Surveillance as a “selling point?” Will consumers soon insist that all cameras have this ability?

Google Clips automatically identifies everyone including your pets

I don’t know what I’d do without Joe Cadillic. I learn so much from him about businesses engaging in creepy or surveillance activities…. and governments engaging in creepy or surveillance activities and…..

Anyway, in today’s installment, Joe writes:

Are you looking forward to the holiday season?

Do you want the latest in corporate advertised surveillance?

Then hurry up and be the first one in your family to purchase a $249.00 Google Clips camera, that automatically identifies you and your pets.

“Clips automatically chooses which moments to capture and keep, so you don’t need to be behind the camera.”

Because nothing says big brother, like a camera that automatically identifies everyone it takes pictures of.

Read more on MassPrivateI.

(Related).

‘Virtual Block Watch’ wants every home to have four surveillance cameras to spy on the public

I go away for a few days and come back to find all these messages from Joe about stories he thinks I’ll want to read and posts of his. It’s great!

Here’s another recent post of Joe’s:

If you have never heard of Virtual Block Watch (VBW) don’t worry, you soon will.

At first glance, you might think it’s like law enforcement’s Neighborhood Watch but you’d be wrong.

VBW’s are law enforcement’s latest national surveillance program that encourages the public to use surveillance cameras spy on one another.

Why do we need another national spying program? Don’t we already have DHS’s ‘See Something Say Something’ spying program?

As you will see, one surveillance program is never enough.

Police across the country are encouraging the public to ‘voluntarily’ let police have access to their CCTV cameras.

Read more on MassPrivateI.

“We can, therefore we must?”

US Intelligence Unit Accused Of Illegally Spying On Americans’ Financial Records

Jason Leopold and Jessica Garrison report:

The intelligence division at the Treasury Department has repeatedly and systematically violated domestic surveillance laws by snooping on the private financial records of US citizens and companies, according to government sources.

Over the past year, at least a dozen employees in another branch of the Treasury Department, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, have warned officials and Congress that US citizens’ and residents’ banking and financial data has been illegally searched and stored. And the breach, some sources said, extended to other intelligence agencies, such as the National Security Agency, whose officers used the Treasury’s intelligence division as an illegal back door to gain access to American citizens’ financial records. The NSA said that any allegations that it “is operating outside of its authorities and knowingly violating U.S. persons’ privacy and civil liberties is categorically false.”

Read more on BuzzFeed.

The good fight?

https://www.pbwt.com/data-security-law-blog/justice-department-accuses-google-of-alarming-tactics-in-fight-over-sca-search-warrant/

Justice Department Accuses Google of “Alarming” Tactics in Fight over SCA Search Warrant

The ongoing dispute between the government and Google concerning the company’s refusal to hand over customer data stored on foreign servers has taken an odd twist. Now, the Justice Department is demanding that Google be sanctioned for not abiding by the court’s most recent decision—ordering it to produce data associated with 22 email accounts—and calling Google’s conduct “a willful and contemptuous disregard of various court orders.” The case is In the Matter of the Search of Content that Is Stored at Premises Controlled by Google, No. 16-mc-80263 (N.D. Cal.).

… Google wants to appeal Judge Seeborg’s ruling, but is in a tight spot. If Google refuses to comply with the ruling during the pendency of its appeal, it risks inviting (potentially very costly) sanctions. On the other hand, if it complies with the order, it risks mooting the appeal—not to mention potentially upsetting its users.

Google’s solution? Not surprisingly, Google has advised Judge Seeborg that it wishes to appeal, will not comply with the court’s ruling, and wants to be held in civil contempt to expedite the appeal. Although it may seem unusual for a party to seek a contempt finding against itself, this approach has appeal for Google because it preserves appellate jurisdiction. Importantly, Google is asking the court to stay any sanctions during the pendency of the appeal, on the grounds that it is simply acting in good faith to seek clarity on an important legal issue. The company promises that it will continue to preserve the information at issue, and pledges to immediately produce the information if it loses on appeal.

… Google’s motion can be read here, and the government’s response and motion for contempt hearing is here.

Just guessing, but I doubt campaign organizations are going to tolerate this. They want tose attack ad out there NOW!

https://www.axios.com/scoop-facebook-tells-advertisers-more-scrutiny-is-coming-2493827891.html

Facebook tells advertisers more scrutiny is coming

Facebook is going to require ads that are targeted to people based on "politics, religion, ethnicity or social issues" to be manually reviewed before they go live, according to an email sent to advertisers and obtained by Axios. That's a higher standard than that required of most Facebook ads, which are bought and uploaded to the site through an automated system. It's also warning that it expects the new policy to slow down the launch of new ad campaigns.

In case you missed it…

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opinion/privacy-rights-security-breaches.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FPrivacy&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

The End of Privacy

… Given the constant stream of breaches, it can be hard to understand what’s happening to our privacy over time. Two dates — one recent and one long ago — help explain this: Dec. 15, 1890, and May 23, 2017, are the two most important days in the history of privacy. The first signifies its creation as a legal concept, and the latter, while largely overlooked at the time, symbolizes something close to its end.

Is the US government unable to do something like this?

https://www.wired.com/story/google-closer-to-using-balloons-for-telecom-in-puerto-rico

Alphabet Closer to Using Balloons for Telecom in Puerto Rico

Last Friday, engineers on Google parent Alphabet’s internet-by-balloon Project Loon tweeted that they hoped to bring emergency connectivity to Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria left more than 90 percent of the island without cellphone coverage.

Just seven days later, the Federal Communications Commission Friday gave the company a green light to fly 30 balloons over Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands for up to six months.

Is the full report worth $495?

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-social-media-demographics-report-2017-8

THE SOCIAL MEDIA DEMOGRAPHICS REPORT: Differences in age, gender, and income at the top platforms

In a new report, BI Intelligence highlights the key audience demographics for six major social platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

… Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• US Facebook users aged 45-54 are spending more time on Facebook, and represent 21% of the total time spent on the platform, more than any other age group.
• The age composition of Snapchat users in the US has become more evenly distributed over the past year, and it appears the company is doing a better job of attracting older users.
• Teens are starting to use a category of social media called “digital hangouts.” These are apps that enable users to video chat with several friends simultaneously. Over 60% of users on Houseparty, one of the most popular digital hangout apps, are under 24 years old.
• LinkedIn is popular among high-income users. Forty-five percent of US adult internet users with an income higher than $75,000 annually are on LinkedIn, making it more popular among this demographic than Instagram (31%), Pinterest (35%), or Twitter (30%).