New Lawsuit Filed Against Meta And Top US Hospitals For Unlawfully Collecting Patient Data For Advertising Purposes

Meta and a series of leading healthcare-providing institutions across the US have received a lawsuit that was recently put forward by California’s Northern District.

Common hospitals included the likes of UCSF Medical Center and Dignity Health Medical Foundation. They, alongside tech giant Meta, were accused of assembling sensitive patient records so they could be made use of for purposes like targeted advertising.

It was alleged that the process through which such tracking and data collection occurs in a number of medical portals is far beyond the limitations of login systems.

Here is where so many parents put forward an array of details regarding themselves, their particular health condition, their healthcare professionals, and any drugs they were taking.

While extracting such sensitive and confidential data, neither do US hospitals or Meta take consent or inform the patients about their data being used. At the same time, there happens to be a complete lack of transparency involved.

But how exactly did we come to know about all of this?

Well, the plaintiffs mentioned how this sort of violation against one’s privacy was only made obvious when Meta-owned apps like Facebook started to target such individuals with advertisements that were specifically customized in regard to their particular health condition.

This gave rise to a new term that not too many may be familiar with. It’s called Meta Pixel which is another name for a code that is injected across any webpage so that visitor profiling can be carried out, along with user data collection with benefits of tailored advertising too.

While it manages to take up space linked to a specific pixel, it can powerfully collect all sorts of important data like button clicks, data in forms, IP links, and even various scrolling behavior.

You don’t even require a Facebook account to get your data collected. But in case you already have one, well, it’s going to be linked to your account and further correlated for more information.

The worst part is related to how Meta Pixels gets installed across various websites, you can well be tracked with particular advertisements across different internet locations.

Interestingly, new research even found the feature sighted across some of the leading websites around the globe, such as those linked to clinics, hospitals, and anti-abortion locations.

Meta has been accused of being spotted on at least 33 of the top websites as experts delineated its tracking code on these pages. Similarly, at least 100 hospitals were also guilty of such behavior, the research adds.

And worsening stats showed that one of the medical centers involved had even admitted patients as high as 26 million in just 2020.

The legal documents proved how so many patients were bombarded with targeted advertising strategies through their emails and also through Facebook. They were told about medications, medical services, and some treatments that had zero to no support too.

Plaintiffs felt extremely disappointed as they had never signed up for this and were still being targeted and stripped of their personal medical records.

The case argues that both parties involved knew all along that their methods of collecting data were wrong and unlawful, yet they moved ahead with it. They even went about hiding it from the relevant authorities.

This just goes to show that the big promises made by leading tech companies like Meta about filtering out user-specific data are ineffective, as was previously noted in February of last year.

For this reason, plaintiffs want an immediate explanation and relief from these respective parties for invading their privacy and going above the law for their own personal interests and benefits.

H/T: BC

Read next: Facebook Might End Up Being Banned In Kenya Over The Platform’s Inability To Moderate Hate Speech
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Facebook Might End Up Being Banned In Kenya Over The Platform’s Inability To Moderate Hate Speech

Facebook is potentially on a path toward getting banned in Kenya over the platform’s incompetent efforts towards tackling hate speech in its community.

Meta and its social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are…let’s say not the best at moderating online discourse. To some extent, maybe that’s a good thing considering how easily the bar for moderation can tip over into crass censorship. However, these social media platforms are terrible at even keeping the most blatant expressions of hate speech off of the platform. I’ll even take a step further and say that Facebook is a much more gross offender than its sister communities; something about baby boomers rampaging around the website probably contributes to the problem. On one hand, I understand the issue: governing a platform with hundreds of millions of active users isn’t easy. There are bound to be fringe communities and groups that escape oversight.

However, it’s not that difficult to run into the likes of anti-vaxxers or white power groups on Facebook. Also, while we’re on the topic, allow me to be clear: I don’t care how much you as a white person think that Black Lives Matter is racist, or how supporting white power is justified; you’re not utilizing free speech, you’re utilizing privilege to shut down the more disenfranchised. Having the privilege of skin color isn’t a badge of honor, and instead of using it as a soapbox maybe consider growing an actual personality.

