Amazon Delivery Criticized
Articles

Good Monday morning. It’s December 30th. There are only two more days until our Roaring Twenties begin.  Wednesday is also when California’s Consumer Privacy Act takes effect. Organizations that earn at least $25 million in annual revenue or that retain information for 50,000 or more consumers or households have new rules to follow. And you will keep getting email notices this week from those companies advising you that their privacy policies have changed. As with the European GDPR privacy launch 19 months ago, those emails will stop soon.

Today’s Spotlight takes about 4 minutes to read. Want to chat about something you see here? Here is a contact form.

1. News To Know Now

1. Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 as of January 14. That matters to everyone because there are up to one billion computers with Windows 7 still installed, they are going to become less reliable, and they will be great hacking and virus targets for the ten year old operating system. I’ve seen dozens of messages in the last week from people who insist that they won’t upgrade — even for free. Good luck with that if you’re one of them.

Smart links
How Many PCs are Still Running Windows 7 at ZDNet
You Can Still Get Windows 10 for Free at How-To Geek
How to Move on or Keep Living With Windows 7 — Tom’s Hardware

2. News broke last week that Chinese government hackers can breach a system with two-factor authentication (2FA). That includes servers containing sensitive information or controlling traffic signals, power plants, and more. The hackers still need to get to the servers in question, usually through a phishing or password cracking attempt. The bigger issue is their ability to fake the code that is sent to a mobile phone or similar physical device check.

Smart links: ZDNet broke the story, the 40 page report as PDF

3. Facebook is piloting a fact-checking program of part-time contractors who are ‘ordinary people’, reports Axios. The company reportedly wants to feature work done by regular individuals instead of trained researchers as a way of creating a higher threshold. Axios also reported that Facebook and Reuters are teaming up to offer a free 45 minute class on how individuals can spot “manipulated media and deepfakes.”

2. Amazon Delivery

Amazon made a lot of money this month. The company reports that tens of millions of its devices were sold worldwide this holiday season. Consumers also began five million new or trial Amazon Prime memberships, the company stated in a December 26 report.

Amazon delivery statistics caught the attention of many analysts. Amazon said that the company and its contractors delivered 3.5 billion packages during 2019, more than half of what UPS delivered. Critics say that the company reached that volume by skipping planned driver training and requiring unrealistic productivity, which are similar to complaints lodged about conditions in Amazon’s distribution centers where items are stored and packed.

Drivers reach productivity goals by skipping meal breaks and urinating in bottles stored in their trucks to save time, according to an expose by Pro Publica and BuzzFeed. Amazon is ramping up its logistics capabilities by outsourcing to small companies that handle between twenty and forty routes.

Dozens of these subcontractors are not in compliance with Amazon standards and rules. The report also alleges that at least 60 collisions have occurred with serious personal injuries. The scale at which Amazon delivery has grown has also required the company to write guidelines for how to address deaths that occur after collisions with Amazon delivery vehicles.

Three U.S. Senators signed a letter in September asking Amazon for more information regarding its delivery practices. After receiving the company’s response, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called Amazon’s answers “evasive” and demanded that the company “throw open the books” to lawmakers.

3. Google Search Updates

Your organization’s website has a source of “primary content” that you can’t edit. Coverage of a Twitter conversation this month by Search Engine Roundtable included the statement by Googler John Mueller that Google uses public comments to help rank a website’s content. 

Google can also help you remember upcoming movies. 9 to 5 Google reports that mobile users can now choose a “Watched It?” checkmark to track movies they’ve seen. There is also a “Watchlist” feature that will allow you to store the names of movies you would like to see.

Don’t forget that we publish a free weekly newsletter that updates Netflix DVD and streaming release dates. We also include information about many Amazon Prime Video dates and even some Canadian data. We pioneered this category of information way back in 2011 and have published steadily since then. You can always see the latest movie dates at our Everything Netflix page. 

Ask for your free newsletter here. We only need your email address.

4. Debugged: Plant Based Burgers & Breasts

The good folks at Tri-State Livestock News claim that men might grow breasts after eating Burger King’s new Impossible Whopper. The claim, made without evidence, is a good example of how inaccurate news can be passed around via official-looking sources. Understanding information’s original source is critical. 

