Google Users Panic Over Google+ Deletion Emails: Here’s What’s Actually...
Two days ago I posted “Google’s Google+ Shutdown Emails Are Causing Mass Confusion” (https://lauren.vortex.com/2019/02/02/googles-google-shutdown-emails-are-causing-mass-confusion) — and the reactions...
View ArticleAnother Massive Google User Trust Failure, As They Kill Louisville Fiber on...
It’s getting increasingly difficult to keep up with Google’s User Trust Failures these days, as they continue to rapidly shed “inconvenient” users faster than a long-haired dog. I do plan a “YouTube...
View ArticleAnother Positive Move by YouTube: No More General “Conspiracy Theory”...
A few weeks ago, I noted the very welcome news that Google’s YouTube is cracking down on the presence of dangerous prank and dare videos, rightly categorizing them as potentially harmful content no...
View ArticleAs Google’s YouTube Battles Evil, YouTube Creators Are at a Crossroads
UPDATE (February 28, 2019): More updates on our actions related to the safety of minors on YouTube – – – For vast numbers of persons around the globe, YouTube represents one of the three foundational...
View ArticleDon’t Blame YouTube and Facebook for Hate Speech Horrors
Within hours of the recent horrific mass shooting in New Zealand, know-nothing commentators and pandering politicians were already on the job, blaming Facebook, Google’s YouTube, and other large social...
View ArticlePressuring Google’s AI Advisory Panel to Wear a Halo Is Very Dangerous
UPDATE (April 4, 2019): Google has announced that due to the furor over ATEAC (their newly announced external advisory panel dealing with AI issues), they have dissolved the panel entirely. As I...
View ArticleCould AI Help Prevent Mass Shootings?
Could machine learning/AI techniques help to prevent mass shootings or other kinds of terrorist attacks? That’s the question. I do not profess to know the answer — but it’s a question that as a society...
View ArticleA Major New Privacy-Positive Move by Google
Almost exactly two years ago, I noted here the comprehensive features that Google provides for users to access their Google-related activity data, and to control and/or delete it in a variety of ways....
View ArticleYouTube’s Public Videos Dilemma
So there’s yet another controversy surrounding YouTube and videos that include young children — this time concerns about YouTube suggesting such videos to “presumed” pedophiles. We can argue about what...
View ArticleEarthquakes vs. Darth Vader
When the Ridgecrest earthquake reached L.A. yesterday evening (no damage this far from the epicenter from that quake or the one the previous day) I was “in” a moving elevator under attack in the “Vader...
View ArticleAnother Breach: What Capital One Could Have Learned from Google’s “BeyondCorp”
Another day, another massive data breach. This time some 100 million people in the U.S., and more millions in Canada. Reportedly the criminal hacker gained access to data stored on Amazon’s AWS...
View ArticleThe Right’s (and Left’s) Insane Internet Content Power Grab
Rumors are circulating widely — and some news sources claim to have seen actual drafts — of a possible Trump administration executive order aimed at giving the government control over content at large...
View ArticleHow Some Software Designers Don’t Seem to Care About the Elderly
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...
View ArticleIowa Screams: Don’t Trust High-Tech Elections!
For years — actually for decades — those of us in the Computer Science community who study election systems have with almost total unanimity warned against the rise of electronic voting, Internet...
View ArticleCoronavirus Reactions Creating Major Internet Security Risks
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...
View ArticleRecommendation: Do Not Install or Use Centralized Server Coronavirus...
Everyone, I hope you and yours are safe and well during this unprecedented pandemic. As I write this, various governments are rushing to implement — or have already implemented — a wide range of...
View ArticleThe Right’s (and Left’s) Insane Internet Content Power Grab (repost with new...
The post below was originally published on 10 August 2019. In light of recent events, particularly the storming of the United States Capital by a violent mob — resulting in five deaths — and subsequent...
View ArticleThe Challenges of Moderating User Content on the Internet (and a Bit of History)
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...
View ArticleThe Big Lie About “Cancel Culture” and Demands to Change Section 230
Claims of “cancel culture” seems to be everywhere these days. Almost every day, we seem to hear somebody complaining that they have been “canceled” from social media, and pretty much inevitably there...
View ArticleHow the “News Link Wars” Could Wreck the Web
As it stands right now, major news organizations — in league with compliant politicians around the world — seem poised to use the power of their national governments to take actions that could...
View ArticleDeJoy Is Hell-Bent on Wrecking the Postal Service — and Maybe Your Life
While we’re all still reeling from the recent horrific, tragic. and utterly preventable incidents of mass shooting murders, inside the D.C. beltway today events are taking place that could put...
View ArticleWe Have Met the Ransomware Enemy, and It Is (Partly) Us!
Ransomware is currently a huge topic in the news. A crucial gasoline pipeline shuts down. A major meat processor is sidelined. It almost feels as if there are new announced ransomware attacks every few...
View ArticleKeep Governments Away from Social Media “Misinformation Control”
As the COVID “Delta” variant continues its spread around the globe, the Biden administration has deployed something of a basketball-style full-court press against misinformation on social media sites....
View ArticleApple Backdoors Itself
UPDATE (September 3, 2021): Apple has now announced that “based on feedback” they are delaying the launch of this project to “collect input and make improvements” before release. – – – Apple’s newly...
View ArticleHow to Better Solve YouTube’s “Dislike Count” Problem
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...
View ArticleBig Tech and the Internet Are Not Our Enemies
It seems like only a few years ago, the entire world was enamored of Big Tech and the Internet — and pretty much everyone was trying to emulate their most successful players. But now, to watch the news...
View ArticleInternet Users’ Safety in a Post-Roe World
UPDATE (1 July 2022): My Thoughts About Google’s New Blog Post Regarding Health-Related Data Privacy UPDATE (24 June 2022): As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned Roe v. Wade, bringing...
