Google: A Good Digital Neighbor
June 20, 2018
Amazon’s retail and technology power daily grows. The only way to compete with Amazon is to have products, power, money, and exposure. Other companies have the money and products, while Google has the power and exposure. With their powers combined, Amazon might start to quack…just a little. Engadget reports on, “Google Plans To Boost Amazon Competitors In Search Shopping Ads.”
Target, Home Depot, Walmart, Costco, Ulta and other retailers are allowing Google to index their catalogs and will appear in search results. Instead of getting an ad fee, Google will get a cut from the sale. The immediate concern is that this will pollute organic search results, but Google will separate the targeted sale searches in a sidebar
Google is selling this package as an anti-Amazon tool:
“The report claims that Google is selling its new anti-Amazon tools on the basis that it is utterly dominant in the search world. Not to mention that, as voice becomes a more important component of people’s lives, Google’s reach here will help beat back Alexa. The project’s genesis was reportedly down to the company noticing that people were image searching products, or asking where they could buy an item. And it wasn’t small numbers of folks, either, but tens of million of people, a big enough market to make anyone excited.”
The brick and mortar retailers can steal back some of their customers by embedding their results in Google searches. According to the research, most searches start with Google, but they end up on Amazon. Google has seen a modest 30 percent increase retailer sales in another shopping project, Google Express, and those results could increase with this new endeavor. Google anti-Amazon sales kit is made for the changing world, where shopping is easier with your voice or from a computer.
Amazon has a reasonable position in the retail market, which could be seen as a positive or a negative, depending on one’s point of view. Google is just trying to be a good digital neighbor. Fences, digital fences.
Whitney Grace, June 20, 2018
Cheerleading for VPNs: Gimme a V, Gimmie an S, Gimmie an N!
June 20, 2018
VPNs Protect Your Data Away From Home
The received wisdom is that a VPN or virtual private network can be used to protect your Internet data from hackers and other bad actors. ZDNet wrote up a piece about VPNs in “Take Home Along: Six Ways A VPN Can Help Travelers Connect Wherever They Go.” Typically remote access from a different country or area than your normal IP area will be flagged as a bad actor, but it can also protect you.
In theory, you can use a VPN to prevent your debit or credit card from being blocked, do home online shopping, watch your streaming services, and use VOIP services. While these are apparent application for a VPN, the article also shares some other that are “naughtier.”
If you are visiting a country, like China, that has restricted access to social media then a VPN in theory will allow you to circumnavigate it. Even more helpful is that it can hide your online tracks from spies:
“Some companies provide VPN access to their employees while traveling. Employees are given software or configurations that allow them to create encrypted tunnels between their laptops and home servers. These enterprise VPN clients do a great job of hiding the content, but they fail in one critical way: They often let a spying nation state know the IP address of those VPN end-points.
The hope is that by using a VPN service provider, you can obfuscate the path back to work, as well as the data you’re transmitting. This is a very good idea to make it just a little harder for nation-state spies and the organized crime hackers that often work with them to find your company’s servers.”
The problem is that not every VPN is fully secure. Why? In some countries, those who use and operate VPNs are either expected to cooperate with the authorities or just want to stay in business and maybe out of jail.
Whitney Grace, June 20, 2018
Google Does Not Play Hardball, Certainly Not in Australia
June 20, 2018
Google has eagerly held its stronghold on the market and many of its tough exploits have been documented. Recently, their tactics seem to have reached a new level of seriousness, as we discovered in a recent Business Insider story, “Unlockd is Blaming Google for Going Into Administration.”
According to the story:
“The Unlockd app, which is backed by Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan, lets mobile users view ads, content, and offers based on their interests in exchange for rewards. It is only available on Android…“The company said it was planning to go public when Google threatened to ban its service from Google Play.”
This was a big blow to a company that was valued at $180 Million. However, it is appearing that Google is perhaps not the villain many are making them out to be in this scenario. Recently, Google has been giving users an option to turn off advertisements that know too much of their information. So, what once looked like a strong arm tactic to ruin a startup is now beginning to seem like Google turning a corner and helping users protect their information.
