What Facebook’s anti-malware malware does to your Windows 10 computer

When I said in January that Facebook’s and Kaspersky’s anti-malware malware (there’s no better term for it, though of course they will deny that it was malware) had it in for McAfee, what did I mean?    As some of you know, I fell for Facebook’s insistence that I download its malware if I wanted […]

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Why Stephen Fry left Twitter, and what could be next

Stephen Fry wrote a witty blog post (he is the Stephen Fry, after all) on why he left Twitter. I won’t quote the whole thing, as it’s his copyright, but I will excerpt a chunk here: … let us grieve at what twitter has become. A stalking ground for the sanctimoniously self-righteous who love to […]

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Your preferences mean nothing: Facebook still profiles you, even after you switch off interest-based ads

A few years ago, I discovered that Google was monitoring and gathering user preferences even after one had opted out. Google would initially put an opt-out cookie that went with your browser when you first opt out, which is exactly what every other ad network does—but, then, within 24 hours, it would replace it with […]

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The Sunshine Blogger Award’s 11 questions

Holly Jahangiri kindly nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award. I doubt I’d win, as I don’t follow the rules. I’m not even entirely sure what I’d win. But the questions seem a fun thing to do, especially now that I’ve decided to minimize my time on Facebook in favour of the blogosphere again (roll […]

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Google and Facebook should not head “top brands” lists when consumers do not trust them

I’ve always been surprised when I see Google or Facebook appear on any “top brands” lists. It’s branding 101 that a strong brand must have loyalty, awareness, positive associations, perceived quality, as well as proprietary assets, based on the model from David Aaker, and implicit in this, I always thought, was trust. You can neither […]

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