Kenya’s had a massive problem with hate speech for quite a while, and much of it has been politically motivated. The country’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) conducted a study on the prevalence of hate speech, went through a massive list of examples, and then decided against publishing anything but hard numbers due to the examples being in poor taste, unnecessarily graphic, or both. For a yardstick measure, however, after the 2007 elections a total of 1,300 individuals were murdered and plenty of others had to flee the country over threats.

Facebook has been a major platform via which hate speech is carried out by radical dissidents in the country; which is surprising because almost every post made by them is both published and widely shared. The posts are often in Swahili but are also made in English as well, making the idea of Facebook allowing posts containing calls to murder and assault an asinine one. Yet, that is what’s happening and the NCIC isn’t happy. Facebook has been given a total of seven days to figure its stance out and deliver tangible results before risking being banned in the country.

Read next: Investors Fear Meta’s Overly Ambitious Plans For The Metaverse Will Lead To Facebook’s Downfall
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Twitter Tests New Unexpected Service Where Users Can Follow Others Without Making An Account

Twitter is definitely on a roll in terms of testing out a number of salient features that it hopes to introduce very soon.

First, we heard about a new price hike for Blue Subscribers who were recently sent out an email in this regard. This was closely followed up by a feature that enables users to update their statuses with activities that they’re doing or perhaps a mood they’re in while tweeting.

And now, we’re getting more information about a test that’s probably a huge shocker for many, including us. This was related to a new service that allows users to follow others without even creating an account, to begin with.

The company made the mega announcement through a recent blog post on Twitter which stated how the firm is well aware that not too many people are ready to sign up for accounts when they first arrive on the platform.

Keeping this in mind, the team wishes to give so many people one of the easiest ways out by providing this new feature whereby users can read tweets while experiencing some added benefits like seeing what it’s like to have a timeline too.

Yes, this is still in its experimental phase and that means we’re not sure if it's ever going to be rolled out but if it does, wow, that’s a huge step forward for any platform.

The feature is called ‘Try Twitter’ and it is designed with the purpose of letting users follow and even read various tweets on their mobile application without even signing up. Obviously, if you wish to comment, post, or feedback, you’ll need to sign up for that.

Twitter refers to the new experiment or test drive as one that’s available to the public and needs personalization. Meanwhile, it did confirm how other simple actions such as bookmarking, retweeting, and even liking would require you to sign up.

So you may be getting access to people’s tweets and their relevant timelines but you’ll definitely be bound to various other places. The whole idea, in case you’re wondering, is related to giving users a taste of what to expect and if interested, they can join.

But what is a little shocking is how you need to provide your location details to the app, in case you wish to avail the freebie feature. Then, you need to follow a minimum of one account and then go on from there.

H/T: Jane Manchun Wong

Read next: We’d Need Five Earths if Everyone Lived Like Americans, How Do Other Nations Stack Up?
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

A Consumer Site From The UK Reveals Terrible Review Site Practices From Facebook, Google, And Trustpilot

Consumer services firm Which? conducted a study to identify how good Facebook, Google, and Trustpilot are at filtering out fake reviews.

The answer, in a quick nutshell, is not all that good. Great, that’s the article, everyone can go home now, thank you and goodbye! No, but really, stay because the algorithm needs readers and I need a job. It’s been a kept secret that there are entire firms and small businesses dedicated to generating fake reviews for people or places on review sites, making fake IDs to help bolster an account’s followers, and so on. Such activities range from mildly annoying to ridiculously obnoxious, especially when someone’s trying to figure out a new place to eat.

There are no more gauging reviews, there’s gauging the authenticity of reviews, and only then can one make a decision. It’s quite frankly annoying, and Which?, a U.K.-based consumer services business, agrees. That’s why it decided to conduct a test of sorts to Undercover Boss the whole situation and see just how far down the problem roots itself.

What I mean by to Undercover Boss a situation is that Which? decided to pose as a business online, hire a review-generating firm to make up fake reviews for its brand, and then attempt to see whether any action is taken against either the reviews or themselves by Facebook, Google, or Trustpilot. The brand that it went by is Gold Lion Labs – a COVID PCR testing service, whose website you can still find online. It’s got solid SEO since the website shows up right at the top. The review broker, Xealme, has had a history of creating a total of 16,000 reviews for 570 customers, so it seemed like the right firm for the gig.

