Big Tech Does Not Equal Good Tech Or Even Safe Tech

With the recent revelations coming out of court of Meta (Facebook's parent company) using a VPN that it bought to spy on users using Snapchat, big tech is evil. Especially Facebook.

Unfortunately for marketers, it's a demon we need to interact with to reach our customers. Instagram and even Facebook ads are so relevant and on point that marketers can't stop using them, especially with the loss of 3rd party cookies in most browsers.

But Meta using a "free VPN" service to spy on its users, who I might add think they are hidden, is reprehensible. To be honest, if this wasn't a corporation, it would be classified as a adversary-in-the-middle attack and would be a criminal offense.

From TechCrunch:

One of the documents details Facebook’s Project Ghostbusters. The project was part of the company’s In-App Action Panel (IAPP) program, which used a technique for “intercepting and decrypting” encrypted app traffic from users of Snapchat, and later from users of YouTube and Amazon, the consumers’ lawyers wrote in the document.

Facebook claims it wasn't for nefarious reasons, but they were spying on their users, without knowledge. Disgusting! 😡

This is why "FREE anything" is never FREE! When it's free you and your data IS the product.

I'm hopeful that places like Mastodon and other alternatives will grow and become the mainstream. (I'm tempted to lean into Meta's Threads.net and federation with Mastodon et. al, but I'll spare you. For now 😜)

What do you think about this VPN craziness?

The Latest From The Entrepreneur's Enigma Podcast

Web Jawn

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• Google starts testing AI overviews from SGE in main Google search interface
  It was bound to happen eventually. Well eventually has started. If you don't opt-out of Google's Search labs Search Generative Experience feature you're going to start seeing this. So it looks like it's still walled off a bit, but IT'S COMING!
• LinkedIn Tests New Dedicated Video Feed
  Surprised? Nope, I feel like this is a smart move for LinkedIn. Video is a very powerful medium. Vertical video has become a mainstay, even in LinkedIn posts. I'm excited to see how they roll this sucker out! 👍
• Instagram Tests Option To Comment on Specific Frames Within a Carousel Update
  This could be handy to get specific responses on topics discussed within a carousel post. Pretty clever.
• Threads Users Can Now Enable Fediverse Sharing
  Based on the main topic of today's article today, I'm starting to wonder if this is a good thing. I used to think that if people that I want to follow are on Threads, then I want to see them in my feed on Mastodon. It made sense to me. But now with Meta/Facebook being nefarious with VPNs and spying, I get why people want to block Threads from the Fediverse.
• Three Ways Threads Will Bless & Burden The Fediverse
  Darnell Clayton has some good insights here. And I definitely can see both sides.
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Podcast Of The Week

If anyone has been following me online for a while you'd know that I'm a huge Jeff Jarvis fanboy. I've also been following Jason Howell for years through his travels from CNet to TWiT to his own thing. There are a lot of Artificial Intelligence podcasts out on the web, but Jason and Jeff's podcast is really dialed in and down to earth. They aren't experts, spouting out jargon. They are journalists (or adjacent) learning about AI and exploring it along with the listener. Be sure to subscribe to their show at AIInside.show.

That's It For This Week! Keep Rocking It!

-Seth