Google's (Anti) Trust, Phone Tracking, and who cares about your age?

Welcome back my Tech Curious friends. Below you can find information about the most recent tech news. So let’s get started.

Table of Contents

• Apple Finally “Adding” a Calculator

• Google’s Anti Trust? Oh…a Lawsuit

• But Can You Really Trust Google?

• FCC Fines Telcoms for Knowing Where You Are

• No… I have to ask… how old are you?

• OpenAI Finally Opens Their Wallet

Apple Finally “Adding” a Calculator

OK, what is one app that you’d think all mobile devices would have. OK, sure messaging and search. But if you think utility app, a Calculator is something I use all the time. Whether it be to check to see if I can afford the price of the groceries in my shopping cart or anything else, I use a calculator all the time. (Take that my old math teachers who told me I wouldn’t have a calculator everywhere I go.)

But part of that is because I don’t use an iPad. iPad users haven’t had a custom Calculator to use… ever. But that is all changing according to MacRumors. You will finally have one.

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Google’s Anti Trust? Oh…a Lawsuit

We’re not saying you can’t trust Google…no the government is saying that Google is monopolizing the technology used to buy and sell online advertising. Google controls approximately 70% of online ads, which is just too much for them, and maybe you too.

This amount of control means there isn’t enough options for buys, or sellers, so both are getting a worse deal than if there was fair competition… and you end up paying for it.

Of course Google is fighting this as they want to keep all the monies…

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But Can You Really Trust Google?

There’s anti-trust, and then there is trust. Recently leaked documents expose Google has intentionally made search results worse, so people would search more, and increase the chances of them clicking on ads. So can you really trust them, or will we have to switch to <shudder>Bing</shudder>?

This is from 2019, but the assumption is that it is still going on. The question is, is this good business, bad ethics, and/or illegal? This is one of the things we talk about in my Ethics and Technology class that I teach. And yes, this will be a future talk on it.

» read more and thanks to income school for pointing to this info

FCC Fines Telcoms for Knowing Where You Are

The FCC has levied it’s largest fine yet, $200M between T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, for sharing user location data without permission.

When I teach my Ethics and Technology class, we always talk about who owns your personal data, and clearly, the companies think they own all the data about you… and they’re not completely wrong, even if they’re getting fined for it.

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No… I have to ask… how old are you?

This isn’t rude, it’s the law! At least not in Texas, and if you're a p*rn site… I mean an adult entertainment site.

The adult entertainment industry is fighting a Texas law making them do age verification, saying it’s hard to know where people are coming from, and easy to get around… oh, and it might be a first amendment issue.

As they fight the law in the courts, they asked the Supreme Court to block enforcement of the law. However, the Supreme Court declined to act, letting the law stand, saying there are legitimate concerns of harm to minors.

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OpenAI Finally Opens Their Wallet

While there are several lawsuits going on about how AI companies are training their models, OpenAI is now paying for access to the Financial Times (FT). The deal gives quite a bit of access, including the ability to summerize articles, and provide links back to the FT site.

The deal includes a one-off payment for past use, as well as annual subscription fees for OpenAI to have access to FT’s data.

» read more