For the record, men already have breasts, and eating too many of any kind of burger will cause them to grow larger.

Ars Technica debunks this one.

5. Also in the Spotlight: Spotify Stops Political Ads

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders and the Republican National Committee are two advertisers that will soon say goodbye to Spotify. The music streaming giant has 141 million users on its ad-supported tier and will stop accepting political advertising soon. Sanders and the RNC are its two highest profile political advertisers.

Ad Age has details.

6. Great Data: Annotated Animations

No one is going to criticize your data if you add helpful annotations. This short video of Moore’s Law visualized over time makes great use of short annotations that appear among the techspeak throughout its runtime.

Moore’s Law states the number of components per integrated circuit would double every year. The animation explains the principle, debunks a popular misquote, and explains other technically advanced information as it also reports on the data.

Have a look at Visual Capitalist’s video here.

7. Protip: Share Notes Between Your Chrome Devices

The new version of Google’s Chrome browser features an easy-peasy way to transfer links and notes between your phone and a computer or tablet.

Lifehacker has the helpful details.

8. Following Up: Hackers Release Pensacola Files

Two weeks ago, we told you that the Pensacola, Florida, government was a ransomware victim. The hackers behind the attack demanded $1 million to release the network. The group published two gigabytes of files last Monday and claim that they have ten times that amount in reserve.

Bleeping Computer says that they’re in touch with the hackers.

9. ICYMI — Top links from the past 30 days

Tracking President Trump (via cellphone data) at the New York Times.

Deep Sea visualization showing where creatures live at Neal.fun

RFK, Jr. is Single Largest Anti-Vax Advertiser at Ars Technica

10. Coffee Break: Deer Scores Goal, Celebrates

There were about 55 hours remaining in the year when I typed this. Lots of people will share resolutions and greetings over the next two days.

My wish for you is that you are as happy in the coming year as this deer who scored a goal with a soccer ball and then celebrated.

Watch him here.

Government Data Mining in 2019
Articles News

Facial Recognition Grows Up

Observers could spend every working minute analyzing facial recognition to stay updated with its constant changes. For example, Amazon recently announced a change to its Rekognition software that “improved accuracy for emotion detection (for all 7 emotions: ‘Happy’, ‘Sad’, ‘Angry’, ‘Surprised’, ‘Disgusted’, ‘Calm’ and ‘Confused’) and added a new emotion: ‘Fear’. Lastly, we have improved age range estimation accuracy; you also get narrower age ranges across most age groups.”

Somehow Amazon is still working on age estimation accuracy, but can detect fear.

Facebook also announced new privacy settings for DeepFace, its facial recognition software. That sounds nice, but remember that DeepFace is believed to be the largest facial recognition database in the world thanks to the 250 billion photos that have been voluntarily uploaded to Facebook. The company claims that it beats the FBI’s facial recognition programs with 15% more accuracy.

Google’s Face Match algorithm now makes use of a camera in its Nest Hub smart home display, which is a nice way of saying that Google’s thermostat and light controlling gizmos point an always-on camera at your living space. You can learn more about that in CNet’s excellent “Google collects face data now. Here’s what it means and how to opt out.“

The race to get this facial data isn’t only to sell you more stuff although that’s certainly helpful. Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary has said that it will use facial recognition at live events. Not so fast, say some artists like the aptly named Rage Against The Machine.  

More than half of U.S. adults trust law enforcement agencies to responsibly use facial recognition, according to Pew Research. The approval rating drops to 36% for technology companies and 18% for advertisers. California lawmakers sent a bill last week to Governor Gavin Newsom that would ban state and local police from using facial recognition software on their body cameras.

Tattletale Apps and Ancillary Data

Scary stories about phone apps, browser extensions, and smart devices abound in our society. We’re no longer surprised when we learn that a tech company is selling ovulation data from apps women use to track their periods or that Foursquare doesn’t care if you use their app to check in to a location since they have “passive” data collection.

