Daily Archives: 2022-08-15

Google IoT Core will be discontinued on Aug. 16, 2023

Source: Hacker News

Article note: Oh look, google killing a product. And this isn't even the fist time around in that space for Google; they had that "Android Things" platform they rug-pulled a couple years back, and migrated everyone who didn't leave onto this one.
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Apple ad exec wants to more than double ad revenue with new ads across iOS

Source: Ars Technica

Article note: Isn't the supposed value proposition for Apple that you trade paying a premium to lock yourself into their ecosystem for their not selling your attention as their primary product?
Apple's HQ, as seen in Apple Maps.

Enlarge / Apple's HQ, as seen in Apple Maps. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple is looking into significantly ramping up its ads business, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, and has already internally explored adding ads to the iPhone's Maps app, with other potential expansions also on the horizon.

The shift may be driven in part by a recent change within the company's reporting structure: Gurman wrote in his email newsletter this week that Apple advertising VP Todd Teresi began reporting directly to Apple services head Eddie Cue a few months back. He also wrote that Teresi plans to increase Apple's advertising revenue from $4 billion annually to billions in the double digits.

As Gurman notes, advertising is already a part of Apple's strategy, but it's limited in scope and to certain places. The most traditional advertisements you'll see in an Apple-made app are the ones in the Stocks and News apps. There, you'll see display ads just like those you see on news websites—both outside of stories and inside of them.

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$23 Million YouTube Royalties Scam

Source: Schneier on Security

Article note: It seems like ContentID is so abused it's hard to claim there are significant non-abusive function. It doesn't handle clear fair-use. It keeps being used for scams, both directly and for extortion. It screws up the functioning of the cultural commons.

Scammers were able to convince YouTube that other peoples’ music was their own. They successfully stole $23 million before they were caught.

No one knows how common this scam is, and how much money total is being stolen in this way. Presumably this is not an uncommon fraud.

While the size of the heist and the breadth of the scheme may be very unique, it’s certainly a situation that many YouTube content creators have faced before. YouTube’s Content ID system, meant to help creators, has been weaponized by bad faith actors in order to make money off content that isn’t theirs. While some false claims are just mistakes caused by automated systems, the MediaMuv case is a perfect example of how fraudsters are also purposefully taking advantage of digital copyright rules.

YouTube attempts to be cautious with who it provides CMS and Content ID tool access because of how powerful these systems are. As a result, independent creators and artists cannot check for these false copyright claims nor do they have the power to directly act on them. They need to go through a digital rights management company that does have access. And it seems like thieves are doing the same, falsifying documents to gain access to these YouTube tools through these third parties that are “trusted” with these tools by YouTube.

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Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking

Source: Hacker News

Article note: I'm not hopeful that the process won't be captured by companies who have made enormous amounts of money off of exploitative data collection practices and/or private and governmental entities who like buying that data, but at least there's a plan for a plan to regulate.
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