Notices by The Markup (themarkup@mastodon.themarkup.org)

Real-world violence can mean new revenue opportunities for Meta: the company saw a 450% increase in Israel-related ad dollars since the attack on October 7th. https://themarkup.org/investigations/2024/10/04/how-meta-brings-in-millions-off-political-violence

#News: The #NYC government’s #AI #chatbot is telling businesses to break labor and housing #law.

With @THECITY and Documented NY: https://themarkup.org/news/2024/03/29/nycs-ai-chatbot-tells-businesses-to-break-the-law

Reminder: We found 37 companies in the growing, largely unregulated “connected vehicle data” industry that are trying to monetize data about you and your car.

What you need to know ⬇️
https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2022/07/27/who-is-collecting-data-from-your-car

Dorothy Gambrell created the below #comic about discovering her work was used to train #Midjourney #GenerativeAI.

We spoke to her about this comic—and the broken promises of the early web—in our most recent newsletter: https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/03/02/what-happens-when-your-art-is-used-to-train-ai

There’s been a lot of talk about #socialmedia companies’ power as users post support for #Palestine and report subsequent shadowbans.

We looked into it on Instagram—and found the platform:
⚠️ suppressed hashtags
⚠️ demoted photos of soldiers, tanks, and city ruins
⚠️ deleted captions without warning
⚠️ categorized comments criticizing Israel + supporting Palestine as “spam”
⚠️ limited users’ ability to appeal moderation decisions
⚠️ more.

Read the story and our methodology:
https://mrkup.org/demoted-main-mastodon

A #data broker boasted having info on “1.6B people across 44 countries.”

Then it went bankrupt.

So... what happened to people’s data? #News:
https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/02/23/what-happens-to-your-sensitive-data-when-a-data-broker-goes-bankrupt

🌅 Good morning.

New #research from Consumer Reports offers a rare look into the scope of Meta's online surveillance.

It goes way beyond what most may expect—Meta can know many of the websites you visit and even what you’re doing IRL.

@jonkeegan with the details: https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/01/17/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-study-indicates

7,200 images per hour—or two every second.

That’s how many screenshots smart TVs are taking to identify the shows you watch, and ultimately, target ads and make content recommendations. ⬇️
https://themarkup.org/privacy/2023/12/12/your-smart-tv-knows-what-youre-watching

Gig work is making its way into health care and appears to be already harming workers and patients alike.

#News:
https://themarkup.org/working-for-an-algorithm/2023/10/05/what-happens-when-nurses-are-hired-like-ubers

#News: Dozens of websites tied to the national mental health crisis hotline—988—are sending visitor data to Facebook.

By @jonkeegan and Colin Lecher, copublished with @STAT: #MentalHealth #Privacy #Data https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2023/06/13/suicide-hotlines-promise-anonymity-dozens-of-their-websites-send-sensitive-data-to-facebook

Ok let’s do this! For The Markup’s first #Newstodon Friday, we’re reading this piece which summarizes recent research into “algorithmic wage discrimination.” https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-04-11/algorithmic-wage-discrimination

The finding is that gig companies are using algorithms to discover the lowest rate that people are willing to work for.

Tagging in our friends at @gbhnews @TexasObserver @damemagazine @STAT @mongabay @conversationus @thexylom and more to share a piece! #journalism #fediverse

Want to test for inequity using geography? Use the address sampling tool we made w/ @biglocalnews to investigate:
📍utility outages
📍access to essential services e.g. groceries, hospitals, polls
📍availability/cost of apps for ride-sharing, food-delivery
https://themarkup.org/still-loading/2023/03/02/introducing-the-united-states-place-sampler-usps

Our latest newsletter is about all things taxes....

But don’t worry, you won’t want to put this on the back burner until April 18. Read today:
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/02/18/your-tax-data-shouldnt-be-up-for-grabs

#News from @jonkeegan: If you’re a Kroger rewards shopper, the chain is collecting info about you—and not just what you buy.

It’s building a profile that may include your race, financial status, and even inferred interests. It then sells insights to major brands like General Mills, CocaCola, and Kraft Heinz.

Read more about the “alternative profit” business that Kroger expects to generate more than $1 billion annually:
https://themarkup.org/privacy/2023/02/16/forget-milk-and-eggs-supermarkets-are-having-a-fire-sale-on-data-about-you