On Facebook, Golden Lion Labs suddenly had 19 five-star reviews, which were promptly reported as being fake to the platform. However, Facebook in response removed 18 of the fake profiles and took a literal month to gauge out the rest of the reviews. Naturally, upon being exposed as such, spokespeople from Facebook stated that they were investigating the problem. Of the three review sites that were tested, Which? reported Facebook as being the tardiest in response and action.

Trustpilot and Google review also amassed a total of 19 fake five-star reviews, although the reviews were issued over a relatively long period, and were (mostly) removed after reporting. Finally, to conclude the study entirely, Which? issued a Cease and Desist letter against Xealme, stopping the business dead in its tracks.

Read next: We’d Need Five Earths if Everyone Lived Like Americans, How Do Other Nations Stack Up?
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

SpaceX Is Upgrading Starlink Satellites To Make Sure They Don’t Bother Astronomers

Starlink satellites are the new talk of the town with high-speed connectivity and non-interrupted service being major salient features.

Now, SpaceX is working on a number of different upgrades that it feels can prevent the satellite from interfering with astronomers.

These upgrades will include a new reflecting sunlight feature that is designed to function while the device orbits the earth. If not controlled, such lighting has the tendency to interfere with and photo-bomb the different observations made by expert astronomers.

This has been a huge concern lately but it now seems SpaceX is doing everything in its power to address the reservations that many put forward from the science community.

The firm says it’s working side by side with different astronomers to help create ways that limit sunlight reflection from striking the earth’s night sky.

The news came in the form of a new document which was published on Thursday. It entailed the various upgrades SpaceX has planned for, including a number of design changes that it hopes to make for various satellites.

If you’re wondering how and when the reflection occurs, well, it’s simple. Each time the satellite makes a round and strikes the darker portion of the boundary of nighttime and daytime, it’s going to reflect the light.

This is one reason why we’re able to witness these devices at ground level during the initial few hours after the sun goes down.

The sunlight would be seen as posing a major concern for all those involved in space research regarding asteroids and comets near the earth’s surface. In case you didn’t know, these sorts of observations are usually made in the hours pertaining to twilight.

At the start, SpaceX started to think of innovative ways through which the problem could be saved. And that included the arrangement of sun visors across their devices. This would surely block any form of incoming light that caused a major reflection.

While it may have sounded great, SpaceX felt there could be better options as this lacked practicality as the visors may end up preventing the entry of laser links seen on its devices.

Let’s not forget how such products also produce a great deal of atmospheric drag, making devices spend a huge amount of their fuel to carry on with orbits.

• Also read: SpaceX Gears Up For Its Revolutionary Starlink Mobile Satellite Service Launch

Another great solution could have been the use of mirroring films which end up scattering any reflected sunlight from the earth. It’s a great possibility for the future and one that the firm is currently working on for its next-generation products.

SpaceX further detailed how this can decrease the brightness by nearly 10 times when compared to common mirror film seen on first-generation devices.

Starlink’s other initiative to help reduce reflection is the incorporation of darker shaded materials seen on SpaceX that again produce surfaces with fewer degrees of reflection.

Lastly, there is some discussion about solar cell arrays for the upcoming launch of second-gen devices. These would be pointed in a specific direction that’s opposing the sun. Again, this would reduce reflections and has so far been proved to be successful.

There’s a lot of hope and focus attached to all of these measures, with the company promising to make its products invisible to the normal eye.

SpaceX has also gone public with how so many other firms are working on their own satellites to serve as stiff competition for the company. And in the end, we might all be suffering from a huge amount of light pollution, if things aren’t kept in check and balance.

As of now, nearly 3000 satellites have already been launched by SpaceX and there are more to go.

Read next: New Map Pinpoints Where Starlink Satellites Re-Enter Earth’s Atmosphere For Their Disposal
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

TikTok Is Planning On Expanding Its Dominating Presence With Music Services After Success With Short Videos

TikTok is undeniably one of the most popular social media applications to be trending around the globe. With a huge user base, the company is always on the lookout for more innovative means to achieve growth and success.

