AARP: “…It’s difficult to gauge the extent of the risk. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, hasn’t disclosed how many complaints it’s received about scammers or how many it’s taken action against, though from July to September 2023 alone, the website removed 827 million fake Facebook accounts, according to a Meta spokesperson. However, the BBB’s Scam Tracker… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
YouTube stops recommending videos when signed out of Google
Bleeping Computer: “YouTube is no longer showing recommended videos to users logged out of a Google account or using Incognito mode, making people concerned they are being bullied into always being signed into the service. This change, which is now rolling out, shows a simple YouTube homepage without any videos or tips on what to… Continue Reading
Inside the World of TikTok Spammers and the AI Tools That Enable Them
404 Media: “At 404 Media we have tried very hard to make our content the old-fashioned way, but, after watching an Instagram Reel that suggested we could get wildly rich with no effort, I decided to dive into the exciting world of creating spam by recycling other people’s content using basic AI tools. We have recently… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 2, 2024
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 2, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on… Continue Reading
Scam Baiting: An Innovative Approach to Combating Online Fraud
Via LLRX – Scam Baiting: An Innovative Approach to Combating Online Fraud – The thesis of Kyra Strick‘s instructive paper promotes a proactive approach to a rapidly increasing online security crisis. Strick states that in the dynamic landscape of cybersecurity, scam baiting has emerged as a captivating and unconventional approach to combating online fraud. Scam baiting is… Continue Reading
Toward a durable, dictator-proof Washington Post
Via LLRX – Toward a durable, dictator-proof Washington Post – David H. Rothman’s timely, outside the box commentary addresses the growing wave of news outlets abruptly closing down their websites, laying off staff, and in some cases, eliminating access to their respective archives. Rothman proposes an alternative to “how do I charge them enough” to… Continue Reading
Axel Springer vs. Google
Fortune: “Axel Springer is at Google’s throat again. The German news-publishing giant (for which I worked in my days at Politico) has a long history of battling Google over the issue of so-called ancillary copyright fees—payments for carrying snippets of text and thumbnail images in search results. But now it’s waging war on another front:… Continue Reading
The Best VPNs to Protect Yourself Online
Wired – “It won’t solve all of your privacy problems, but a virtual private network can make you a less tempting target for hackers. A virtual private network (VPN) is like a protective tunnel you can use to pass through a public network, protecting your data from outside eyes. Whether you’re worried about hiding your… Continue Reading
Amazon’s Big Secret
The Atlantic [unpaywalled] – “…Nearly 30 years after the company was founded, we still don’t really know where its profits come from. The answer will loom large in the antitrust case against it. Under SEC rules, public corporations must file quarterly reports disclosing revenue, expenses, profits, and other metrics. Initially, only company-wide data were required.… Continue Reading
How to stop your devices from listening to you
PopSci: “Our smartphones and smart speakers can listen for specific voice commands and take action accordingly, but maybe you don’t want your devices always having one digital ear open. Aside from privacy concerns, the smart assistants inside our gadgets can be triggered accidentally–by someone else in the house or even someone speaking on television. Turning… Continue Reading
Google Chrome’s new AI can finish your sentences for you
The Verge: “Google has started rolling out “Help me write” — an experimental Gemini-powered generative AI feature for its Chrome browser that aims to help users write or refine text based on webpage content. Following the stable release of Chrome M122 on Tuesday, the new writing assistant is now available to try out on Mac… Continue Reading
FTC Order Will Ban Avast from Selling Browsing Data for Advertising Purposes
“The Federal Trade Commission will require software provider Avast to pay $16.5 million and prohibit the company from selling or licensing any web browsing data for advertising purposes to settle charges that the company and its subsidiaries sold such information to third parties after promising that its products would protect consumers from online tracking. In… Continue Reading
