Vice's Motherboard has uncovered a company called SafeGraph that "obtains location data from ordinary apps installed on people's phones", "repackages that location data and other data into various products" and sells that data. This is a common practice we all hate, but what's made this specific instance so gross is SafeGraph offering Family Planning Centers and Planned Parenthood as "brands" you can buy location data on, for only US$160. Combined with the US Supreme Court's plans to repeal legal abortion protections, the ability to easily know who is going to these clinics is fucking bad news.
The little paper slip you'd give to Customs at the airport as you leave and arrive in the country has been replaced by an app and website - the Digital Passenger Declaration. Unsurprising for a government app, it sucks. The Community and Public Sector Union says its members "have estimated that up to 75% of passengers coming into Australia have been unable to properly complete the declaration on the DPD" and is pissed off the app is only in English, despite travelers from all over the world expected to use it. The union blames poorly supervised outsourcing and a government that didn't even bother to investigate if it could be done in-house.
TPG has joined Optus in sooking about over-the-top services. According to TPG's CEO Inaki Berroeta, "the connectivity we provide has enabled the nation's shift to new ways of hybrid working, it's led to an acceleration in the digitisation of the economy, and it's provided the critical infrastructure other industries such as streaming, gaming and entertainment have relied, thrived and enjoyed a free ride upon" - apparently this is a bad thing?! Isn't that the whole point of infrastructure? A base to allow others to thrive? If you think it's a bad business to be in, move over and let someone else have a crack. I'm sure people like Phil Britt and Bevan Slattery would love to have this problem.
Apple's car project is still alive. How do we know this? They've poached Desi Ujkashevic, a 31-year Ford veteran that was the global director of automotive safety engineering and was previously responsible for "managing engineering design deliverables including achievement of cost, profit, quality, and timing objectives". Why would you lure over an expert in automotive engineering if you didn't intend to build a car? Why would you quit after 30 years at Ford to join Apple if there was nothing serious going on? Still don't know what Apple has planned, but I am ready for it, whatever it is.
📻 Wasted - Black Flag
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