Swedish privacy watchdog: stop using Google Analytics

This is good advice from Sweden’s privacy watchdog.     Most countries should follow suit with their citizens’ data. IMY, the watchdog, noted (my italics for house style): ‘IMY issues an administrative fine of 12 million SEK against Tele2 and 300,000 SEK against CDON, which has not taken the same extensive protective measures as Coop […]

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Nissan, get ready to pay up: Carlos Ghosn’s after US$1 milliard

Good on Carlos Ghosn for filing his lawsuit against Nissan Motor Co. and others, including Hari Nada, as reported in Automotive News. Things you won’t have heard since Ghosn fled to Lebanon: In 2020, a UN panel found that Ghosn’s detention in a Japanese jail for more than 100 days was neither necessary nor reasonable […]

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Someone at Google did right

Fair’s fair: for once, Google did right, even though it took them ages. My last entry on this topic was in April, when Google refused to remove a pirate site that they provide cloud services for. Two months later, I received word that they had reviewed one of the URLs I had complained about: ‘We’re […]

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Where do we draw the line on LLM- or “AI”-generated content?

Contrary to my earlier post, I allowed the trackbacks from AI-Summary.com after its owner reached out to me. The fact he reached out does show he read the post, and there was some human agency involved. That very courteous email even offered to remove this blog from further mining. When you know a human’s there, […]

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Go for it, Harry

Say what you will about Prince Harry making millions from his book and TV appearances. What if it’s to help fund the destruction of one Keith Rupert Murdoch and News Corp., and save the very fabric of democracy itself in the UK? It’s not going to be cheap, but the dude is out for blood. […]

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If you take out Tiktok, then why not Meta, too?

The Hon Debbie Ngarewa-Packer MP was right when she questioned our government’s decision to ban Tiktok from parliamentary devices. If it’s about foreigners getting hold of data, then why not ban Facebook and Instagram? Last I looked, Tiktok had not, unlike Facebook, been party to any genocides. Parliamentary Services says at least Meta is American […]

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Why we’ve dropped Disqus, and the shenanigans of the online ad world

When I first signed up to Disqus, there was the option to have no ads. But with Lucire we allowed them, because I figured, why not? Disqus’s rules were pretty clear: you’d earn money on the ads shown, and once you got to US$100, they’d pay out. The trouble is those ads made so little […]

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Confused Google doesn’t understand email preferences

As if to prove my point about lies, Google spammed me right after my last post. In its footer:     No, I didn’t. I logged into Google to see my settings. Sure enough:     As I always say, when it comes to computers, I’m right, they’re wrong. I have a better memory. I […]

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‘Google … broke the web’

Nice to see I’m not the only one who sees Google for what it is today. Warning: coarse language.     What’s bizarre is a reply I wrote largely in agreement (and had a few likes to) has vanished. Maybe some Google lovers didn’t like what I wrote? Sometimes I can make the point better […]

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When reverse image search services allege you’ve stolen work

I think these are going to get more frequent. We received another copyright claim, accusing us of publishing a photograph without authorization. They wanted around €500, part of that for the licence, and part of that for running it since 2009. This one, from a German company, was easier to deal with than an American […]

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