CRACKDOWN ON ‘INJECTIONS’

CLICK injection sounds like it could be some sort of painful medical procedure, but it’s not. In fact, it’s a type of fraud, where malware creates fake user clicks on ads so that they look more popular to viewers.

Facebook has just filed a suit against two App developers, LionMobi and JedMobi, for engaging in click injection fraud. Facebook claims the two companies made apps which installed malware into user’s phones. This malware then created fake clicks on Facebook ads, resulting in fraudulent ad revenue going to LionMobi and JedMobi. The developers have been banned from Facebook, and the Google Play store, where the apps were available.

This is one of the first lawsuits involving click injection fraud.

●●●●● WE all love podcasts, and Google knows it. The search engine will soon feature playable podcast episodes, directly in the search results.

Till now, you could Google ‘True crime podcasts’ for instance, and get lots of results, but it would take a few clicks to hear a podcast play. Now, the podcasts will appear in results, and you’ll only need to hit play. Clever, huh?

As the next step, Google is planning to introduce playable podcasts as a search result for searches which don’t necessarily include the word ‘podcast’. Once this begins, the podcast results will appear alongside web pages and images.

So, just in case you weren’t getting enough podcast recommendations, you’re probably about to get a whole lot more.

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AT least for the time being, Facebook has suspended its practise of ‘grading’ Siri users’ commands. Until recently, a selection of commands were recorded, stored by Apple, and then listened to by people to assess how helpful Siri had been.

This sounds OK, except that personal information, medical details and illegal acts were overheard, prompting major privacy concerns.

While grading is paused, Apple will conduct a review into grading. In future, the tech-giant will give users the opportunity to choose whether or not to participate in grading.