Oracle Faces Class Action Suit Over Its ‘Mass Surveillance’

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Oracle Faces Class Action Suit Over Its ‘Mass Surveillance’

Oracle is facing a class action lawsuit over what is being described as its “mass surveillance” of the general public.

Oracle is the world’s leading database provider and a popular cloud provider. The company is accused (PDF) of using its position and platforms to collect real-time data on hundreds of millions of users and selling it. The lawsuit alleges the data is being collected on the general public, including individuals who have no direct relationship with Oracle nor any ability to consent or object to the data collection.

This complaint sets forth how the regularly conducted business practices of defendant Oracle America, Inc. (“Oracle”) amount to a deliberate and purposeful surveillance of the general population via their digital and online existence. In the course of functioning as a worldwide data broker, Oracle has created a network that tracks in real-time and records indefinitely the personal information of hundreds of millions of people. Oracle sells this detailed personal information to third parties, either directly, or through its “ID Graph” and other related products and services derived from this data. The proposed Classes herein lack a direct relationship with Oracle and have no reasonable or practical basis upon which they could legally consent to Oracle’s surveillance.

The plaintiffs consist of Dr. Johnny Ryan, a Senior Fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, and a Senior Fellow at the Open Markets Institute; Dr. Jennifer Golbeck, an associate professor at the University of Maryland in College Park and Director of the Social Intelligence Lab; and Michael Katz-Lacabe, a privacy rights activist.

The plaintiffs make the case that company founder Larry Ellison set out to establish Oracle as a surveillance powerhouse.

According to Ellison, the purpose of Oracle ID Graph is to predict and influence the future behavior of billions of people. He explained Oracle could achieve this goal by looking at social activity and locations in real time, including “micro location[s].” For example, Ellison has represented that companies will be able to know how much time someone spends in a specific aisle of a specific store and what is in the aisle of the store. “By collecting this data and marrying it to things like micro location information, Internet users’ search histories, websites visits and product comparisons along with their demographic data, and past purchase data, Oracle will be able to predict purchase intent better than anyone.”

It’s unclear how successful the lawsuit will be. The US notoriously has no comprehensive privacy legislation, making any such lawsuit an uphill battle. At the same time, the lawsuit was filed in California, one of the few states in the US that does have privacy legislation.

If the plaintiffs are successful, it could have profound repercussions for the US data broker industry, an industry that is already under scrutiny from privacy-minded lawmakers.

Oracle Faces Class Action Suit Over Its ‘Mass Surveillance’
Matt Milano

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Foxconn Investing $300 Million in Vietnam Manufacturing

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Foxconn Investing $300 Million in Vietnam Manufacturing

Apple supplier Foxconn plans to invest some $300 million in its Vietnam manufacturing facilities in an effort to increase production.

Vietnam has been working to establish itself as a center for tech manufacturing. Reports surfaced last week that Apple is looking to move Apple Watch and MacBook production to the country for the first time ever. As a result, it’s not surprising that Apple’s biggest manufacturing partner is looking to expand its in-country production.

According to Reuters, “Foxconn has signed a $300 million memorandum of understanding with Vietnamese developer Kinh Bac City (KBC.HM) to expand its facility in the north of the country to diversify and boost production.”

Foxconn’s new factory will sit on 125 acres in the Bac Giang province and will reportedly create 30,000 jobs in the local economy.

Foxconn Investing $300 Million in Vietnam Manufacturing
Matt Milano

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Google Tops Big Tech Data Tracking With 39 Types of Private Data

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Google Tops Big Tech Data Tracking With 39 Types of Private Data

Google is the most invasive of Big Tech companies, tracking 39 different private user data points, more than any of its peers.

StockApps.com conducted an analysis of what data Google, Twitter, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook collect. Of the companies analyzed, Google was the most invasive, tracking 39 different points of private user data. Apple was the least invasive, only tracking 12 data points “necessary to maintain users’ accounts.”

Twitter collected the second-highest number of data points at 24, while Amazon came in at 23. Surprisingly, Facebook only tracked 14 data points.

“Twitter and Facebook both save more information than they need to,” writes Edith Reads for StockApps.com. “However, with Facebook, most of the data they store is information users enter.”

One of the biggest challenges for users interested in limiting Big Tech’s data tracking is the difficulty in understanding the long and complicated privacy policies most companies utilize.