This is why the popular platform is now thinking about venturing into the world of music, after its exuberant success with short-form video formats.

Recently, the app’s parent company was seen filing a new trademark application in May for another breakthrough offering that’s referred to as ‘TikTok Music’.

The news was first highlighted thanks to Business Insider which spoke about the filing and how it’s a major step toward the company’s plans to expand. This particular trademark may be applied across mobile applications that would enable users to buy, share, and even download various music.

In case you didn’t know, TikTok is quite famous for installing music among its user base. Millions use it as a tool to get the latest and trending tracks that they’ve never explored before.

A recent report shed light on how much TikTok is used for music as the app’s 175 tracks songs featured in Billboard’s top 100 list. Other than that, another recent report from the United Kingdom highlighted that tracks popular on the app would end up driving further engagement for both Youtube, Spotify, and more.

Yes, TikTok definitely plays a helping hand in getting these songs and making them go viral. However, it is yet to have its own designated platform through which users can stream their favorite soundtracks.

Today, most music lovers out there enjoy using Spotify or perhaps Soundcloud, and Apple Music so they can grab a hold of their trending TikTok songs.

But that might be changing very soon. Also, ByteDance has been offering its streaming services for music called Resso in several nations already like India, Indonesia, and more. Hence, we don’t see why TikTok isn’t going to jump on the bandwagon and increase its dominating presence.

On the other hand, there are some reports from the firm’s ex-employee who unveiled how the firm was weighing out a possible launch of Resso to other markets under the new label of TikTok Music.

As you can probably expect, this is sure to be a huge threat to so many other music streaming services in places like the US. Resso is already offering a number of services in different places like commenting on tracks, editing playlists, and more. These are aligned with what the new TikTok music trademark says.

Resso has seen its own fair share of success across the various markets that it operates in. Figures revealed a staggering growth of around 19% from last year, not to mention recording breaking downloads that totaled up to 43 million.

The new filing enlisted plenty of reasons for its existence like live streaming of both audio as well as videos and even editing and uploading images as a potential cover for any user’s music playlist too.

How and when this new venture plays out, well, only time can tell. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for TikTok to translate new services into a market that’s already filled with many leading competitors.

Read next: TikTok Is Testing Out The Release Of HTML5 Games On The Platform
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Apple Plans On Expanding Ads Into Its App Store’s Today Tab And Separate App Pages

Apple is on a mission to expand its ads. The tech giant recently revealed how it had great plans of increasing the number of ads on its Today Tab, which is found on the App Store.

But that’s definitely not all. The company also hopes to add more ads to its separate app pages as confirmed by various leading tech news outlets like MacRumors and 9to5Mac recently.

With the new addition, users would now be seeing more ads across the search tab as well as in the search results.

As far as the Today tab is concerned, ads would pop up across the format used for larger cards that are designed for content. But Apple does plan on labeling the tiny blue-colored box with Ad, right beside the name of the app.

Meanwhile, ads popping up on separate app pages would appear under a separate heading that comes with the label, ‘you might also like.’ Hence, this would help users realize that the ad under question is similar to the content they’re seeing on the specific app.

Again, the label would be made prominent in a blue hue so as to keep it separate from different recommendations found on the app.

Another interesting piece of information that we’ve gotten to know, thanks to 9to5Mac is how ad buyers will not be able to interfere with these particular apps for such ads. However, it will definitely be relevant to a specific app that they’ve appeared under.

While the feature is yet to be rolled out right now, Apple says it’s definitely on a mission to test these ads out soon.

The company announced via a public blog post how these search ads give developers a plethora of chances of various sizes so they can grow and expand their ventures further.

They even compared it to the brand’s other similar offerings related to advertising, adding that they were created using the same format and system. Therefore, only content that has undergone approval from its product pages would be included. Also, they’d be following the same privacy guidelines as before.

We first witnessed Apple displaying ads in its search for the App Store in 2016. At that time, it requested user consent to allow personalized ads to come forward. Now, we’re seeing that expand further, which is a clear indication of how much the firm is keen on making money through new ways.

Read next: Apple Fiercely Rejects Allegations About Security Concerns Linked To iOS Sideloading
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World