Patrick Roland, June 20, 2018
Amazon: A Variant of the Google Push Back Problem
June 19, 2018
Google sells online ads and tries hard to generate significant, sustainable revenue not dependent on its “pay to play” model. The Google has faced employee pushback from employees related to its work for the US government. Although the focus has been Project Maven, some employees are not supportive of the company’s interest in expanding its work for US government agencies.
The Google problem has now morphed and allegedly surfaced among Amazon shareholders. The objection is that Amazon is working hard to expand its revenue by providing services to government agencies. The focus is upon Rekognition, the company’s facial recognition system.
The source which alerted me to this “problem” is CNNMoney. I assume that some of the information in the write up is accurate, but in today’s digital media sphere, one never knows. Nevertheless, let me highlight a couple of the points in “Amazon Shareholders Call for Halt of Facial Recognition Sales to Police.”
I know from the feedback from the audience at my lectures in Prague is that Amazon is not recognized as a vendor of policeware. (“Policeware” is the term I use to describe technology packaged for use by law enforcement and intelligence professionals.) In fact, when I mentioned “policeware” in conjunction with Amazon’s Rekognition service, there was confusion on the faces of my audience.
In short, Amazon may be selling facial recognition technology in the US, but among the professionals in Prague, Amazon sells T shirts and electronic gizmos.
The CNN Tech / CNNMoney write up states:
In a letter delivered to CEO Jeff Bezos late Friday, the shareholders, many of whom are advocates of socially responsible investing, say they’re concerned about the privacy threat of government surveillance from the tool.
Amazon rolled out Rekognition in 2016. Now two years later, the push back is sufficiently “large” to catch the attention of the “real” journalists at CNN.
The write up points out:
The shareholders, which include the Social Equity Group and Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, are joining groups such as the ACLU in efforts to stop the company from selling the service — pointing out the risks of mass surveillance.
Amazon’s technology, it seems based on the information in the write up, is suitable for mass surveillance.
I highlighted this statement attributed to University of District Columbia law professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, author of “The Rise of Big Data Policing”:
The implications of Amazon Rekognition and all new facial recognition technologies is nothing less than a rebalancing of power between citizens and the police. The ability to identify, track, and monitor everyone throughout the city is something that we read about in science fiction.
Interesting.
Perhaps the “real” journalists at CNN will explore this topic in the future articles.
I have some questions which the experts working with CNN may be able to answer:
- If the Rekognition product became available in 2016, how many years of development did Amazon require before having a commercial service?
- What other innovations related to Rekognition did Amazon fund and develop?
- How does Rekognition’s capabilities relate to the video functions of some Amazon in home devices?
- Who spearheads Amazon’s policeware activities?
Perhaps CNN will provide additional information? If not, there may be some experts who can tackle these questions. Amazon may have to direct its attention to curing its variant of the Google disease for push back and discontent.
Stephen E Arnold, June 19, 2018
Visual Search Enters Its Next Phase
June 19, 2018
About a year ago, some of the biggest names in search declared that visual search was the next big horizon in the industry and that they were pouring great gobs of money into this world. If you are like us, visual search is not exactly part of your everyday life yet. But, that doesn’t mean it isn’t evolving, as we discovered in a fascinating Digital Trends story, “Not Happy With Pinterest Search Results? Refine it With Text and Photo Queries.”
According to the story:
“Pinterest announced the addition of text searches that work within the visual search tool, allowing users to give Pinterest Lens a bit more direction on the intent of the search. According to Pinterest, users make an average of 600 million searches every month.”
That’s an interesting trend and suggests an uptick. However, all these advances still don’t seem to be creeping into our daily life…yet. As reported by IT Pro Portal, retailers are starting to adopt visual search technology. This directly stems from the rise of shopping via cell phone, as opposed to laptops. And, as we all know, phones are custom made for visual search thanks to their cameras. The technology sounds like it is there, our interest is there as shoppers, and we think the storm is on the horizon where visual search overtakes the retail market soon.