“Most people do not have the time or patience to read privacy policies that can be several pages long for each website they visit,” says Reads. “Also, it is quite unlikely that all users have a background in law to properly grasp the privacy policy. Besides, users lack time, patience, or energy to try to figure out what information websites are storing and how they are using it to their advantage. As a result, users end up allowing Google to harvest all the data they need by agreeing to the privacy policy terms. “

Google Tops Big Tech Data Tracking With 39 Types of Private Data
Matt Milano

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The Mandela Effect: Dangers of False Memories

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The Mandela Effect: Dangers of False Memories

Human memory is a complicated thing. We remember relatively little of what we experience on a day to day basis, largely because a lot of information we encounter is repetitive or irrelevant. Despite that, humans rely on their memory for everything from brushing our teeth (muscle memory) to following current events. We want our memory to provide us an accurate account of the past; it does so less often than we might like. For one, we forget information often. Beyond that, we can be made confident we remember false information. In a recent memory study, 76% of adults failed to recall information accurately. 

Introducing the Mandela Effect

This is a problem at the individual level. What are we supposed to do when we realize we don’t remember something correctly? It is most likely we will ask another person. What are the chances everyone in a group remembers something the same wrong way? Higher than one might think. In 2009, paranormal expert Fiona Broome started a website to describe a strange phenomenon; despite Nelson Mandela assuming the South African presidency in 1994, a significant group of people still believed he had died in 1980. Today, the Mandela Effect is recognized as an umbrella term for any instance of a large group misremembering a specific detail or event.

How common is the Mandela Effect in everyday life? More common than most people would be comfortable with, that’s for sure. In popular culture alone, many people remember Rich Uncle Pennybags (the “Monopoly Man”) as wearing a monocle. The branded character has never been illustrated that way in an official capacity. Movies and TV shows are misquoted frequently, to the frustration of their fanbases. Perhaps the most famous example after Mandela himself is The Berenstain Bears. Named after author Mike Berenstain, readers around the world insist the correct spelling is “Berenstein.” Some go as far as saying they possess books with the misspelling in print. 

Most of the examples above are innocent. It doesn’t harm anyone to remember the Monopoly Man as monocled. More concerning is the implication of the Mandela Effect. Large swaths of the population can be confident (and even combative) regarding their recollection of falsehoods. Recent studies suggest that up to 1 in 2 people may not be able to distinguish between false memories and real ones. In our modern era, the internet makes it very easy for misinformation to spread. Individuals with the right skills can create deepfakes that seem to be indistinguishable from real video footage. How is society supposed to function when different groups experience alternate versions of reality?

In Conclusion

How can individuals avoid the Mandela Effect in their own life? As an emerging memory science, there is a lot about the Mandela Effect scientists still don’t understand. However, fact checking goes a long way. Endeavor to get news from a wide variety of sources, especially when details appear to be in contention. Be careful to avoid mob mentality, as the pressure of group conformity is one of the ways false memories spread.

Brought to you by: Online-Psychology-Degrees.org

The Mandela Effect: Dangers of False Memories
Brian Wallace

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Apple’s Self Service Repair Comes to MacBooks

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Apple’s Self Service Repair Comes to MacBooks

MacBooks owners can now do some of their own repairs as Apple expands its self-repair service to cover the popular laptops.

Apple has been slowly rolling out its Self Service Repair program, starting first with the iPhone earlier this year and now expanding to the MacBook.

Self Service Repair for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro offers more than a dozen different repair types for each model, including the display, top case with battery, and trackpad, with more to come. Customers who are experienced with the complexities of repairing electronic devices will be able to complete repairs on these Mac notebooks, with access to many of the same parts and tools available to Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Service Providers.

The company says customers will first need to check the manual for the MacBook they want to repair at support.apple.com/self-service-repair. Once they decide to move forward, they can order the necessary repair kit at the Apple Self Service Repair Store.

Apple says customers can rent the tools for $49 for a week, saving them the expense of purchasing tools that may have limited use beyond a specific MacBook model.

In addition, customers can even send the parts they’ve replaced back to Apple so they can be refurbished and recycled. Customers who choose this option may even receive credit toward their purchase.

Apple’s Self Service Repair Comes to MacBooks
Matt Milano

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Ford Plans to Cut 3,000 Jobs

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Ford Plans to Cut 3,000 Jobs

Ford’s restructuring plans are coming into focus, with the automaker planning to cut 3,000 jobs.

First reported by Automotive News and confirmed by TechCrunch, Ford is looking to restructure and reduce costs. The move comes as the company is increasingly transitioning to hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs), making some skill sets less desirable than they once were.

“We absolutely have too many people in certain places. No doubt about it. And we have skills that don’t work anymore, and we have jobs that need to change,” CEO Jim Farley said in July 2022, via TechCrunch. “We have lots of new work statements that we’ve never had before. We are literally virtually reshaping our company, like every part of our company. And you know the ICE business, we want to simplify it, we want to make sure the skills we have and the works statements we have are as lean as possible. We know our costs are not competitive at Ford. That’s what I mean by we are not satisfied.”

