Gizmodo: “Amazon has been making a mint during the pandemic. That business has resulted in multi-billion dollar pay days for the company’s soon-to-be former CEO, and millions of the company’s iconic cardboard boxes being left on doorsteps, and in lobbies and mailboxes every day. And when those piles of boxes climb higher, the cost they carry… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: E-Commerce
Browser ‘Favicons’ Can Be Used as Undeletable ‘Supercookies’ to Track You Online
Vice: “Favicons are one of those things that basically every website uses but no one thinks about. When you’ve got 100 tabs open, the little icon at the start of every browser tab provides a logo for the window you’ve opened. Twitter uses the little blue bird, Gmail is a red mail icon, and Wikipedia… Continue Reading
10 Common eBay Scams to Be Aware Of
MakeUseOf: “eBay is a great idea, and many people have good experiences using the site. However, there are lots of eBay scammers that you need to watch out for while using it. Whether you buy or sell on the site, you should know about major eBay scams so you can keep yourself safe. Here are… Continue Reading
What Facebook’s Privacy Policies Don’t Tell You
Gizmodo – Shoshana Wodinsky: “Folks, I’m gonna be honest with you. Over my (short) tenure covering digital privacy, I’ve seen my fair share of deeply shitty tech companies pulling deeply shitty stunts in attempts to profit off our personal data. Facebook is one of the names that comes up most frequently here, and that’s partially… Continue Reading
Can academics and journalists collaborate on big data projects?
Journalisr’s Resources – The SilverLining Project wants to find out: “The internet was made for transactions. Whether it’s photos of grandkids or a pallet of toilet paper, the internet connects people who have something with people who want it. That includes illegal goods and services. In hidden corners of the internet called the dark web,… Continue Reading
Got a weird text about a package delivery? It could be a scam.
Vox: “The coronavirus pandemic has produced a ripe environment for text message phishing attacks. Such scams are socially engineered to exploit people’s vulnerable impulses, experts say, and sharply rose in 2020. Many Americans sign up for text message notifications and reminders, from health care providers to shipping services, but as SMS phishing becomes more widespread,… Continue Reading
How Amazon manipulates consumers to keep them subscribed to Amazon Prime
Report by Norway’s Consumer Council (NCC) / Forbrukerradet – YOU CAN LOG OUT, BUT YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE: “Executive summary In this report, we show how Amazon makes it unreasonably cumbersome to unsubscribe from the Amazon Prime service. The process of cancelling an Amazon Prime subscription is riddled with a combination of manipulative design techniques,… Continue Reading
How to Hold Social Media Accountable for Undermining Democracy
Harvard Business Review: “The problem with social media isn’t just what users post — it’s what the platforms decide to do with that content. Far from being neutral, social media companies are constantly making decisions about which content to amplify, elevate, and suggest to other users. Given their business model, which promotes scale above all,… Continue Reading
Biased language models can result from internet training data
Search Engine Land – “The controversy around AI researcher Timnit Gebru’s exit from Google, and what biased language models may mean for the search industry. George Nguyen on December 29, 202 – Last year, Google announced BERT, calling it the largest change to its search system in nearly five years, and now, it powers almost… Continue Reading
These Stores Will Box Your Amazon Returns for Free
Lifehacker – “Whether you’re lazy or in a panicked state because you need to make an Amazon return and you (or someone in your household) threw away your item’s packaging, fret not: You have plenty of options for returning your Amazon purchases, and you might not even need the original shipping box to send an… Continue Reading
How to avoid buying counterfeits online
The New York Times – “2020 has changed the way we shop. As more and more people commit to online purchasing for items big and small, the unfortunate truth is that you’re far more likely to run into scammers and scalpers. And the last thing you want after spending your hard-earned money and dealing with numerous shipping delays is… Continue Reading
Gifts From Cyberspace
The New York Times -“Searching for a last-minute gift … that may take months to arrive? Here’s an alternative gift guide, to delight and surprise.” There are some odd items here – but who cares – it has been an odd year! Continue Reading