Personal data from all of your transactions constantly flows into buckets at data brokerages around the world. WaPo columnist Geoffrey Fowler wrote a blockbuster expose this summer about browser extensions that seem innocuous but “leak information” directly to data brokers. In Fowler’s expose, one of the browser extensions was used to magnify images on a screen, but requested the ability “to read and change your browsing history.” The extension had 800,000 users and was packaging each user’s search history.

At a large family gathering this weekend, I was asked to troubleshoot someone’s PC because it seemed like Google was unresponsive. After only fifteen minutes of tinkering I found that there was a Firefox extension that promised private browsing. Instead, it read search data and routed the request to another network. Luckily, they didn’t return to Google but to Yahoo! search, which was my first clue that something terrible was happening.

Don’t forget that the absence of data is also data. Netflix raised eyebrows last month when The Verge found that Netflix was monitoring a phone’s physical activity sensor. Netflix later said it was a test to see if they could improve video quality while people were watching on the move. But the question remains why a video app gets to track your movements and activity. Fitness trackers, phones, and smart watches all have the ability to understand where you are and what you are doing or not doing.

Even medical data isn’t protected despite health privacy laws. ProPublica found 5 million health records on hundreds of computer servers worldwide. Anyone with a web browser or a few lines of computer code can view patient records, they found, including names in some cases. They didn’t do any hacking or nefarious activities because the records—either for consultation or stored for archives—were publicly accessible on the Internet.

Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are part of a new trade group called the CARIN Alliance that is creating a medical records universal standard for patient records. You’re probably already thinking to yourself, “What could go wrong with those three setting up programs accessing my most personal data?” Good news. The federal government, many state governments, and major health insurance companies are also participating.

The point is that your transactions every day create a growing pool of data about you.  Here in northern Virginia, our state is one of several using “remote sensing” that checks a vehicle’s emissions when it passes through a toll booth. The program is a great way to monitor air quality but also allows local jurisdictions to understand which vehicles don’t meet emissions standards and the locations that they travel through. 

Foursquare would call that a passive check-in.

The Algorithms

DNA testing at home led to big databases stuffed with results—and helped police solve multiple cold case crimes, including a 52 year old murder case in Seattle. GEDmatch, one of the larger aggregators of uploaded DNA data, is the database police most often use. That old Seattle case and the Golden State Killer case received headline attention, but law enforcement agencies are solving dormant cases every week using this unique collaboration between the public and law enforcement.

Users can opt-in to allow police genealogy experts to work with crime scene DNA results, genealogy hobbyist results, and create family trees for people who are still living. 

Technology is also fueling the New York Police Department’s real life exampleofa detective movie staple. Using software they developed and then made public for free, the NYPD uses Patternizr to find similarities between crimes. Like the genealogy situation, Patternizr requires human analysts to sort through the program’s output and decide which results to send to detectives.

Police are also finding new ways to use older technology like cameras and scanners. In London, the BBC reported that police tested rail passengers for hidden explosives or knives using new scanners that providing imaging from up to thirty feet away. Cameras are more widely used in other countries to surveil cities according to Comparitech. Their overview shows that London and Atlanta are the only non-Chinese cities on a list of the ten most surveilled cities, but plenty of western cities made the top 20, including Chicago, Sydney, and Berlin.

Benign social media use exists throughout law enforcement. We’ve all read tweets and social media updates about events in our communities as well as efforts to humanize officers. For example, the Gloucester (NJ) Police post images of recovered bicycles on Pinterest. But for every wholesome use of technology, we also see complaints like a 2016 ACLU of California warning about some police departments tracking activists and their movements on social media.

What Happens Next

Ivanka Trump didn’t start the trend, but quickly tried linking gun violence prevention legislation the White House finds troubling to a new federal agency proposal called the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, or HARPA. Proponents see the agency as a medical science equivalent of the military’s DARPA, which created the technology that evolved into the Internet.

The administration specifically wanted to know if this new agency could help identify people who were on the brink of becoming mass shooters. Washington Post reporting shows that their three page proposal included tracking data from fitness trackers, smart watches, and mobile phones used by mentally ill consumers, which presupposes that gun violence is linked to mental health, something that is in no way proven.

