at GHacks that the file deletion issue is reportedly fixed). To be fair, an inability to service operating system updates robustly is not just a Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) failure, this SNAFU is a hallmark of the so-called Android 'ecosystem' as well. Oh, and I'm a cricket fan as well. Enjoy.
Google Employees Ironic Chinese Protest
Whilst Google Employees Protest Chinese Market Google Rentry Products, They Have No Problem With Other Users... Where's the Indignation About Privacy Invading Google Behaviors In The US, Canada, Méxicó and elsewhere? Just shameful.
What Kind of Googlery Is This? Location History Suit Antics
via Cyrus Farivar, plying his trade at ArsTechnica, regales us with the sorry tale of Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) nearly continuous falsehoods surrounding the data it retains. In this case, your location data. This issue has triggered a lawsuit that may, very well affect thens of millions of users. Today's Must Read.