Optus fined $504,000 for not having an unsubscribe link in marketing SMS & emails
Huge refresh of Apple Maps data goes live (USA only right now, sorry)
Avast shuts down Jumpshot after getting busted selling user data
Three long reads for you to despair over this weekend
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Optus has been fined $504,000 by ACMA for breaching spam laws - "between 1 June and 4 December 2018, ACMA said Optus had sent SMS and email marketing messages to users that had unsubscribed. The Singtel-owned telco sent "commercial emails in the form of billing notices" without having a way to unsubscribe". In addition to the fine, "Optus will have an independent consultant look over its systems, policies, and procedures" to make sure it doesn't happen again. Apparently this is the largest fine handed out for violating spam laws. Lemme just double check I have an unsubscribe link in this thing. Yep, yep, all good.
Apple Maps got a massive update over in the USA, with "more accurate information overall as well as comprehensive views of roads, buildings, parks, airports, malls and other public places". Justin O'Beirne has a detailed comparison of the old map versus the new map in various locations across the land of free and home of the brave. It's heaps better now, but yeah, only for Americans at the moment. I've seen heaps of Apple branded cars with cameras on the top driving around western Victoria lately. Maybe Australia will get some of these upgrades soon.
Earlier this week I wrote about Avast using its anti-virus software as a Trojan horse to suck in heaps of potentially identifying information on your internet use, that it re-sold to 3rd parties via a subsidiary it owned called Jumpshot. Today, Avast's CEO put up a post apologising for abusing user trust and shut down Jumpshot. I thought it was obvious that less data collection is a good thing, but for an alternative worldview on data collection, Rand Fishkin reckons all Jumpshot's demise will do is make Google stronger.
It's the weekend and over the weekend what I like to do is catch up on reading things I didn't have time to during the week. Here's three longer-reads that I'm gonna munch on because it's too damn hot outside:
Buzzfeed's Ryan Mac was knee deep in Elon Musk's pedo guy lawsuit shitstorm and has published a detailed report about what the hell went on.
American Affairs writes how the technology industry has corrupted education by providing crap solutions at a massive cost that hamper educational outcomes instead of improving them.
Casey Newton has unfortunately yet another story about the poor bastards that moderate Google and YouTube. Many have PTSD after what they've seen and Google refuses to take responsibility.
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