November 21, 2021
Jigglers | The Cat Herder, Volume 4, Issue 45
| |
| November 21 · Issue #158 · View online |
|
|
A lot of Amazon. The unintended consequences of counterfactualism. Jigglers.
😼
|
|
|
|
|
|
Today in late capitalism, apparently there is a whole product category of "mouse jigglers," devices that generate random movement from your mouse so your WFH surveillance software thinks you're working https://t.co/Z7XlApXp4S
|
|
|
|
|
|
I received email from two people who told me that Microsoft Edge enabled synching without warning or consent, which means that Microsoft sucked up all of their bookmarks. Of course they can turn synching off, but it’s too late … EDITED TO ADD: It’s actually worse than I thought. Edge urges users to store passwords, ID numbers, and even passport numbers, all of which get uploaded to Microsoft by default when synch is enabled.
|
|
Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks? - Schneier on Security
|
|
|
The Facebook study set up three fake accounts, for a 13-year-old and two 16-year-olds, and researchers were able to view the data harvested by the company’s software across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, as the “users” visited sites such as local newspapers and clothing retailers. The researchers found: “Facebook can collect data from other browser tabs and pages that children open, and harvest information like which buttons they click on, which terms they search or products they purchase or put in their basket (‘conversions’). There is no reason to store this sort of conversion data, except to fuel the ad delivery system.”
|
Facebook and Instagram gathering browsing data from under-18s, study says | Facebook | The Guardian
Parent company Meta denies data being used to target young users with ads based on their browsing activity
|
|
|
It’s hard to picture the current Data Protection Commissioner being as outspoken as this.
|
Aleid Wolfsen, chairman of the AP authority and vice-chairman of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), told NOS broadcaster that Raad Van State rulings against victims of the childcare benefits scandal were ‘of an unprecedented seriousness.’ Tens of thousands of Dutch parents were incorrectly accused of fraud and unjustly ordered to pay back thousands of euros in historic childcare benefit by Dutch tax office the Belastingdienst. When some of the parents turned to court only to find the tax office’s position upheld by the Raad van State, said Wolfsen, yet another wrong was done.
|
Highest Dutch court accused of 'discrimination' after childcare benefits scandal - DutchNews.nl
Highest Dutch court accused of ‘discrimination’ after childcare benefits scandal
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you were working in sales for a vendor of biometric identity systems which was looking to sell into governments worldwide do you think you’d be adding “Ireland reports huge savings” to your slide decks? Of course you would.
|
Do you think you’d mention in your slide deck that the purported “huge savings were actually "counterfactual”, or in layman’s terms made up out of thin air? You might leave that part out.
|
This is probably not a consequence the Irish state foresaw, since at a guess the counterfactual cost-benefit analysis was prepared with an audience of legislators in the Oireachtas, the Comptroller & Auditor General, and the judge in the appeal against the DPC’s decision in mind.
|
|
|
The State’s failure to reform its data retention laws is the reason why it is “even possible” that Graham Dwyer could overturn his murder conviction, a data privacy expert has said. Dr Eoin O’Dell, associate professor of law at Trinity College Dublin, was reacting to an opinion from the European Court of Justice’s legal adviser supporting important elements of Dwyer’s challenge over Ireland’s mobile phone data retention regime. He said the State had known about problems with the data access and retention regime for at least seven years, following a case taken by Digital Rights Ireland, and while a Bill to address the problems had been introduced, it has stalled on implementing the necessary changes.
|
Graham Dwyer case: State knew of data law problems for years, expert says
ECJ adviser’s opinion has serious implications for prosecution of serious crime in EU
|
|
|
The DPC’s summary of the responses was notable for the following quote in particular: "many submissions from industry appeared to want wholesale sections of the document removed without suggesting alternative approaches which would still afford the same high level of protection to child users of services.”
