Whatever...

A place to share stuff that isn't at all fintec related but is amusing, absurd or scary.

Retired Member 

Internet Privacy - hot in Congress after bank bail-outs

Eileen Harrington, deputy director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, has clearly warned online advertisers (ie. google) to either come up with solid self regulation and effective policing (impossible) or face legislation along the lines of the 'Do Not Call' lists which might enable consumers to permanently opt out of ...

23 September 2008

Matt White North America editor at Finextra

Jagger wants e-commerce satisfaction

Mick Jagger is joining a load of industry bods - including Steve Jobs - to draw up a report on barriers to e-commerce within the EU. He was asked to help out after taking part in a roundtable discussion on the subject in Brussels earlier this week. The report comes as the EU looks to make it easier for people to buy online across national borders. ...

19 September 2008 /payments /retail

Elizabeth Lumley Global FinTech Commentator at Girl, Disrupted

Scheudenfraude is an ugly word--in any language

Now I've spent 15 years writing about technology and data on Wall Street and the City. I've met many people who do (or did) take home a fat wad of cash and others who get by on much smaller wallets. But as the events of this week continue, I have been a bit disturbed by the level of bile floating around the blogs and even in mainstream news. All of...

19 September 2008 /wholesale

Retired Member 

Android - it sounds like something you should avoid

The iphone was an innovation. It was really different in feel and function to previous handsets. The Android doesn't appear to be such a great leap forward. Google's new Android phone has met with mixed reception.One quote which stuck with me: 'The only thing they want to control is the kernel of the operating system and the ability to data mine fo...

15 September 2008 /security

Retired Member 

Is Google censoring searches now?

There is an interesting post on ZDnet. an 'anonymous reader' did a quick search for the terms 'google spyware privacy'. The results: Yahoo: 48,500,000 for 'google spyware privacy' MSN: 14,800,000 for 'google spyware privacy' Google: 409,000 for 'google spyware privacy'. It looks like Yahoo's search engine is far superior for this partic...

14 September 2008

Retired Member 

Google and spyware makers back peddle on privacy

In the light of recent protests we have seen a flurry of announcements from the companies most keen to steal all our personal data, right down to our thoughts almost. Washington Post reports: Amid growing scrutiny from government regulators in the U.S and Europe, Google is amending its privacy practices and keeping the IP addresses of consumers w...

10 September 2008

Retired Member 

U.S. lax Tax security 1,811 unauthorised webservers?

A report, from the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, stated that a network scan from the IRS Computer Security Incident Response Center identified 2,093 potential web servers with at least one security vulnerability connected to the IRS network. These results were compared to the IRS' web registration database and found 1,811...

10 September 2008 /security

Retired Member 

Personal data trading totally out of control?

Recent insight into the extent of consumer personal data available for sale has shocked German authorities into emergency meetings to enact stronger new data protection laws. Like their U.S. counterparts, at least some held concerns and questions were being asked. Was SOX enough? In undercover operations the German authorities were easily able to ...

07 September 2008 /payments /retail

Retired Member 

Has Google made a serious miss-step over privacy?

If you haven't seen the original chrome user agreement and didn't know the background political maneuvers on internet privacy you might not be aware of the relevance that it has to the tech giants. Goo(gle) and Y(ah)oo are meshing their advertising machines and Goo is gearing up to provide advertisers with more data than they could have dreamed of...

06 September 2008 /security /regulation

Retired Member 

Is Big Brother Manipulating You Through Your Browser?

The latest offering from google - chrome is nothing short of spyware. If you use it you're crazy. Take a good read of the EULA before you give your soul to the devil. Google Chrome Terms of Service No under-age downloads or use? 2.3 You may not use the Services and may not accept the Terms if (a) you are not of legal age to form a binding contract ...

04 September 2008