Link

Going Cold Turkey on Apple, Amazon, Google,Microsoft, and Facebook

Charlotte Henry ·

Kashmir Hill stopped using the ‘big five’ tech giants, one at a time. For the final week, she stopped using them all. She relayed her experience for Gizmodo.

I went through the digital equivalent of a juice cleanse. I hope I’m better than most dieters at staying healthy afterward, but I don’t want to be a digital vegan. I want to embrace a lifestyle of “slow Internet,” to be more discriminating about the technology I let into my life and think about the motives of the companies behind it. The tech giants are reshaping the world in good and bad ways; we can take the good and reject the bad.

[Update: August 3] The quote above and main link (below) is from the first time Ms. Hill conducted this experiment, in 2019. She has since reflected on it for The New York Times.

Link

iOS 14 Features Could Hurt Facebook Ad Targeting

Andrew Orr ·

iOS 14 features like “ask to track” could hurt Facebook’s ad targeting business, said Chief Financial Officer David Wehner.

With the update to its mobile devices, Apple will ask users if they want to let app developers track their activity across other apps and websites […] The change is expected to start impacting Facebook’s advertising in the third quarter but it will have a more pronounced effect in the fourth quarter, Wehner said.

I’m sure Facebook will find other ways to track people.

Link

‘Military Grade’ is Hardly More Than a Marketing Term

Andrew Orr ·

In early 2020 I wrote an article explaining what it means when companies use phrases like “military grade encryption” or “bank level security.” I wrote “they might seem like marketing buzzwords” but I should’ve said, “they totally are buzzwords.” This usage isn’t limited to discussions around encryption. Mel Magazine says it refers to MIL-STD-810 and it’s not the tough, high quality standard we think it is.

Commercially, Hollings adds, “there’s no governing body that says, ‘Okay, you met the requirements for MIL-STD-A-10.’ So effectively anyone can say their product is military standard.” This obviously isn’t great for civilian consumers, while ex-military like Hollings just scoff at the designation […]