View ArticleSocial Media Sites Should Be Required to ID Many Users
Greetings. I write the following with no joy whatsoever. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that it may be necessary to legislate that any social media user who wishes to have their posts seen...
View ArticleMy Thoughts About Google’s New Blog Post Regarding Health-Related Data Privacy
In my very recent post: “Internet Users’ Safety in a Post-Roe World” I expressed concerns regarding how Internet and telecommunications firms would protect women’s and others’ data in a post-Roe v....
View ArticleGoogle’s Horrible Plan to Flood Your Gmail with Political Garbage
UPDATE (25 January 2023): Google has announced that it will terminate this program at the end of this month (31 January 2023). UPDATE (11 August 2022): The Federal Election Commission has now...
View ArticleHow to Fix Google’s Gmail Political Spam Bypass Plan
UPDATE (25 January 2023): Google has announced that it will terminate this program at the end of this month (31 January 2023). – – – – – – Recently in Google’s Horrible Plan to Flood Your Gmail with...
View ArticleSocial Media Is Probably Doomed
UPDATE (31 December 2022): 2023 and Social Media’s Winds of Change – – – – – – Social media as we’ve known it is probably doomed. Whether a decline in social media would on balance be good or bad for...
View Article2023 and Social Media’s Winds of Change
Greetings. The last hours and minutes of 2022 are ticking off, and we’re all being drawn inexorably into the new year and even deeper into the 21st century. In my previous post of early October —...
View ArticleGiving Creators and Websites Control Over Generative AI
Seemingly overnight, the Internet is awash with controversies over Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) systems, and their potential positive and negative impacts on the Net and the world at large....
View ArticleState and Federal Internet ID Age Requirements Are Hell-Bent on Turning the...
The new Utah Internet ID age laws signed today — and what other states and the feds are moving toward in the same realm — will destroy social media and much else of the Internet as we know it. Vast...
View ArticleThe “AI Crisis”: Who Is Responsible?
There is a sense of gathering crisis revolving around Artificial Intelligence today — not just AI itself but also the public’s and governments’ reactions to AI — particularly generative AI. Personally,...
View ArticleBig Tech Needs to Vastly Improve Their Public Communications — or Potentially...
In several of my past recent posts: The “AI Crisis”: Who Is Responsible? https://lauren.vortex.com/2023/04/09/the-ai-crisis-who-is-responsible State and Federal Internet ID Age Requirements Are...
View ArticleHow Google Broke Chrome Bookmarks Sync
UPDATE (15 May 2023): And … about 48 hours after this original post, bookmarks starting successfully syncing in full to my tablet, after months of failing totally (despite my many best efforts and...
View ArticlePotentially Serious Issues with Google’s Announced Inactive Accounts Deletion...
UPDATE: 24 May 2023: A Proposal for “Enhanced Recovery Services” for Locked Out Google Accounts UPDATE (17 May 2023): An Example of a Very Sad Google Account Recovery Failure — and How It Affects Real...
View ArticleAn Example of a Very Sad Google Account Recovery Failure — and How It Affects...
UPDATE: 24 May 2023: A Proposal for “Enhanced Recovery Services” for Locked Out Google Accounts – – – All, I am doing something in this post that I’ve never done before over these many years. I’m going...
View ArticleA Proposal for “Enhanced Recovery Services” for Locked Out Google Accounts
This post could get very long very quickly, so instead I’m going to endeavor to keep this introductory discussion brief, with an array of crucial details to come later. In my recent posts: An Example...
View ArticleThoughts on AI Regulation
Greetings. The excellent essay: https://circleid.com/posts/20230628-the-eu-ai-act-a-critical-assessment (by Anthony Rutkowski) serves to crystallize many of my concerns about the current rush toward...
View ArticleArtificial Intelligence at the Crossroads
Suddenly there seems to be an enormous amount of political, regulatory, and legal activity regarding AI, especially generative AI. Much of this is uncharacteristically bipartisan in nature. The reasons...
View ArticleThe Potential Privacy Problems With YouTube’s Family Plan “Suggestion Leakage”
I love YouTube. I consider it to be a wonder of the world for an array of reasons. Its scale is — well, the technical term is “mindbogglingly enormous.” I subscribe to YouTube Premium (primarily to...
View ArticleUK Passage of Online Safety Bill to Create Chinese-Style Internet Tracking...
In the 2005 film “V for Vendetta” a fictional UK government has turned into a tightly censored, tracked, and controlled hellscape, with technology used to control citizens in every way possible. The UK...
View ArticleGoogle is making their weak, flawed passkey system the default login method —...
Google continues to push ahead with its ill-advised scheme to force passkeys on users who do not understand their risks, and will try push all users into this flawed system starting imminently. In my...
View ArticleRadio Transcript: Google Passkeys and Google Account Recovery Concerns
As per requests, this is a transcript of my national network radio report earlier this week regarding Google passkeys and Google account recovery concerns. – – – So there really isn’t enough time...
View ArticleIn Support of Google’s Progress On AI Content Choice and Control
Last February, in: Giving Creators and Websites Control Over Generative AI https://lauren.vortex.com/2023/02/14/giving-creators-and-websites-control-over-generative-ai I suggested expansion of the...
View ArticleGoogle’s Inactive Account Policy and Phishing Attacks Concerns
As you may know, Google has recently begun a protocol to delete inactive Google accounts, with email notices going out to the account and recovery addresses in advance as a warning. Leaving aside for...
View ArticleAbout Google and Location Privacy
You may have seen a lot of press over the last few days about Google moving location data by default to be on-device (e.g., your phone) rather than stored centrally (and encrypted if you choose to...
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