Data-driven business of Google, Facebook threatens rights
SANFRANCISCO: The data-collection business model fuelling Facebook and Google represents a threat to human rights around the world, Amnesty International said in a report.
The organization argued that offering people free online services and then using information about them to target money-making ads imperils a gamut of rights including freedom of opinion and expression.
“Despite the real value of the services they provide, Google and Facebook’s platforms come at a systemic cost,” Amnesty said in its report, Surveillance Giants, on Wednesday.
“The companies’ surveillancebased business model forces people to make a Faustian bargain, whereby they are only able to enjoy their human rights online by submitting to a system predicated on human rights abuse.”
With ubiquitous surveillance, the two online giants are able to collect massive amounts of data which may be used against their customers, according to the London-based human rights group.
The business model is “inherently incompatible with the right to privacy,” Amnesty contended.
The report maintained that the two Silicon Valley firms have established “near-total dominance over the primary channels through which people connect and engage with the online world,” giving them unprecedented power over people’s lives.
“Google and Facebook dominate our modern lives- amassing unparalleled power over the digital world by harvesting and monetising the personal data of billions,” Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty secretary general, said. AFP
SAN FRANCISCO : Google has updated how it handles political ads as online platforms remain under pressure to avoid being used to spread misleading information intended to influence voters.
The company said its rules already ban any advertiser, including those with political messages, from lying in ads. But it is making its policy more clear and adding examples of how that prohibits content such as doctored or manipulated images or video.
“It’s against our policies for any advertiser to make a false claim -whether it’s a claim about the price of a chair or a claim that you can vote by text message, that election day is postponed, or that a candidate has died,” Google ads product management vice president Scott Spencer said in an online post. AFP
NEW YORK: Uber will allow passengers and drivers in Brazil and Mexico to record audio of their rides as it attempts to improve its safety record and image.
The ride-hailing company plans to pilot the feature in cities in both countries in December. It eventually hopes to launch it in other markets, including the United States, although it has no timeline for possible expansion. The feature will allow customers to opt into recording all or select trips. Recordings will be stored on the rider or driver’s phone and encrypted to protect privacy, and users will not be able to listen to them. They can later share a recording with Uber, which will have an encryption key, if they want to report a problem. Uber stands to benefit because the recordings could help the company mitigate losses. AP