|
|
|
-
“At the same time, a different stratum of Amazon’s empire presented another set of unruly vulnerabilities. Around the world, thousands of Amazon customer service representatives sat in rows of cubicles in call centers or at computers in their own homes. To ensure that they could help customers as quickly as possible, the company gave them the ability to look up nearly anyone’s purchase history on command. One former service rep, who requested anonymity, said he remembered colleagues looking up the purchases of Kanye West and movie stars from the Avengers films, even scoping out a few dildos in a particular celebrity’s purchase log. Other staffers recalled co-workers looking up exes and girlfriends or boyfriends. “Everybody, everybody did it,” a former customer service manager says. They weren’t supposed to, of course. Amazon repeatedly made that clear. In a statement, Amazon’s Bemisderfer wrote, “We strongly reject the notion that abuse of these privileges is ‘common.’ ” But the tools were right there; agents could start a “research session” to look up a customer who wasn’t on the phone, then just type in a name.” From ‘Inside Amazon’s Failures to Protect Your Data: Internal Voyeurs, Bribery Scandals and Backdoor Schemes’ by Will Evans for Reveal News and Wired.
-
“The memo was written in 2015 with the help of communications executive Drew Herdener and public-policy leader Brian Huseman. A draft version asserted that “journalists and policymakers should respect Amazon as a force for good” because it improves customers’ lives and creates “millions of jobs and broader economic prosperity.” As executives edited the draft, Herdener summed up a central goal in a margin note: “We want policymakers and press to fear us,” he wrote. He described this desire as a “mantra” that had united department leaders in a Washington strategy session.” From ‘Amazon wages secret war on Americans’ privacy, documents show’ by Jeffrey Dastin, Chris Kirkham and Aditya Kalra, which is an excellent companion piece to the one above.
-
“That safety requires constant vigilance. The city must be watched. The smart cameras that are being trialled in Changi are just a part of a nationwide thrust towards treating surveillance as part of everyday life. Ninety-thousand police cameras watch the streets, and by the end of the decade, there will be 200,000. Sensors, including facial recognition cameras and crowd analytics systems, are being positioned across the city. The technology alone isn’t unique — it’s used in many countries. But Singapore’s ruling party sees dangers everywhere, and seems increasingly willing to peer individually and en masse into people’s lives.” From ‘Singapore’s tech-utopia dream is turning into a surveillance state nightmare’ by Peter Guest for Rest Of World.
-
“In a draft decision that faced fierce opposition from privacy campaigners and even some fellow regulators (one said it would entail the “end of data protection as we know it”), the Dublin regulator said that while Facebook had failed to be sufficiently transparent with users about its privacy policy — proposing a fine of up to €36 million — it was ultimately up to consumer and competition authorities to determine whether that contract was fair. When contacted by POLITICO, the competition authority said it hadn’t received a copy of the draft decision, which had been published by the privacy campaigners behind the complaint. Besides, the Irish trustbuster didn’t have the authority to weigh in on the privacy regulator’s decision, it said. The case highlights how even some of the most widespread practices by tech companies can fall between the cracks in Europe’s digital regulatory frameworks.” From ‘Europe’s fractured approach to digital regulation stymies fight against Big Tech’ by Vincent Manancourt and Samuel Stolton for Politico.
-
—
|
|
|
|
|
If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter do please forward it on to them.
|
|
Did you enjoy this issue?
|
|
|
|
In order to unsubscribe, click here.
If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.
|
|
|
|
Privacy Kit, Made with 💚 in Dublin, Ireland
|
|
|
A lot of Amazon. The unintended consequences of counterfactualism. Jigglers.
😼
—
Parent company Meta denies data being used to target young users with ads based on their browsing activity
It’s hard to picture the current Data Protection Commissioner being as outspoken as this.
Highest Dutch court accused of ‘discrimination’ after childcare benefits scandal
The counterfactual cost-benefit analysis prepared by the Department of Social Protection’s head of investment analysis which concluded this investment was a very good investment indeed (see Volume 4, Issue 43) has now begun appearing in biometrics industry trade publications.
If you were working in sales for a vendor of biometric identity systems which was looking to sell into governments worldwide do you think you’d be adding “Ireland reports huge savings” to your slide decks? Of course you would.
Do you think you’d mention in your slide deck that the purported “huge savings were actually "counterfactual”, or in layman’s terms made up out of thin air? You might leave that part out.
