A lawsuit against Google alleging that its Gmail service is in effect a wiretap sheds light upon bMail, specifically concerning whether Google is scanning our communications in bMail. In the suit, plaintiffs allege that Google is intercepting communications and building profiles on users based upon their email traffic, and that this is illegal in part … Continue reading »
When product features disappear – Amazon, Apple, Tesla and the troubled future for 21st century consumers
One of the great innovations of the 21st century are products that are cloud-connected and update and improve automatically. For software, gone are the days of having to buy a new version of physical media (disks or CD’s.) For hardware it’s the magical ability to have a product get better over time as new features are automatically added. … Continue reading »
Google’s Good Advertising Standards
Media companies have always had a complex relationship with consumer protection. On one hand, they want to protect consumers from harm, but on the other, advertising butters their bread. Thus historically, media companies have opposed product safety, truth-in-advertising, and even the incredibly popular Telemarketing Do-Not-Call Registry. They have argued that consumers are best protected in … Continue reading »
GBS: Total Patron Awareness
“It is the librarian’s obligation to treat as confidential any private information obtained through contact with library patrons.” -Article 11, 1939 Code of Ethics for Librarians, American Library Association. The town crier couldn’t monitor what you heard and paid attention to. Things are different with GBS. In my scholarship, I’ve pointed out that private entities … Continue reading »