Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"Wired recently started an anti-ad-blocking campaign that attempts to prevent ad-blocked users from reading articles unless they pay a monthly subscription fee. On the heels of this decision comes a roundup of the major ad-blockers, some of which are pretty dodgy indeed. Adblock Plus comes off the worst of the lot. The company charges publishers fees to allow their ads through its filters, based on criteria about size and placement. Ghostery blocks trackers, but by default gathers "anonymized" data about your browsing habits (it's very hard to conclusively describe any deep data set as anonymized). "

"Many people unwittingly sign up to be location-tracked 24/7, unaware that the highly sensitive data this generates is being used and sold on for profit. Campaigners say that if this information were stolen by hackers, criminals could use it to target children as they leave school or homes after occupants have gone out."

"There's a technology that could be really useful in providing a real-time measure of the effectiveness (or otherwise) of public policy. But it's so intrusive that in "normal" times we would be very hesitant to adopt it. Present times are not normal, though, so we will probably adopt it - perhaps sensibly - "just for the duration of the crisis". And then?"

"Some time in the next few months, iPhone users will be greeted by a message - not from Facebook, but from Apple - asking them if they will allow the Facebook app to collect their data. If users refuse, Apple will prevent Facebook from doing so. Facebook's attempt to vilify Apple looks like sour grapes Read more A similar message from Apple will pop up, related to any app that collects data on users for advertising purposes. Facebook says it will preempt the change by rolling out a pop-up screen over the coming weeks and months, making a plea to users to stay opted in. "Agreeing to these prompts doesn't result in Facebook collecting new types of data; it just means that Facebook can continue to give people better experiences," a Facebook spokeswoman said."

"These new tracking measures may someday be repurposed to advance governments' mass surveillance programs, Snowden warned"

"Emma Carr, the deputy director general of Big Brother Watch, believes that the technology ignores customers' privacy, and branded it "disproportionate". "This is a clear example of profit trumping privacy," she said. "The use of surveillance technology by shops, in order to provide a better or more personalised service, seems totally disproportionate.""

"It would be a bit glib-and more than a little clichéd-to call this some kind of technological dystopia. Actually, dystopia wouldn't be right, exactly: Dystopian fiction is generally speculative, whereas all of these items and services are real. At the end of September, Amazon announced a suite of tech products in its move toward "ambient intelligence," which Amazon's hardware chief, Dave Limp, described as technology and devices that slip into the background but are "always there," collecting information and taking action against it. This intense devotion to tracking and quantifying all aspects of our waking and non-waking hours is nothing new-see the Apple Watch, the Fitbit, social media writ large, and the smartphone in your pocket-but Amazon has been unusually explicit about its plans. The Everything Store is becoming an Everything Tracker, collecting and leveraging large amounts of personal data related to entertainment, fitness, health, and, it claims, security. It's surveillance that millions of customers are opting in to."

"The music industry is urging streaming platforms not to let artificial intelligence use copyrighted songs for training, in the latest of a run of arguments over intellectual property that threaten to derail the generative AI sector's explosive growth. In a letter to streamers including Spotify and Apple Music, the record label Universal Music Group expressed fears that AI labs would scrape millions of tracks to use as training data for their models and copycat versions of pop stars."

"Some of the same social media analyses that have helped Google and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spot warning signs of a flu outbreak could be used to detect the rumblings of violent conflict before it begins, scholars said in a paper released this week. Kenyan officials used essentially this system to track hate speech on Facebook, blogs and Twitter in advance of that nation's 2013 presidential election, which brought Uhuru Kenyatta to power."

"If students want a verified certificate for their online course, they can pay a fee of $30-90 (approximately £17-54) for the Signature Track service. They will be asked to submit a webcam photo and identification card to check their identity. "

The latest Snowden leak suggests US and UK cyberspies are taking advantage of Google's proprietary cookie technology in an effort to track suspects.

"First, the drones engage in aerial mapping to create detailed three-dimensional terrain models. They then begin "precision planting" by shooting seed pods that have been "pregerminated and covered in a nutritious hydrogel" into the soil. Finally, drones monitor tree growth over the course of a number of "planting audits," designed to track the reforrestation progress. "

"Sure, it's a cool display of human-tracked motion into a robotic mechanism, but if you aren't seeing the scary place this samurai robot demo is going, you're probably just being really optimistic."

"Google's self-driving cars have driven over a million miles in autonomous mode. But when Google brought its testing program to Austin, Texas, one of the vehicles met its match: a cyclist doing a track stand - when a rider shifts very slightly forward and back to maintain balance while keeping feet on the pedals." This is very surprising that this self-driven car would detect a person not even moving and still keep stopped, it will be interesting to see if and how they fix this problem.