Data443 Risk Mitigation Inc (ATDS)

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Are You There, User? It’s Me, Facebook!
Social platforms want to run the world. But look how they treat your email.

"It was 8:03 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 12, and my body had sent me a notification, via my throbbing skull: You’re probably getting the flu. Facebook, too, had just notified me, via an alert on my phone, of its own plan for me: “You and Rosie Schaap are celebrating two years of friendship on Facebook.”

Over the next few days, my body followed up with a series of messages: you have a sore throat; you have a fever; you have the chills. In that same period, Facebook emailed me four times. “See Rosie Schaap’s message and other notifications you’ve missed,” it demanded on Thursday, then on Friday, then again on Sunday and once more on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, feeling better, I was catching up on emails. “See Rosie Schaap’s message.” Rosie Schaap’s message? Had I missed something?

I had not. “Rosie Schaap’s message” did not exist; it was the automatic notification generated by Facebook, about the anniversary of the moment we added each other to Facebook’s database of human connections.

Rosie is a brilliant writer. She is also someone I barely know. We became Facebook friends the day after we hitched the same ride to a company holiday party in 2016. Aside from two birthday-wishing wall posts (thanks and sorry!), we hadn’t interacted on the platform.

I asked Rosie if she had gotten a similar notification about, or “from,” me, and she hadn’t, but she said she had removed Facebook Messenger from her phone some time ago. It was a decision that she said “I think has improved my quality of life generally,” but it had also left her out of our Facebook “celebrating.” And so we had reconnected, to the extent we had ever connected on Facebook in the first place. I had done as I was told.

The emails, however, would not stop. Like many millions of others, I get emails from Facebook all the time. Some days I get three, some days none. In November, I got 42.

Each one is deceptive in its own way. “[Person whose profile I checked not so recently] has posted an update” is a subject line that shows up frequently, but the email body contains nothing more than the same text, with a link and a big button that says: “View.” Underneath, it will say something like “13 people reacted to this,” and below that, there will be another button that simply says: “Open Facebook.”

Read more...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/style/facebook-keeps-emailing-me.html

Joint declaration on distributed ledger technologies signed by seven Member States
Joint declaration on distributed ledger technologies

"Seven southern European countries have signed a joint declaration on distributed ledger technologies, agreeing to collaborate in promoting the use of emerging technologies.
Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain – collectively referred to as the Southern European Countries – have agreed to work together to promote distributed ledger technologies, 5g connectivity, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence; in order to boost the economies of southern Europe. The joint declaration on distributed ledger technologies lays out the Southern European Countries’ intention to become world leaders in emerging technologies. The signatories pledge to work towards expanding their “digital ecosystem” through investment in research and innovation, with the potential to develop collaborative cross-border distributed ledger technologies projects.

The joint declaration on distributed ledger technologies states: “As a technology based on trust, we see Distributed Ledger Technologies as being a potential game changer using – inter alia smart contracts in areas such as certifying product origin, education, transport, mobility, shipping, land registry, customs, company registry, and healthcare amongst others to transform the way that such services are delivered. This can result not only in the enhancement of e-government services but also increased transparency and reduced administrative burdens, better customs collection and better access to public information.”

Representatives of the Southern European Countries will meet periodically going forward to share the progress made in their respective countries and ensure best practice is followed, as laid out in the joint declaration on distributed ledger technologies.

The EU has taken steps to promote blockchain use and development across Member States: the joint declaration on distributed ledger technologies calls on the European Commission to continue its work with the EU-wide European Blockchain Partnership, saying: “We believe that any legislation on Distributed Ledger Technologies should take into account the decentralized nature of such technology and should be based on European fundamental principles and technological neutrality.”

https://www.governmenteuropa.eu/joint-declaration-on-distributed-ledger-technologies/91423/