Big Cable To Oppose Robocalling Regulations

via Jon Brodkin, reporting at Ars Technica comes this story of Those Terrible People In The Cable Industry.

The latest outrage from the Cable Industry (in the United States, at least) is to direct their trade lobby group in pitching Senators and Representatives alike to punch the Nay Button in an effort to fight Anti-Robocalling legislation. Time to really cut the cord, methinks?

'"Cable lobby NCTA–The Internet & Television Association last week told the FCC in a filing that "these requests for mandatory requirements should be rejected."' - via Jon Brodkin, reporting at Ars Technica

Let The Shilling Begin

Bad behavior by Bezos' Amazon and subsidiary Ring is tainting any police investigation at it's most fundamental levels by forcing secret agreements, and endorsments for the company's products. Jeff Bezos', where is your shame?

> THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING >

The memorandum of understanding is pitched as "a solution to the Lakeland Police Department to help reduce crime and assist with investigations in your community." The document, which includes an "Amazon Legal" watermark, was signed by Ring and Lakeland Police Department representatives on December 13, 2018. - via Caroline Haskins, writing at Vice's Motherboard.

Facebookery: All The Many Datas of Zuckerberg

via Sam Biddle, writing at The Intercept, comes this astonishing story of manifest Facebookery firmly situated within the rarified telecom world of data sharing between and betwixt the telecom leviathans and that scourge of privacy Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq:FB). h/t

“What they’re doing is filtering Facebook users on creditworthiness criteria and potentially escaping the application of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. … It’s no different from Equifax providing the data to Chase.” - via Sam Biddle, reporting for The Intercept, with this superb article

The Unenforceables

via Nicholas Vinocour, reporting at Politico, of the apparent enforcement shortcomings evidenced by the European Union's GDPR Data Protection Commission (in this case, the entity entrusted with the enforcement of the GDPR is the Republic of Ireleand's Data Protection Commission). Today's Must Read! h/t

Google Utilizing Consumer Gmail Accounts to Track Purchases, Financial Transactions

News of recently revealed and egregious tracking behaviors at Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG); specifically Google is using your Gmails account to track your purchases. Our suggestions is to immediately remove any financial transaction related messaging from your Gmail accounts without delay - unless of course, you trust Google...

"While Google told us that you can delete this information at any time, they did not mention how much of a pain it is to do so. Instead of having a single setting that allows you to control how this data is saved, you need to go into each and every purchase and click on the Remove Purchase button. This will bring you to the original email that the data was pulled from and once this email is trashed, the purchase will be removed from the Purchases page. " - via Lawrence Abrams, reporting at Bleeping COmputer

FCC Coughs Up $43,000 For Hiding Net Neutrality Records

You Can Successfully Bet The Chairman Will Be Implicated In This...

via Jon Brodkin, writing at Condé Nast media property Ars Technica, in which, Mr. Brodkin reports on bad news for Chairman Ajit Pai, as the FCC was forced to settle a suit (to the tune of 43K) brought by independent writer Jason Prechtel where the FCC refused to comply with a FOIA request for data related to the Commissions'repeal of net neutrality. Folks, that's $43,000 of US taxpayer money paid out (legitimately) to a suit plaintiff (and rightly so, to cover his attorney's fees and court costs), that would not have occurred if we had an honest FCC Chairman in place.

"The FCC didn't comply with the request and allegedly didn't even approve or deny the FoIA request within the legally allotted timeframe, so Prechtel sued the commission in September 2017. One year later, a US District Court judge presiding over the case ordered the FCC to stop withholding certain records sought by Prechtel, although the ruling didn't give Prechtel everything he asked for." via Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica, in a report detailing a settlement forced on the FCC by Judge Christopher Cooper of US District Court for the District of Columbia (Ars Technica's PDF link).

UN Aviation Agency Attempted Coverup, Minimization Of 2016 Cyberattack

Another reason to not put significant trust in the United Nations.

"In an email to the ICAO, the Lockheed Martin cyberintelligence analyst described the attack as "a significant threat to the aviation industry." It had the characteristics of a "watering hole attack" that targets visitors to a website. The UN agency, working with 192 member states and industry groups, is responsible for setting international civil aviation standards, including for safety and security." - via PhysOrg