The HARPA example of analyzing Fitbit data is one extreme but real example of government data mining and law enforcement using technology in preemptive ways. Another extreme recent example is Wednesday’s news that the Department of Justice will authorize Homeland Security to collect DNA from all migrants who are detained rather than only those who are arrested. We’ve covered DNA databases before, but this is DNA involuntary seized when a non-American is detained. That DNA will also undoubtedly be used to identify American citizens, leading many to question the constitutionality of the federal government collecting the data.

In addition to physical tracking, government agencies are also increasingly interested in using semantic analysis to question the words people post to social media. This type of analysis has been around for years and is behind robust marketing concepts like search engine optimization and advertising, but government plans call for wholesale monitoring of all platforms.

Israeli startup Zencity expanded into the U.S. last year and already has deals in place with local governments in Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston to monitor social media and telephone calls to city services while classifying citizen sentiment. This is no longer about counting complaints, but using software to classify the severity of the feedback. Federal offices increasingly want this information too, and Attorney General William Barr co-signed a joint US-UK open letter Thursday that urges Facebook not to encrypt communications.

The French government also wants social media access according to The Guardian last Tuesday, but for tax purposes. The French Public Action and Accounts Minister said last year in an interview that “the tax office will be able to see that if you have numerous pictures of yourself with a luxury car while you don’t have the means to own one, then maybe your cousin or your girlfriend has lent it to you, or maybe not.”

China remains the foreign government most invested in social media. The country’s Social Credit System remains a hodgepodge of basic counting (think: number of complaints), business information, and traditional credit reporting (which some may argue is already creepy enough). 

China’s vague plans were written about in breathless terms by Western media, especially in America, and have served as the backdrop or inspiration for more than one television show. Since then privacy advocates in the West agree that social credit scores could be very bad indeed, but no one understands how to codify those yet.

A fantastic explainer infographic by Visual Capitalist explains how social credit grew out of financial markets and has been used to stop people with unpaid taxes from leaving China or dog owners who don’t clean up after their dogs to potentially lose them. Both of those penalties sound fine. But there are warning signs too, including citizens being blocked from purchasing air or rail tickets or being eligible for a job.

The Bottom Line:  Nothing summarizes the dynamic nature of governments using consumer technology to govern better than what happened as we wrote this series.  We developed the idea to write about government data mining at the end of this summer and began the series in September. Since then we have had opportunities to include multiple new stories each week. 

What was written about China’s systems in 2015 and 2016 are inaccurate now. Either a new administration or a Trump reelection in 2020 will create additional programs. 

And there are ever-increasing numbers of private programs such as the DRN vehicle location database created entirely by companies that repossess vehicles. They’re tracking locations of all vehicles, not only the ones they’re interested in pursuing. They’re likely tracking your car too, which begs an answer to the oft-asked: whose data is it anyway?

Zuckerberg Recorded At Facebook – Spotlight #312
Articles

Good Monday morning. It’s the First Monday in October when the Supreme Court opens for its term. Net neutrality protections are one contentious issue the Supreme Court won’t address this year after a DC appeals court sided with the FCC. The decision will allow states to create their own versions. Quartz has a good explainer although nothing is imminent.

Today’s Spotlight takes about 5 minutes to read. Want to chat about something you see here? Here is a contact form.

2. News To Know Now


1. Nevada’s privacy law took effect last week. Consumers living there can prevent companies from selling personally identifiable data. An opt-out form or email address is required, and companies have ninety days to acknowledge requests.

2. DCH, a three hospital system in Alabama, has paid to restore its systems after a ransomware attack, according to AL.com. Meanwhile Baltimore’s mayor has placed the city’s CIO on leave after ransomware crippled city service earlier this year according to StateScoop. Part of the cited rationale included inaction regarding a 2017 internal threat assessment identifying the attack’s risk and the presence of servers running outdated versions of Microsoft Windows.

3. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was recorded at employee meetings that lasted two hours. The Verge has received and published the recordings. Zuckerberg is heard discussing:

  • Twitter’s inability to stop disinformation or harmful information.
  • A potential legal battle if Senator Elizabeth Warren is elected president.
  • Chinese-owned TikTok’s popularity in the U.S. and India, especially in India where it is more popular than Instagram.
  • His control over the company’s voting rights alleviating the need for Facebook to supply quarterly-focused financial results.
  • Thirty thousand content moderators who face having to view distressing text and video. Zuckerberg agreed the job has distasteful elements, but says that the media overdramatized the story.
  • Transcripts are here.

Our friend Wilson Cochran is a standup family man and the father of a delightful 4-year-old girl named Charlie. Wilson recently announced that he is in kidney failure. If you have any notion of ever being tested to be a donor, please write George by pressing the reply key, and I will put you in touch with him.

Here is his story.

 
 WATCH:  In 2002’s Minority Report, the government has a “precrime unit” to deal with future crimes. Think that’s farfetched? The Trump administration is considering a plan to identify mass shooters based in part on smartwatch and fitness tracker data.
3.  Government Data Mining, Part 4: What Happens Next
Our government data mining analysis covers four areas over four weeks.
1. Facial recognition’s growth – three weeks ago
2. Ancillary data from applications – two weeks ago
3. National and local algorithms to make sense of all the data – last week
4. Extensions into areas like personal health records and trackers  – below
Ivanka Trump didn’t start the trend, but quickly tried linking gun violence prevention legislation the White House finds troubling to a new federal agency proposal called the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, or HARPA. Proponents see the agency as a medical science equivalent of the military’s DARPA, which created the technology that evolved into the Internet.
The administration specifically wanted to know if this new agency could help identify people who were on the brink of becoming mass shooters. Washington Post reporting shows that their three page proposal included tracking data from fitness trackers, smart watches, and mobile phones used by mentally ill consumers, which presupposes that gun violence is linked to mental health, something that is in no way proven.
The HARPA example of analyzing Fitbit data is one extreme but real example of governments and law enforcement using technology in preemptive ways. Another extreme recent example is Wednesday’s news that the Department of Justice will authorize Homeland Security to collect DNA from all migrants who are detained rather than only those who are arrested. We’ve covered DNA databases before, but this is DNA involuntary seized when a non-American is detained. That DNA will also undoubtedly be used to identify American citizens, leading many to question the constitutionality of the federal government collecting the data.
In addition to physical tracking, government agencies are also increasingly interested in using semantic analysis to question the words people post to social media. This type of analysis has been around for years and is behind robust marketing concepts like search engine optimization and advertising, but government plans call for wholesale monitoring of all platforms.
Israeli startup Zencity expanded into the U.S. last year and already has deals in place with local governments in Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston to monitor social media and telephone calls to city services while classifying citizen sentiment. This is no longer about counting complaints, but using software to classify the severity of the feedback. Federal offices increasingly want this information too, and Attorney General William Barr co-signed a joint US-UK open letter Thursday that urges Facebook not to encrypt communications.
The French government also wants social media access according to The Guardian last Tuesday, but for tax purposes. The French Public Action and Accounts Minister said last year in an interview that “the tax office will be able to see that if you have numerous pictures of yourself with a luxury car while you don’t have the means to own one, then maybe your cousin or your girlfriend has lent it to you, or maybe not.”
China remains the foreign government most invested in social media. The country’s Social Credit System remains a hodgepodge of basic counting (think: number of complaints), business information, and traditional credit reporting (which some may argue is already creepy enough). 
China’s vague plans were written about in breathless terms by Western media, especially in America, and have served as the backdrop or inspiration for more than one television show. Since then privacy advocates in the West agree that social credit scores could be very bad indeed, but no one understands how to codify those yet.
