The intimate knowledge advertisers are collecting
You can just assume that anything you do on the Web reveals information about yourself that is gathered and probably sold to a third party.
It seems that location data is especially valuable because where you go tells so much about you. For example, if you go to the same place every weekday at 9 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m., it is highly likely that is your workplace. Some recent examples:
A security researcher found that AccuWeather’s mobile app shared location data even when users opted out, and passed the data to a firm that targets ads, reports the BBC.
Security researcher Will Strafach found the iOS version of the app did not send out GPS information when requested not to, but regularly sent detailed information about the wi-fi router to an outside firm. While the wi-fi data was “less precise” than GPS, it was still useful to marketers, he said. Data built up about travel habits and routines could be shared with ad firms looking for lifestyle information.
The weather service said it took privacy “seriously” and planned to update the app to ensure “zero data” was sent out if users opted outof location sharing.
Uber, meanwhile, has reversed its controversial move to track users even after their trips have ended, said the British newspaper The Independent.
The company had claimed the post-trip tracking would help ensure customers’ physical safety. Following an update last fall, the app forced users to choose
between letting Uber always collect their location data or never collect it.
Picking “never” would force the user to manually enter pickup and drop-off locations.
Previously, users had been able to allow tracking only whenthey were using the app.
The company said it may reinstitute the feature in the future.
Marketwatch.com reported on a study from Cambridge University in the U.K. about what your “likes” on Facebook tell about you. It found that after 10 “likes” advertisers can get to know you as well as a colleague; after 70 “likes” as a close friend; after 150 “likes” as your parents; and after 300 “likes” as your spouse. Users, of course, can make their likes private.
God help us. Atthe recent Tokyo International Funeral & Cemetery Show, Softbank's Pepper robot showed it can perform Buddhist funeral rites, Mashable.com reports. Draped in traditional funeral garb, the robot not only presided over a faux death ceremony, it also chanted Buddhist sutras, taking over the role of a monk. No real funerals have been robotically performedyet.
Decision time. The public comment period for the FCC’s proposal to abolish net neutrality rules closed Wednesday with 22 million comments submitted — a record. It is not known how many comments are bogus or filed by bots. The FCC has not, as of this writing, announced a date for the vote.
Let’s talk. Microsoft and Amazon announced that they will enable their personal digital assistants to work together.
Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon's Alexa assistants will begin to communicate later this year.