The Verge: “Lawyers appearing before the Supreme Court sent money to a Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo, according to the aide’s profile. Don’t be like him… The most recent example of poor Venmo security comes from Rajan Vasisht, a former aide to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The Guardian tracked down Vasisht’s Venmo account and… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
Facebook could be tracking your online Plan B or HIV test purchases
Popular Science: “Looking for an at-home HIV test on CVS’ website is not as private an experience as one might think. An investigation by The Markup and KFF Health News found trackers on CVS.com telling some of the biggest social media and advertising platforms the products customers viewed. And CVS is not the only pharmacy… Continue Reading
Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bought it.
Washington Post: “A prominent author’s decision to pull her new novel from publication after being ‘review bombed’ highlights Goodreads’s power in publishing — and raises questions about its longtime owner. Goodreads — an Amazon-owned review site beloved by the bookish — has grown beleaguered. The site is built on outdated technological infrastructure, which made the… Continue Reading
9 Alternatives to Amazon for Your Online Shopping
MakeUseOf: “If you’re looking for an Amazon alternative for your online shopping, such as a local or smaller business, here are the best options to choose from. There’s a myriad of other easy-to-use platforms that offer the same level of shopping experience, if not a better one. Or, you might be looking to support smaller… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 30, 2023
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 30, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly… Continue Reading
TikTok Sells A Lot of Books. Now, Its Owner Wants to Publish Them, Too.
The New York Times [and free link] – “As ByteDance launches a publishing company, many in the book world wonder if it will create an uneven playing field by boosting its own authors at the expense of others…Even under increased regulatory scrutiny over concerns it could be influenced by the Chinese government, ByteDance can reach… Continue Reading
Generative AI Raises Competition Concerns
“Generative AI has the potential to rapidly transform the way we live, work, and interact. Within just a few months, generative AI chatbots and applications have launched and scaled across industries and reached hundreds of millions of people. AI is increasingly becoming a basic part of daily life. Generative AI depends on a set of… Continue Reading
Moving from Gmail to another service
Washington Post – Shira Ovide [free to read this week]: ” I moved my Gmail to a less creepy email. It was surprisingly easy. Moving 15 years of Gmail messages to a smaller email service let me glimpse true tech freedom…Corporate tech giants make some great products. But we also have little choice but to… Continue Reading
Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook
Via LLRX – Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook – Reporter Colin Lecher and Data Journalist Jon Kreeger discuss how websites for mental health crisis resources across the country—which promise anonymity for visitors, many of whom are at a desperate moment in their lives—have been quietly sending sensitive visitor… Continue Reading
FTC Action Against Amazon for Enrolling Consumers in Amazon Prime Without Consent
“The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against Amazon.com, Inc. for its years-long effort to enroll consumers into its Prime program without their consent while knowingly making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions to Prime. In a complaint filed today, the FTC charges that Amazon has knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly… Continue Reading
Amazon’s European chokehold
SOMO Report. Amazon’s European chokehold, June 14, 2023: “Independent sellers and the economy under Amazon’s monopoly power. This research reveals the immense market power of Amazon in Europe and the revenue it derives from it. In most of Europe’s biggest economies, Amazon is the main route for independent businesses to access online shoppers. Amazon’s dominance… Continue Reading
We Found 650,000 Ways Advertisers Label You
The MarkUp: “A spreadsheet on ad platform Xandr’s website revealed a massive collection of “audience segments” used to target consumers based on highly specific, sometimes intimate information and inferences.” – By Jon Keegan and Joel Eastwood. “If you spend any time online, you probably have some idea that the digital ad industry is constantly collecting… Continue Reading
