The ACCC has slapped Uber with a $26m fine for misleading customers. The "Uber rideshare app would display a cancellation warning to consumers seeking to cancel a ride with words to the effect of 'You may be charged a small fee since your driver is already on their way' – even when the cancellation had occurred within Ubers free cancellation period". This message would discourage people from cancelling their trip, giving Uber money they otherwise wouldn't have, by lying to customers as there was actually a free 5 minute free cancellation period for UberX rides that Uber didn't make clear when actually trying to cancel. They did this for 2 years until the ACCC told them to stop. I watched Super Pumped, so this is absolutely not surprising to me.
Reddit is putting an extra $1m of cold hard cash into a Community Fund program. This program allows communities (aka subreddits) to pitch ideas to Reddit and they'll hand out grants between $1,000 and $50,000 to get them done. Some of the things they previously funded include "two billboards that displayed art from the winners of a BTS subreddit contest, ponied up the prize money for a couple of other competitions, helped the Random Acts of Amazon crew buy kids Christmas presents and funded several other projects". $1m isn't much money considering the scale of Reddit, but it's a start.
Google has started to introduce a "Data Safety" section on the Play Store. Similar to Apple's "Privacy Nutrition Labels" on the App Store, this Data Safety info forces developers to "declare what data they collect, but also what data they share with third parties, essentially disclosing the purpose behind the collection". The developer will also have to detail "the app's security practices, which describe the security mechanisms employed to protect the collected data, like the MASVS standard" and highlight if users are able to request the deletion of their data. It'll be mandatory for all apps by July 20th, but some apps have the info already.
LineageOS 19 is out, which if you used the replacement Android ROM, you probably already know. If you do not use LineageOS, there's never been a better time to try it out. The main reason people use it is to get the latest version of Android (in this case, Android 12) on a phone that's been abandoned by the manufacturer, but you can also use it as an opportunity to de-Googlefy your smartphone. This website helps you pick a smartphone that is supported by LineageOS. The Pixel 2 for example goes for under $100 on Facebook Marketplace these days and is a cheap intro to the Android ROM scene.
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