Patrick Roland, June 19, 2018
It Is Just Business
June 19, 2018
Australia is a long way from Harrod’s Creek. I notice this “real” news item: “Aussie Start-Up Ups the Stakes in Global Fight with Google.”
The story alleges that Unlockd’s app was blocked on the Google Play store. As a result, the company is on thin ice. The story reveals:
Google’s threat had “a deep impact” on the company’s now-delayed plans to float on the Australian stock exchange.
Is this possible? Consider that Facebook has been under a lot of fire since the Cambridge Analytica kerfuffle. Now The Guardian announces, “Zuckerberg Set Up Fraudulent Scheme to ‘Weaponise’ Data, Court Case Alleges.” The article points to a lawsuit by a California company that claims Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg specifically, hatched a plan to “weaponize” user data against other companies. Writers Carole Cadwalladr and Emma Graham-Harrison explain:
“A legal motion filed last week in the superior court of San Mateo draws upon extensive confidential emails and messages between Facebook senior executives including Mark Zuckerberg. He is named individually in the case and, it is claimed, had personal oversight of the scheme. Facebook rejects all claims, and has made a motion to have the case dismissed using a free speech defence. It claims the first amendment protects its right to make ‘editorial decisions’ as it sees fit. Zuckerberg and other senior executives have asserted that Facebook is a platform not a publisher, most recently in testimony to Congress. … The developer alleges the correspondence shows Facebook paid lip service to privacy concerns in public but behind the scenes exploited its users’ private information. It claims internal emails and messages reveal a cynical and abusive system set up to exploit access to users’ private information, alongside a raft of anti-competitive behaviours. Facebook said the claims had no merit and the company would ‘continue to defend ourselves vigorously’.”
As for those “anti-competitive” behaviors, the suit claims that as many as 40,000 companies that had been enticed to rely on Facebook for traffic were betrayed when, it says, the platform throttled their reach to followers for business reasons. It also posits that the liberties the company has taken with user data were to make up for its failure to dominate the mobile space back in 2012. See the write-up, if curious, for more details. We are told a trial date has been set for April of next year.
There’s no pattern discernible from the actions of two different companies. I assume that “It’s just business.”
Cynthia Murrell, June 19, 2018
DarkCyber for June 19, 2018 Now Available
June 19, 2018
DarkCyber for June 19, 2018, is now available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and on Vimeo at https://www.vimeo.com/275466464
Stephen E Arnold’s DarkCyber is a weekly video news and analysis program about the Dark Web and lesser known Internet services.
This week’s program covers five cybercrime related stories.
The first story profiles Hunch.ly a low cost open source intelligence investigative tool. The system allows an investigator to keep track of sites visited, capture complete Surface Web and Dark Web page, and generate an audit trail. The Hunch.ly system costs less than $130 per year per user.
The second story reviews two Romanian universities accused of harboring a Dark Web drug cartel. More than 600 officers arrested more than 60 individuals. Many of these university students were studying law and medicine.
The third story reveals that Europol has created a dedicated team within in its cyber crime center. A dedicated team will allow investigators to focus on Dark Web crime and not be pulled from a Dark Web investigation to work on an unrelated matter. The dedicated team will work in a cross border environment so that police actions can be more effectively coordinated.
The fourth story explains that Cyberlitica has introduced a new Dark Web scanning service. The DarkCyber report points out that password reuse is common and creates significant security vulnerabilities.
The final story reveals that a 2013 analysis of the Stuxnet virus is again available without charge. The report provides specific operational details of the Stuxnet exploit designed to interrupt nuclear fuel enrichment.
DarkCyber is one of a very small number of weekly video news programs focusing on policeware, the Dark Web, and related topics.
Kenny Toth, July 19, 2018
Google and the China Market: A Second Phase
June 18, 2018
It’s early in Harrod’s Creek. I read “Google Places a $550 Million Bet on China’s Second Largest E Commerce Player.” The write up was intriguing. Google is apparently interested in turning Avis into Hertz, at least in the Chinese e commerce arena. Also, I recall that Google wanted China’s political leaders to change. I am not sure Avis knocked Hertz out of the Number One spot in car rentals. Also, it seems to me that China has become focused on remaining distinctly Chinese with the added twist of surveillance, filtering, and other interesting information collection methods.
