170966031
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
All, I am doing something in this post that I’ve never done before over these many years. I’m going to share with you an example of what Google account recovery failure means to the people involved, and this is by no means the worst such case I’ve seen — not even close, unfortunately.
155068571
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
The controversy over the recently announced decision by YouTube to remove publicly viewable “Dislike” counts from all videos is continuing to grow. Many YT creators feel that the loss of a publicly viewable Like/Dislike ratio will be a serious detriment. I know that I consider that ratio useful.
141121296
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
I increasingly suspect that the days of large-scale public distribution of unmoderated UGC (User Generated Content) on the Internet may shortly begin drawing to a close in significant ways. The most likely path leading to this over time will be a combination of steps taken independently by social media firms and future legislative mandates ...
127478318
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
As vast numbers of people are suddenly working from home in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, doctors switch to heavy use of video office visits, and in general more critical information than ever is suddenly being thrust onto the Internet, the risks of major security and privacy disasters that will long outlast the pandemic are rising rapidly.
123504608
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
One of the most poignant ironies of the Internet is that at the very time that it’s become increasingly difficult for anyone to conduct their day to day lives without using the Net, some categories of people are increasingly being treated badly by many software designers. The victims of these attitudes include various special needs groups — visually and/or motor impaired are just two examples — but the elderly are a particular target.
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
Firewalls can be notoriously and fiendishly difficult to configure correctly, and often present a target-rich environment for successful attacks. The thing is, firewall vulnerabilities are not headline news — they’re an old story, and better solutions to providing network security already exist.
In particular, Google’s “BeyondCorp” approach (https://cloud.google.com/beyondcorp) is something that every enterprise involved in computing should make itself familiar with. Right now!
105744814
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
If you’ve ever needed more evidence that Google just doesn’t care about users who have become “inconvenient” to their new business models, one need only look at the saga of their ongoing handling of their announced Google+ shutdown.
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
My foundational complaint here isn’t that Google deployed Smart Compose, but rather that they enabled it by default without providing users even basic related information, including the all important “How the hell do I turn this damned thing off?” — the very question filling my inbox of late!
So here’s how you turn it off. It’s easy, IF you know how.
102663150
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
I don’t normally recommend altering Chrome’s inner sanctum of “experimental” settings unless you’re a hardcore techie who fully understands the implications. But today I’m making an exception and will explain how you can disable these new URL handling behaviors and return Chrome to its previous (safer and logical) URL display methodology — at least until such a time as Google decides to force this issue and removes this option.
101844220
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
YouTube very quietly made a very cool and rather major improvement in their video players today. I noticed it immediately this morning and now have confirmation both from testing with my own YT videos (for which I know all the native metadata) and via informal statements from Google.
YouTube is now adjusting the YT player size to match videos’ native aspect ratios. This is a big deal, and very much welcome.
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
In response to a news story revealing that an Uber driver has been (usually surreptitiously) live streaming video and most audio of his passengers without their knowledge or consent — exposing them to ridicule and potentially much worse by his streaming audience, both Uber and Lyft have reportedly simply argued that the practice is legal in that particular (one-party recording permission) state.
That kind of response is of course absolutely unacceptable and below reproach, demonstrating the utter lack of ethics of these ride sharing firms. They argue that this doesn’t even violate any of their driver terms.
That needs to change — IMMEDIATELY!
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
With no exceptions so far, the sense of these reactions has confirmed what I suspected — that people are just fine with talking to automated systems so long as they are aware of the fact that they are not talking to another person. They react viscerally and negatively to the concept of machine-based systems that have the effect (whether intended or not) of fooling them into believing that a human is at the other end of the line. To use the vernacular: “Don’t try to con me, bro!”
Luckily, there’s a relatively simple way to fix this problem at this early stage — well before it becomes a big issue impacting many lives.
100118664
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
But there’s another potential issue with “confidential mode” that could be a much broader risk to many more persons — the possibility that this mode will be leveraged by crooks for a new wave of phishing emails designed to spread malware and steal personal information.
99876569
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
Google launched general access to their first significant Gmail user interface (UI) redesign in many years today. It’s rolling out gradually — when it hits your account you’ll see a “Try the new Gmail” choice under the settings (“gear”) icon on the upper right of the page (you can also revert to the “classic” interface for now, via the same menu).
But you probably won’t need to revert. Google clearly didn’t want to screw up Gmail, and my initial impression is that they’ve succeeded by avoiding radical changes in the UI. I’ll bet that some casual Gmail users might not even immediately notice the differences.
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Lauren Weinstein writes:
One might think that with the deluge of news about how Facebook has been manipulating you and violating your privacy — and neglecting to tell you about it — Google would be taking this opportunity to point out that their own Google+ social system is very much the UnFacebook.
But sometimes Google is reticent about tooting their own horn. So what the hell, when it comes to Google+, I’m going to toot it for them.
