First they accused Facebook of promoting ‘fake news’. Then, they accuse Facebook of giving ad space to hate group. But now, they say Facebook was in bed with the Russians, which helped Trump win. Is this the Facebook political witch hunt?
I don’t know if you read Hilary Clinton’s new book or not. But she’s still obviously didn’t get over last year’s loss. However, we learned Former President Barak Obama spoke out on the matter. Two months before Trump’s inauguration, Obama told Zuckerberg to take fake news seriously. Obama also told him unless the threat is dealt with, it will threaten more elections in the future. Zuckerberg admitted fake news is a problem. But he also said it will not be an easy fix.
After the election, and after Zuckerberg and Obama’s talk, Facebook looked further into accounts started during that bitter campaign. He and his team believe those who started those pages had financial, if not political, motives. However, they still don’t know whether it did, or didn’t, come from Russia. However, some US law enforcement leaders insist Russia led a major propaganda attack. In February 2017, Zuckerberg wrote a 6,000 word speech. He vowed to fight Facebook’s dark side. He called it, “Building Global Community”.
Now he has people on the other side upset. Facebook already took actions to fight hatred. But many argue such actions are leading to censorship. And many more, myself included, say Facebook could be stepping out of bounds. What if they call anything Zuckerberg doesn’t like ‘hate speech’? Also, what if anybody who doesn’t follow somebody’s political rhetoric ‘hate speech’? ?Some already complain they’re being censored because their talks and post are too ‘controversial’. Is this the Facebook political witch hunt? Are we really fighting hatred and political corruption? Or is this the modern day McCarthy witch hunts?
So we all know of Grub Hub, Fodder, and other online food delivery services. But ever hear of Amazon Restaurant, out of Seattle? If not, then you soon will. So Amazon delivers our food now?
Food deliver has been Amazon’s dream for years. But now that they have Whole Foods in their arsenal, anything is possible. They just partnered with Olo, a digital order and pay service for over 200 different restaurant chains. These chains include Shake Shack, Chipotle, and Buca di Beppo. In fact, Buca di Beppo already said it will use Amazon Restaurant. They’re the only ones who are that committed right now. But something tells me there will be others.
However, Jeff Bezos didn’t just wake up one morning and say, “I wonder what business will I invade next?”. Amazon Restaurant started in Seattle in 2015, and slowly but surely crept into other markets. At first, they catered to small restaurants, who benefited just by using the name ‘Amazon’. But soon, they expanded to franchises, then corporations. And now, Amazon delivers has Olo. Olo can provide the technology to take orders. Amazon delivers the goods. Sounds like a match made in (not Heaven!). Olo also has Rails, their new baby that makes it easier to take orders from Amazon.
So you can probably tell I’m not excited about Amazon’s newest takeover…I meant…venture. Neither is the competition. ?GrubHub’s stocks fell over 7% at this news. That’s my problem with this. I have no problem with food delivery services at all. But in this case, I have a problem with the deliverer. I love how GrubHub and Fodder and others stuck to their thing and are now prosperous. Meanwhile, Amazon wants to take over everything. They have grocery stores, newspapers, movies, etc. And now they want the food delivery services. And here I was thinking Walmart was going to be the death of the small business. Am I being too harsh here?
The Equifax breach will go down as one of the worst security breaches in US history. I say that because they leaked everything, from credit/debit card numbers, to SSN’s (social security numbers), even where your kids attend school. But it’s not just customers that suffer. Equifax leaders resign in disgrace.
First you have CIO (chief information officer) David Webb. He left, but his replacement is Mark Rohrwasser, at Equifax for a little over a year. Then there is CSO (chief security officer) Susan Mauldin. Her replacement is Russ Ayers. Ayers used to be overall vice-president. However, due to this scandal, he will now serve as CSO. These changes will take place immediately. So no goodbye parties for Webb or Mauldin, not like they deserve one anyway.
“But Damien, wasn’t that a little harsh?”, some may say? Not in this case. Because this breach messed up 143 million Americans. I didn’t say 143 million accounts, but 143 million American people! That’s over a third of the American population. Many in Congress don’t think that’s harsh either. Some US Senators, like Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), push for new bills and laws. These laws would give more credit info control to the consumer, where it belongs. Furthermore, their bill would prevent credit agencies like Equifax from profiting off this freeze and security breaches. I would not want to be one of the Equifax leaders right now.
And this crisis is hitting home. Someone came into our Boston computer service shop?came in saying they were victims of the breach. I went to my local bank, and I overheard an elderly gentlemen complain he was hit by the Equifax breach. That’s when it hits you. This isn’t just another headline. People’s livelihoods, families, money, and even lives are on the line. I hope this next crop of Equifax leaders can do better than their predecessors. Will they be able to recover?
I talk about robots quite a bit because it’s a huge technological trend. Some love it, but I’m weary of it at best. Two stories confirm it. So here’s a robot report: It’s hardly anything nice.