This is probably not a consequence the Irish state foresaw, since at a guess the counterfactual cost-benefit analysis was prepared with an audience of legislators in the Oireachtas, the Comptroller & Auditor General, and the judge in the appeal against the DPC’s decision in mind.
—
ECJ adviser’s opinion has serious implications for prosecution of serious crime in EU
The DPC published a report on its public consultation relating to its draft policy document “Children Front and Centre: Fundamentals for a Child-Oriented Approach to Data Processing”
The DPC’s summary of the responses was notable for the following quote in particular: "many submissions from industry appeared to want wholesale sections of the document removed without suggesting alternative approaches which would still afford the same high level of protection to child users of services.”
-
“At the same time, a different stratum of Amazon’s empire presented another set of unruly vulnerabilities. Around the world, thousands of Amazon customer service representatives sat in rows of cubicles in call centers or at computers in their own homes. To ensure that they could help customers as quickly as possible, the company gave them the ability to look up nearly anyone’s purchase history on command. One former service rep, who requested anonymity, said he remembered colleagues looking up the purchases of Kanye West and movie stars from the Avengers films, even scoping out a few dildos in a particular celebrity’s purchase log. Other staffers recalled co-workers looking up exes and girlfriends or boyfriends. “Everybody, everybody did it,” a former customer service manager says. They weren’t supposed to, of course. Amazon repeatedly made that clear. In a statement, Amazon’s Bemisderfer wrote, “We strongly reject the notion that abuse of these privileges is ‘common.’ ” But the tools were right there; agents could start a “research session” to look up a customer who wasn’t on the phone, then just type in a name.” From ‘Inside Amazon’s Failures to Protect Your Data: Internal Voyeurs, Bribery Scandals and Backdoor Schemes’ by Will Evans for Reveal News and Wired.
-
“The memo was written in 2015 with the help of communications executive Drew Herdener and public-policy leader Brian Huseman. A draft version asserted that “journalists and policymakers should respect Amazon as a force for good” because it improves customers’ lives and creates “millions of jobs and broader economic prosperity.” As executives edited the draft, Herdener summed up a central goal in a margin note: “We want policymakers and press to fear us,” he wrote. He described this desire as a “mantra” that had united department leaders in a Washington strategy session.” From ‘Amazon wages secret war on Americans’ privacy, documents show’ by Jeffrey Dastin, Chris Kirkham and Aditya Kalra, which is an excellent companion piece to the one above.
-
“That safety requires constant vigilance. The city must be watched. The smart cameras that are being trialled in Changi are just a part of a nationwide thrust towards treating surveillance as part of everyday life. Ninety-thousand police cameras watch the streets, and by the end of the decade, there will be 200,000. Sensors, including facial recognition cameras and crowd analytics systems, are being positioned across the city. The technology alone isn’t unique — it’s used in many countries. But Singapore’s ruling party sees dangers everywhere, and seems increasingly willing to peer individually and en masse into people’s lives.” From ‘Singapore’s tech-utopia dream is turning into a surveillance state nightmare’ by Peter Guest for Rest Of World.
-
“In a draft decision that faced fierce opposition from privacy campaigners and even some fellow regulators (one said it would entail the “end of data protection as we know it”), the Dublin regulator said that while Facebook had failed to be sufficiently transparent with users about its privacy policy — proposing a fine of up to €36 million — it was ultimately up to consumer and competition authorities to determine whether that contract was fair. When contacted by POLITICO, the competition authority said it hadn’t received a copy of the draft decision, which had been published by the privacy campaigners behind the complaint. Besides, the Irish trustbuster didn’t have the authority to weigh in on the privacy regulator’s decision, it said. The case highlights how even some of the most widespread practices by tech companies can fall between the cracks in Europe’s digital regulatory frameworks.” From ‘Europe’s fractured approach to digital regulation stymies fight against Big Tech’ by Vincent Manancourt and Samuel Stolton for Politico.
-
—
Endnotes & Credits
Find us on the web at myprivacykit.com and on Twitter at @PrivacyKit. Of course we’re not on Facebook or LinkedIn.
If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter do please forward it on to them.
