Facebook Slammed in Germany over Data Share; Facebook Will Show Who Uploaded Your Info for Ads; Apple Killing Safari ‘Do Not Track’ as AI Supersedes; Some iPhone Apps Record Your Screen; Google Partners with GS Warriors on Public Cloud

The US government has balked at regulating social media providers, even though some folks think they and ISPs should be treated as utilities and regulated as such. Now comes the European Union…specifically Germany in this case…clamping down on Facebook’s data collection. A ruling by the German Federal Cartel Office essentially tells Facebook to stop hoarding people’s data. Businessinsider.com reports that this follows a 3 year investigation. The ruling requires Facebook to change its terms and conditions so people can explicitly stop the social network from hoarding data from different sources…including Facebook-owned apps like WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as third-party websites with embedded tools such as the ‘like’ or ‘share’ button. Facebook now has 4 months to draw up proposals to present to the Federal Cartel Office.

Facebook says they have taken steps to keep companies from recklessly using your data from targeted ads. According to engadget.com, Facebook has only been showing which company was using your contact info. After February 28th, you will now also get to see who (if anyone) uploaded your contact info that let to your seeing the sales pitch in the first place. It will let you know if the retailer had your info, or bought it from an outside partner. It’s a baby step, but a start.

Apple is killing Safari’s ‘Do Not Track’ in version 12.1. 9to5mac.com reports that this was published in a blog post from DuckDuckGo. Apple claims that the function has been superseded by their Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature, which relies on AI. The Do Not Track had been largely a failure anyway, as it used a voluntary signal, and numerous websites just chose to ignore it. The Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature has been more successful in iOS 12 and MacOS Mojave, so you should be better off in the long run.

Some iOS apps you use may be recording your screen for analytics purposes. According to macrumors.com, trend capture taps, swipes, and even full screen recording. Some of the apps are: Abercrombie & Fitch, Hotels.com, Air Canada, Hollister, Expedia, and Singapore Airlines. All are using Glassbox, a customer experience analytics firm that lets developers use “session replay” screen recording technology within their apps. Right now, there’ s no way to avoid this intrusion, save for deleting the apps.

Google Cloud is partnering with the Golden State Warriors as the team’s official public cloud provider, in addition to sponsoring the new arena in San Francisco. 9to5google.com says the cloud platform will be used at the new Chase Center to host Warrior and Chase Center mobile apps. Fans will be able to get personalized Maps, and see entertainment options coming to Chase Center. At the team level, the GSW analytics team will get more data analysis. Up to now, they say they have spent 70% of their time collecting and shaping data and only 30% analyzing it.