Hard Pass

From 2024, but funny to read....

What makes this situation so ridiculous is that while we're all watching for scammers attempting to imitate legitimate organisations, FedEx is out there imitating scammers!

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1412342/companies-make-it-hard-to-access-your-personal-data-under-state-privacy-laws-cr-finds-on

Nearly every time you buy something online or sign up for a loyalty program, you leave behind personal information that can be collected, shared, and sold among companies including advertisers, retailers, and data brokers. This kind of information is sometimes used to charge consumers more for a range of products and services, from groceries to insurance to mortgages, and to target them for financial fraud and identity theft.

A growing number of state privacy laws were designed to give consumers some control over that information, including the right to see what companies know about them. But a yearlong Consumer Reports investigation found that exercising those rights can often be extremely difficult—and that many companies and data brokers appear to be falling short of their legal obligations.

Over the past year, CR worked with 84 citizen volunteers to request their personal data from 169 companies they regularly interact with and 22 data brokers. The results were concerning: Roughly 25 percent of requests to companies failed to receive a response. Among data brokers, the failure rate was 34 percent, even though some of those brokers claim to maintain data on the vast majority of U.S. households.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1412361/flock-lawsuit-calls-out-alleged-law-enforcement-misuse-of-nationwide-license-plate-readi

That John Denver's full of shit, man.

(Disclaimer: this meme endorses neither the USA or Russia. Or Sylvester Stallone... Jeff Daniels is alright I guess.)

Maybe there’s a simpler solution: perhaps, don’t put your hand on your cat like that, for example? Just a thought…

Could have done a lot better peeps!

This is in fact satire, though they're so goofy it could easily be real.

Lately on yt I have been seeing a shitload of ads for a new oven with AI, it is marketed as knowing what you are cooking in it would make it better.

I don't see how.

Also, on the product page on the manufacturers web page, the second sentence of the body reads:

Navigating through the extensive settings menu is beautifully simple with the new touch screen user interface.

I am sorry, a fucking settings menu on an oven is a primary sales argument?

What the hell?

There is more shit:

With cookControl Pro, all you have to do is select your dish, choose how you want it done, and let your oven do the rest.

You mean like a normal oven? You set the temp according to the dish?.

They even brags about internal steak and bread thermometers, we have had those for decades.

Well obviously, it has a connection to an app or even a smart speaker, and ofcourse the UI on the oven is a touch UI.

Thanks, but no thanks, I'll keep using my oven with normal knobs....