Facebook, Amazon and Firefox

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Twitter shared its own research today that showed its algorithms amplify right-leaning political content more than left-leaning.


Protocol - Media Bias/Fact Check

[JoeP]

That starts out seeming encouraging. Even with some wide-eyed "what even is this" reporting ...

what she called a "root-cause analysis"

What anybody with any experience at all in problem diagnosis - but obviously not this reporter - would call a root-cause analysis.

While they insisted that there is broad internal support for META's transparency, Chowdhury and McCallum worry about accidentally miscommunicating the complex science behind the research. They know that news articles — like this one — are easily misinterpreted, and that the final takeaway for most people is a pretty diluted version of the research.

That could be defensive, but is very true.

[steve_bank]

From all the reporting all your information is up for sale. Automayed AI develop a profile and feed news and adverts it thinks you may want. How do you think Firefox can provide a free browser and stay in business?

I did a search on some equipment and the next time I went online I was hit with adverts for similar equipment.

Making sure your cookies and browsing history is cleared when you go offline may help, but it is insidious. You can set your browser security to a high level but you may not get on some sites.

[fragment]

Originally Posted by steve_bank

I did a search on some equipment and the next time I went online I was hit with adverts for similar equipment.

Stupid thing is I keep getting adds for a thing for a month after I've researched, decided and bought said thing and have no interest in another of them.

[steve_bank]

Computers never forget....

[ShottleBop]

I was looking for a webcam today. I found one with a five-star rating. I always check out reviews (and, when I remember, I use FakeSpot for information as to reliability of the reviews). Here's the description of the project, and a screenshot of the first few reviews

[ShottleBop]

So it's not just Amazon. Apparently, these kaleidoscopes are super comfy and fit well, and the logos on them survive multiple washings!

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Established mob sends a message to the interlopers.

[JoeP]

Amazon burns through workers so quickly that executives are worried they'll run out of people to employ, according to a new report

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Sad Trombone - YouTube

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Amazon delivery driver 'told to finish shift' after heart attack behind wheel

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

America's Funniest Privacy Violations

— av1d (@av1d) August 12, 2022

[Basset Hound]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Amazon burns through workers so quickly that executives are worried they'll run out of people to employ, according to a new report

Amazon is proud to be an equal opportunity exploiter.

[Miss Shelby]

Mark Zuckerberg's revelation Facebook suppressed Hunter Biden laptop stories sparks backlash | Daily Mail Online

[ChuckF]

oh man Facebook's elderly users are gonna be big mad, that's totally new

[Miss Shelby]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

oh man Facebook's elderly users are gonna be big mad, that's totally new

well, Chuck, it's the latest development. I wanna participate. I got feelings too ya know.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Is Jeff Bezos the first businessman in history to fire the entire available workforce?

[JoeP]

‘Lack of respect’: outcry over Amazon employee’s death on warehouse floor | Amazon | The Guardian

On the morning of 27 December 2022 at the Amazon DEN4 warehouse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, 61-year-old Rick Jacobs died on the job after experiencing a cardiac event, right before a shift change. What happened next has angered his former colleagues.

Witnesses say a makeshift barrier around the deceased worker using large cardboard bins was used to block off the area on the outbound shipping dock where the incident occurred, and workers criticized the response and lack of transparency about the incident. Amazon denied boxes were used to cordon off the area, but said managers stood around to make sure no one came near for privacy and security.

As workers arrived for their day shift, they say they were not notified about what was going on and continued working as usual while a deceased colleague remained in the facility and emergency responders awaited the arrival of a coroner.

[JoeP]

Amazon locked Microsoft engineer out of his Echo devices • The Register

Brandon Jackson, a Microsoft site reliability engineer, says an errant report of racist abuse from an Amazon delivery driver led to the suspension of his Amazon account and the consequent inoperability of his Amazon Echo smart home hardware.

...

This incident left me with a house full of unresponsive devices, a silent Alexa, and a lot of questions

[Ari]

Portable Battery pack and charger sold exclusively on amazon recalled after lighting on fire on multiple flights.

More and more amazon exclusive seems to mean questionable products probably from china. The whole selling SSDs and USB sticks that lie about their size thing has just never been dealt with either.

VRURC Portable Chargers Recalled Due to Fire Hazard; Sold Exclusively on Amazon.com by VRURC; Caught Fire on Commercial Flight | CPSC.gov

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power | Federal Trade Commission

[fragment]

I think I've fucked my FB algorithm.

We get a lot of possibly stray cats in our area, so I started following a local lost cats page. I started leaving reacts to the notices, with the aim of encouraging the algorithm to share such posts widely.

Now FB thinks I have a weird fascination with lost cats and shows me many. We're stuck in a feedback loop.

[seebs]

Algorithmic strategies have such a dismal track record. e.g., "ooh, as a person who has recently bought a toilet seat, we conclude you are probably extra strongly in the market for toilet seats in general"

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Top troll

Amazon drivers’ urine packaged as energy drink, sold on Amazon | Ars Technica