Earlier reports had put the number of job cuts as high as 8,000. Those reports indicated the layoffs would largely be in the company’s Ford Blue unit, responsible for internal combustion engine (ICE). In contrast, the company’s Ford Model e unit is dedicated to its EV development.

Ford Plans to Cut 3,000 Jobs
Matt Milano

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How to Increase Sales in Online Marketplaces

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How to Increase Sales in Online Marketplaces

If you’re not selling online, are you really selling? This is a question you likely asked yourself in the beginning stages of building your business. And if you’re an executive of a company who has been selling online for a while, you may be trying to figure out how to sell more online. Even if you have the most revolutionary product lineup, getting into the hands of your audiences is not easy. 

As the pandemic demonstrated, nearly everything is available online and ready to ship to your door instantaneously. From toilet paper to milk, bedding to televisions, everything you could possibly want, need, or desire can be found online. This fact is mindblowing when you think about how shopping used to be strictly done in-person. Now you can pre-order your groceries from the comfort of your couch and order school supplies for your kids at the same time. 

The online marketplace is cluttered with literally millions of brands competing for the same consumers. Differentiating yourself as a brand can be tricky, no matter if you are a small business or a large retailer. If you’re looking to increase your brand’s sales online, then you’ve come to the right place. Below are three ways to boost your sales and get consumers coming back for your products time and time again.  

1. Make Friends with Amazon

Despite your personal feelings toward Amazon, the truth is, selling on Amazon can be extremely beneficial. Consumers who are willing to try a new product will likely first search on Amazon to see if it’s available. Free, expedited shipping for Prime customers is a gamechanger for consumers in this must-have-it-now landscape. And while buying on Amazon may be simple, selling on this e-commerce site is a different story. 

Before you start selling on Amazon, be sure to read all of its rules and regulations. Skipping this step may lead you to a suspended amazon seller account. This often happens due to lack of performance, like policy violations or a lack of sales. It can also happen, however, if you have multiple selling accounts or you are selling something prohibited by the site. Having a suspension can be a frustrating experience, and it can take days if not weeks to get your account restored. 

Your best bet to selling successfully on Amazon is to do your homework. Make sure your business is set up with proper documentation. Once you’re on the e-commerce site, be responsible to your purchasers. If something is delayed due to inventory, communicate this with your buyers. Also, if you receive a negative comment, be sure to respond to the feedback on the site directly. These small tips will boost your Amazon seller profile and hopefully keep you far away from a suspension. 

2. Be Active on Social Media 

Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok are making it even easier for users to stop what they’re doing mid-scroll and purchase products. As a business, you want to capture users’ attention when they are most vulnerable and most likely to purchase. You can do this by being an active brand on social media. This can look like creating funny or memorable Instagram Reels or having an enticing giveaway. 

If you aren’t socially savvy, that’s alright. There are plenty of tutorials online to get you started and inspire you to create buzzworthy content. If you’re still at a loss, you may consider hiring a social guru either as a full-time employee or contractor. Having a dedicated social media person on your team can ensure your business is at the forefront of latest trends. This will pay off quickly when you see how many new customers are finding your brand through social apps. 

Another thing to note: make sure your checkout experience is simple. The more seamless the checkout experience, the more likely someone is going to buy right away. If the process is tedious or laborsome, users will click back and continue scrolling. The likelihood of them coming back to your site to purchase is slim to none. Monitoring your consumers’ purchase journey is one key way to ensure they are completing their orders quickly and efficiently. 

3. Manage Your Inventory

This last tip is especially relevant today. Shortages have become relatively normal since the onset of the pandemic. Currently, everything from baby formula to tampons to Sirarchia is in low supply. The reason for these shortages stems from a weak supply chain. Raw materials are limited, human labor is varied, and shipping or transportation is unstable. This can lead to your business suffering from less or delayed inventory. 

As a business, being upfront with your customers is key. If you are facing inventory shortages, it’s important to let your customers know before they checkout. This can look like putting a banner on the top of your website communicating this to them. Nobody wants to be surprised after they’ve already paid to find out the new item they bought will be shipped weeks from now. The sooner you communicate issues with your consumers, the more they will trust you as a brand and repeat business. 

If you are selling on multiple platforms — like your website, Amazon, and social — then keeping up with your inventory is key. You may want to look into an inventory management system to help you and your team keep track of what is available. Moreover, implementing this system can help you track what items are in demand and when you need to order more. 

Takeaways

Selling online isn’t as simple as selling lemonade at your neighborhood block party. You have to get in front of the right audience in the moment they are looking to buy. You also have to create a seamless shopping experience and communicate openly to increase customer satisfaction. While you will definitely face hiccups from your online marketplaces, remember that honesty is always the best policy. Represent your business and show up for your customers with respect to become a favorable brand in their eyes. 

How to Increase Sales in Online Marketplaces
Brian Wallace

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