Gizmodo: “An independent test suggests Apple collects data about you and your phone when its own settings promise to “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether. For all of Apple’s talk about how private your iPhone is, the company vacuums up a lot of data about you. iPhones do have a privacy setting that is… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
Data Cartels
Data Cartels The Companies That Control and Monopolize Our Information. Sarah Lamdan is Professor of Law at the City University of New York School of Law: “In our digital world, data is power. Information hoarding businesses reign supreme, using intimidation, aggression, and force to maintain influence and control. Sarah Lamdan brings us into the unregulated… Continue Reading
Amazon Becomes the First Company Ever to Lose $1 Trillion in Stock Value
Gizmodo: “Amazon, one of the first companies to join the prestigious $1 trillion dollar valuation club, just passed another, admittedly less desirable milestone. This week, Jeff Bezos’ Everything Store became the first publicly traded company to lose $1 tillion in market valuation. The mind boggling figures, first noted by Bloomberg, are the results of a… Continue Reading
Google’s building package tracking right into your Gmail inbox
The Verge: “Google is adding package tracking features to Gmail, which should make it easier to see where your orders are at a glance while you scroll through your emails. In a blog post on Wednesday, the company says you’ll start seeing “a simple, helpful view of your package tracking and delivery information right in… Continue Reading
Online Consumer Data Collection
CRS Report – Online Consumer Data Collection, October 31, 2022 – “Large amounts of consumer data can be collected, processed, and analyzedby operators of websites and mobile applications (apps) and third parties, which are entities otherthan the website or appprimary operator (e.g., data brokers). Operators collect data for multiple purposes, including providing services, selling user… Continue Reading
New ways to find holiday deals on Google
Google Blog: “The holiday season is upon us, and many are already getting into the (shopping) spirit. Deals are particularly top of mind this year: Among Americans planning to shop for the holidays, 43% are planning to look for deals and sales more than last year. So we’re sharing a few new features to help… Continue Reading
How to Stop Facebook Tracking With the Off-Facebook Activity Tool
Make Use Of: “We all know that Facebook is watching us. It knows what we like, what we don’t like, and it uses that information to show us ads. But did you know that Facebook is also tracking you, even when you’re not on their site? It’s true! Facebook has a tool called the Off-Facebook… Continue Reading
That customer service number? It could be a scam.
Washington Post: “…Get customer service numbers from official websites. Treat every phone number like a potential scam risk. Even if the number came from an official-looking email or text, verify it by checking it against the contact number listed on the company’s website before you call. Type in phone numbers rather than clicking links –… Continue Reading
Keep your family’s internet private with Total Cookie Protection on Firefox
Mozilla Distilled: “By the time a kid turns 13, more than 72 million pieces of personal data have been collected about them on the internet, according to a 2018 report. These can include name, date of birth, address, family members, where they hang out, the people they interact with, what they do in the classroom,… Continue Reading
How Customers Use Doorbell Cameras to Manage Delivery Workers
“At the Digital Doorstep: How Customers Use Doorbell Cameras to Manage Delivery Workers, by Data & Society’s Labor Futures program director Aiha Nguyen and research analyst Eve Zelickson, offers insights into the changing nature of delivery work as a result of increased doorstep surveillance. Investigating the changing relationships between corporations, workers, and customers as a… Continue Reading
How Amazon Accelerated the Commodification of Literature
LitHub: “Amazon founder Jeff Bezos came up with the slogan “Get Big Fast” because he knew size was crucial to exacting ever lower prices from suppliers. Publishers have tried to respond to Amazon’s power by doing the exact same thing, accelerating their decades-long campaign of mergers and acquisitions to consolidate into an ever smaller number… Continue Reading
Google offers more control over the ads you see
ZDNet: “Google on [October 20, 2022] began rolling out a new tool that gives users more control over the ads they see when using Google products – without hampering the way products like Google Search, Discover, and YouTube actually work. My Ad Center, among other things, lets users block whole categories of ads they’re not… Continue Reading
