Publishers Weekly – “The American Library Association (ALA) has delivered a written report to the House Judiciary Committee telling lawmakers that “unfair behavior by digital market actors,” including Amazon and some major publishers, is “doing concrete harm to libraries.” The report, delivered last week to a House antitrust subcommittee investigating competition in the digital market,… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
Gmail users hooked on free storage face new fees as data limits are capped
Bloomberg: “Google lured billions of consumers to its digital services by offering copious free cloud storage. That’s beginning to change. The Alphabet Inc. unit has whittled down some free storage offers in recent months, while prodding more users toward a new paid cloud subscription called Google One. That’s happening as the amount of data people… Continue Reading
Alexa and Google Home abused to eavesdrop and phish passwords
ars technica – Amazon- and Google-approved apps turned both voice-controlled devices into “smart spies”. – “By now, the privacy threats posed by Amazon Alexa and Google Home are common knowledge. Workers for both companies routinely listen to audio of users—recordings of which can be kept forever—and the sounds the devices capture can be used in criminal… Continue Reading
Google new delete history feature is almost useless for privacy, experts warn
Follow up to October 15, 2019 posting – Google introducing auto-delete controls for your Location History and activity data – please note: Reclaim the Net: “It’s no secret for anyone that Google benefits from collecting and selling user data – this is a major part of their business whether we like it or not. Whenever… Continue Reading
Google introducing auto-delete controls for your Location History and activity data
Google Blog – “Whether you’re looking for the latest news or the quickest driving route, we aim to make our products helpful for everyone. And when you turn on settings like Location History or Web & App Activity, the data can make Google products more useful for you—like recommending a restaurant that you might enjoy,… Continue Reading
To Live or Die by Google Search Brings an Escalating Cost
Bloomberg – “Where’s the best place to hide a body? The second page of a Google search… The gallows humor shows that people rarely look beyond the first few results of a search, but Lee Griffin isn’t laughing. In the 13 years since he co-founded British price comparison website GoCompare, the 41-year-old has tried to… Continue Reading
10 Tips to Avoid Leaving Tracks Around the Internet
The New York Times – “Google and Facebook collect information about us and then sell that data to advertisers. Websites deposit invisible “cookies” onto our computers and then record where we go online. Even our own government has been known to track us. When it comes to digital privacy, it’s easy to feel hopeless. We’re… Continue Reading
Where do the tech giants send your data?
ZDNet – “…Recent changes to the law made user data a hot topic. New data protection laws like GDPR have forced technology companies to become much more transparent about the ways they use your data and how they are sharing it with global governments. Tech companies publish transparency reports that show where they send their… Continue Reading
Amazon and Walmart want you to think they always have the best prices
Vox/Recode: “Zulily is introducing a feature on Wednesday that aims to show online shoppers how much cheaper its prices are than Amazon’s and Walmart’s. The comparison will show up on thousands of Zulily product pages each day, as long as the exact item is also sold by either Amazon or Walmart.com. In testing, Zulily says… Continue Reading
Ad Blocker That Works on Podcasts and Radio
Motherboard – “Ads exploit the weaknesses of many defenseless souls,” the creator of AdBlock Radio says….” Meet AdBlock Radio, an adblocker for live radio streams and podcasts. Its creator, Alexandre Storelli, told Motherboard he hopes to help companies “develop alternative business models for radio and podcast lovers that do not want ads.” “Ads exploit the… Continue Reading
Poll: Two-thirds of Americans want to break up companies like Amazon and Google
Vox: “Americans are pretty on board with breaking up Big Tech, especially if it means companies such as Amazon and Google stop showing them search results they make money off of first. Nearly two-thirds of Americans would support breaking up tech firms by undoing recent mergers, such as Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram, if it means… Continue Reading
Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products
WSJ.com [paywall]: “Amazon has adjusted its product-search system to more prominently feature listings that are more profitable for the company, said people who worked on the project—a move, contested internally, that could favor Amazon’s own brands. Late last year, these people said, Amazon optimized the secret algorithm that ranks listings so that instead of showing… Continue Reading