The CNBC “real” news outfit states:
The two tech companies said they would work together to develop retail infrastructure that can better personalize the shopping experience and reduce friction in a number of markets, including Southeast Asia. For its part, JD.com said it planned to make a selection of items available for sale in places like the U.S. and Europe through Google Shopping — a service that lets users search for products on e-commerce websites and compare prices between different sellers.
During my trips to China, I entertained myself looking for knock offs or counterfeit goods. For example, one of the individuals serving as my “guide” let me know that I could buy watches similar to those on offer at the Zurich airport shops. I took a look, and to my unpracticed eye, these watches looked pretty good. I did not buy one, however. I am happy with my easy to read Timex.
My hunch is that such goods will be filtered from those offered by the new retail team mates.
The timing is particularly Googley. The US and China are engaging in tariff checker games.
Worth monitoring, particularly if one is engaged in certain branded retail sectors.
Stephen E Arnold, June 18, 2018
Apple and Google: Will These Giants Emulate Newspaper Work Flows?
June 18, 2018
With the problem of fake news online, the news itself has often made headlines of late. We’ve noticed a couple different news-related moves from big players: TechCrunch reports on Google’s recent project in, “Google Experiments in Local News with an App Called Bulletin.” We learn that Apple, meanwhile, plans to integrate its recent acquisition, magazine aggregator Texture, into Apple News and an upcoming subscription service in, “Apple Said to Plan a ‘Netflix for News’ in Latest Push” at the Daily Herald.
Google’s Bulletin is a place for members of a community to post local news and event notices. TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez suspects it’s also another attempt by Google to squeeze into the Social Media space. She observes:
“The move to delve into local news would have Google competing with other services where people already share news about what’s happening locally. Specifically, people tend to tweet or live stream when news is breaking …. Meanwhile, if they’re trying to promote a local event … it’s likely that they’ll post that to the business’s Facebook Page, where it can then be discovered through the Page’s fans and surfaced in Facebook’s Local app. And if Google aims to more directly compete with local news resources like small-town print or online publishers or Patch, it could have a tougher road. Hyperlocal news has been difficult to monetize, and those who have made it work aren’t likely interested in shifting their limited time and energy elsewhere.”
Over at the Daily Herald, reporters Mark Gurman and Gerry Smith Bloomberg note that Apple cut 20 Texture workers shortly after acquiring the company, but we’re cautioned against reading too much into that. The article notes:
“An upgraded Apple News app with the subscription offering is expected to launch within the next year, and a slice of the subscription revenue will go to magazine publishers that are part of the program, [sources] said. … A new, simplified subscription service covering multiple publications could spur Apple News usage and generate new revenue in a similar manner to the $9.99 per month Apple Music offering.”
Will enough folks pay per month for news, like they do for (other) online entertainment? Perhaps now, when it is prudent to be skeptical, people are willing to pay up to 10 bucks a month for a trusted name.
Next up: Emulation of traditional newspapers editorial processes. Why? Smart software is just so so when it comes to some types of information.
Cynthia Murrell, June 18, 2018
Google Language Processing Enters New Phase
June 18, 2018
The buzzword du jour in search and AI is Natural Language Processing (NLP). This next frontier involves utilizing recorded speech to better enhance search and fits right at home with the smart assistants that have been gaining momentum. We learned how Google aims to capitalize off of this trend in a recent Search Engine Journal article, “Google Announces Advances in AI.”
According to the story:
“This algorithm is trained in conversational nuances using Reddit and other sources in order to be able to understand from actual conversations what questions mean…“It’s easier to understand similarities between long questions. But it becomes harder for short questions. The research claims to be able to train a machine to understand differences between short questions.”
Believe it or not, much of these advances from Google have come about because chatbots have actually reached a place of peak potential with NLP. This, according to experts who say that a chatbots ability to process language is far exceeding search at this point. We predict Google will keep making sharp advances in the industry and eventually leave chatbots in the dust. But it’s interesting to see this motivation arise.
Patrick Roland, June 18, 2018
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