A fantastic explainer infographic by Visual Capitalist explains how social credit grew out of financial markets and has been used to stop people with unpaid taxes from leaving China or dog owners who don’t clean up after their dogs to potentially lose them. Both of those penalties sound fine. But there are warning signs too, including citizens being blocked from purchasing air or rail tickets or being eligible for a job.
The Bottom Line:  Nothing summarizes the dynamic nature of governments using consumer technology to govern better than what happened as we wrote this series.  We developed the idea to write about government data mining at the end of this summer and began the series in September. Since then we have had opportunities to include multiple new stories each week. 
What was written about China’s systems in 2015 and 2016 are inaccurate now. Either a new administration or a Trump reelection in 2020 will create additional programs. 
And there are ever-increasing numbers of private programs such as the DRN vehicle location database created entirely by companies that repossess vehicles. They’re tracking locations of all vehicles, not only the ones they’re interested in pursuing. They’re likely tracking your car too, which begs an answer to the oft-asked: whose data is it anyway?
4.  Google Search Updates
Google, which drove most of the Internet’s adoption of HTTPS encrypted security, is planning to use its market leading Chrome browser to ensure the encryption standard is appropriately applied. Small areas of non-encryption, often caused by non-technical staff or lack of resources, create pages with “mixed content” with only some parts of the page secure.
Google Chrome will automatically block people from visiting those pages beginning in December. After years of offering a carrot with improved ranking and then requiring encryption, Google is now using a stick by blocking users.
There are also reports that Google is testing a sidebar similar to Amazon’s in search results. You may remember that Google showed ads down a page’s right sidebar until about a year ago.
Google also announced last week that its revamped Shopping experience is now showing across desktop and mobile in the U.S.  These pages are personalized now much like your search experience although one neat feature is the ability to create price tracking, which isn’t out yet but will be soon because Christmas is 79 days away.
Sorry for that reminder.
5. Debugged: Disinformation Campaigns for Sale on the Dark Web
It was a little surprising to learn from a ZDNet story that disinformation campaigns are for sale on the dark web. We’ve shown you some of the illegal things you can purchase there,.It was news to us to learn you could also buy media campaigns.
Read:  For a few hundred dollars…
6. Also in the Spotlight
Amazon launched Amazon Cares, a virtual medical clinic for employees with an option for nurses to visit an employee’s home, reports CNBC.
The majority of those recommend ad sections at the bottom of seemingly every news article online are served by ad companies Taboola and Outbrain. Now Taboola is buying Outbrain in an $850 million deal according to TechCrunch. 
Facebook will not factcheck advertising, the company announced. Despite the horror this created for pundits, there are still truth in advertising laws protecting consumers. No one wanted people to use age, gender, or race to exclude people from seeing Facebook ads, but it was the advertisers who broke the law by doing it. 
7. Great Data: Bias in Polling Time Waits
There are times when huge data sets help us learn and not govern. Then-Harvard doctoral candidate Stephen Scott Pettigrew wrote his dissertation showing precincts with larger percentages of minority voters experienced longer delays during the 2016 election. That’s a problem because longer delays mean lower voter turnout. Pettigrew’s analysis uses data from Massachusetts and Florida to show that minority precincts are underserved by local election officials.
You can check it yourself here. It’s all there, every page.
8. Protip: Misconduct Reporting Database
This important resource by nonprofit I’m Them focuses on how people who are subject to workplace harassment can get assistance and file complaints in many of America’s largest organizations. The directory includes the organization’s rules, email addresses, and phone numbers.
Circulate this URL far and wide.
9. Bizarre Bazaar (strange stuff for sale online)
Monthly deliveries of “gourmet” peanut butter and jelly shouldn’t cost nearly $500 for the year. I’ve checked the Amazon product description. NOWHERE does it read that Beyonce will feed me bite-sized morsels of sandwich so I’ll pass but someone should tell the American Peanut Council about this.
Have a look at the “club”
10. Coffee Break: Subway Soprano
Emily Zamourka was singing Puccini in the Los Angeles subway on Monday night when the LAPD posted some of her remarkable singing to Twitter. The Internet responded like it sometimes can, and now Emily has been offered a recording contact along with tens of thousands of dollars in crowdsourced funds.
Catch up on the feel-good story here.
 Top image: Anthony Quintano from Honolulu, HI, United States – Mark Zuckerberg F8 2018 Keynote, CC BY 2.0, Link