A robot conducted a classical music concert in Pisa, Italy. But it wasn’t just any concert; it was the?Lucca Philharmonic orchestra. This is one of the most prestigious orchestras of all time. We can thank Swiss tech firm ABB. In fact, they called the concert International Festival of Robotics. They also named the robot YiMi. Keep in mind YiMi lead the orchestra; a robot telling humans how to play their music! Now ABB insists this won’t replace human orchestras…not yet. But we’ll see.
However, this next robot report is far more disturbing. In Japan, the latest craze is robots that will marry and have sex with lonely guys. But wait…it gets worse. Because apparently, these robots can be trained to kill you. Hackers and crooks can exploit robots’ deficiencies. Then, these hackers can control all the robots’ movements. Also, they can do whatever these crooks tell them to, whether it be theft, rape, murder, dismemberment. You think I’m reading from a sci-fi movie script?
This robot report keeps tech leaders and cyber security experts up at night. Even Elon Musk warns of how dangerous IT technology and robots can be. Cyber security leader Dr. Nick Patterson believes these robots can go I, Robot on us at any moment. I’m just a blogger out a computer service shop in Boston. I’m not much of anybody, so go ahead and laugh at me and call me crazy. But when you have a billionaire tech leader and genius ?like Elon Musk sounding the alarm, maybe we should listen. When top cyber security experts say this, maybe we should listen. So you think the robot concert is heart warming? Let’s see how heart warming it is when thousands of musicians are out of jobs, and the arts are totally destroyed. Are we heading for the end of humanity, or am I just paranoid?
This probably didn’t get much coverage thanks to Hurricane Irma. But days ago, I reported on the Equifax breach, perhaps the worst in US history. Because they breached 143 million Americans. Also, they breached everything from credit/debit cards to drivers licences numbers. Equifax lawsuits intensify and pile on.
Already, Americans filed 30 lawsuits against Equifax. So far, nobody in our Boston computer service shop complained about an Equifax breach. I expect that number to rise in the days to come. At least 25 of those were filed in federal court. One of those accuses Equifax of securities fraud. But more lawsuits came in Monday. They think so many will come that they will combine it into one big Equifax lawsuits.
However, there are many complaints to go around. One said their year-around free credit monitoring through Trusted ID a bad move. Furthermore, one complaint said Equifax did this on purpose in order to sell security services. The lawsuit said because more companies offer free or almost free credit reports. And somehow, the breach would lead to more costly services. It’s not just customers, because even shareholders are upset. Some lawsuits say Equifax deliberately misled shareholders. They say they pumped up share prices, knowing chaos was about to hit the fan. But that backfired. On Monday alone, Equifix lost 8.2% of their worth. In fact, since the story broke last week, they lost over $3.5 billion worth of stock.
As of now, these Equifax lawsuits are mostly one word verses the other person’s word. But if some of the allegations are true, then shame on Equifax. To put scores of millions of Americans on the line is disgraceful. Especially if it’s to promote your own product, or to try to get people to upgrade. I hope this is NOT the case. Because We’re not just talking debit/credit cards here. We’re talking about very, very personal info that’s now on the line. This includes peoples’ addresses, where your children go to school, where your elderly parents live. Imagine if that gets into the wrong hands. Then imagine what some psychopath can do. This goes way beyond stealing money. Would Equifax want that on their conscious?
Today, President Trump may make even more enemies. Because today, they expect him to end DACA. They call the program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. So this program lets young adults who came to the US as children to stay in the US. However, they have to have work permits. This is the story of Trump, Silicon Valley and DACA.
The Obama Administration started the program started with 2012. For five years, it protected hard working young adults, they nickname them Dreamers, from deportation. These workers do not yet have documents. But today, President Trump may change that. White House insiders believe Trump will end this legal protection; they also believe he will announce it today.
Most Silicon Valley leaders urge Trump to continue DACA. If they cut DACA, over 800,000 young adults could face the real possibility of deportation. Leaders petitioning on DACA’s behalf include Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai. Then there are the 300 other CEOs. Many of them are from Silicon Valley companies like Linkedin, Lyft and Netflix. They signed a letter saying how critical Dreamers are to the US economy. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg said, “We need a government that protects Dreamers”.
What does Trump, Silicon Valley and DACA have to do with IT support and technology? Quite a bit. Because tensions between Silicon Valley and the Trump Administration are already high, and has been since the beginning. ?I thought, or I hoped, they could be at least tolerable with each other. But if Trump kills the DACA program, this could end the comrade. Then ask your self, “Why is Silicon Valley fighting so hard for DACA”? It’s not because out of love, but out of business! Are you aware of how many undocumented workers tech companies depend on? Are you aware of how many tech employees come from China and India alone? It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out why Silicon Valley is so adamant about saving DACA. Where do you stand?
