in an October 2021 Senate hearing that a ‘world-renowned, US-based security team’ decides who gets access to this data”
Based on the reporting, the US team was not as capable as the company led US lawmakers to believe
QUOTE: “US staff did not have permission or knowledge of how to access the data on their own”
TAKEAWAY: Control is still in China, and although this was in service of siloing the data, it does not inspire confidence that TikTok’s US engineers have the authority to prevent future Chinese access of US servers and manipulation of the “for you” algorithm
TRANSITION: This access is concerning, because as fresh reporting from the New York Times suggests… the Chinese government is investing massively in surveillance
The NYT investigation tracked down over 100 thousand Chinese government “request for proposal” documents to look for evidence of increasing capabilities of the surveillance state
These documents were directly from governments and police departments seeking bids to provide new capabilities
Requests included:
government camera installations in malls, apartment buildings, hotel lobbies and more
facial recognition technology
tools that can match social media user names with phone ownership
For example ALL of mainland China’s regions use phone trackers to map citizen’s daily activity
And 25 out of 31 provinces have DNA databases
QUOTING the New York Times: “DNA, iris scan samples and voice prints are being collected indiscriminately from people with no connection to crime**.”**
JMC/MW: What are the odds that China wants to stop at domestic surveillance? Is that too much to worry about? Is the bigger concern potential manipulation?
TRANSITION: Speaking of reliance on China… lets talk about ecommerce
Twitter is partnering with Shopify to create a sales channel app, enabling shopping features for merchant profiles
“Inflation, supply chain uncertainty and the effect of Apple’s privacy changes on targeted advertising have hit the direct-to-consumer brands that use Shopify… traffic growth for DTC (is) down 18 % in the past six months.”
Recently, Shopify also introduced new tools to push further into B2B sales
The new tools will make it easier for merchants to sell in bulk and can be integrated with ERP software used by companies to handle procurement
JMC/MW: sounds like Shopify is coming for the Amazon Business Seller Program
TRANSITION: Speaking of Amazon, one of their leaked memos from 2021 said it could run out of people to hire in US warehouses by 2024
“The report warned that Amazon’s labor crisis was especially imminent in a few locales, with internal models showing that the company was expected to exhaust its entire available labor pool in the Phoenix, Arizona, metro area by the end of 2021, and in the Inland Empire region of California, roughly 60 miles east of Los Angeles, by the end of 2022.”
“Amazon’s internal report calculated the available pool of workers based on characteristics like income levels and a household’s proximity to current or planned Amazon facilities; the pool does not include the entire US adult population.“
The memo includes six “levers” to delay the labor crisis, including raising wages and increasing automation
Automation and robotics are areas Amazon has been doubling down on
Yesterday, Amazon announced Proteus, its first fully autonomous mobile warehouse robot meant to move large carts throughout its warehouses
It looks like a Roomba and was built to to work around employees.
They think that a big reason for the chaos is the counties the lack of a “requests for proposal” (RFP) process
By not having a requesting process for Lime scooters to come into cities, fleet sizes became uncontrollable, with riders being uncompliant around parking and congestion
A Lime spokesperson told TechCrunch
“[RFP processes] allow cities to take leadership (and ownership) of the chaotic scooter environment in order to improve parking, ensure safety and create a market that works for their citizens”
“We believe South Korea would benefit from moving to RFP systems that select a few outstanding operators in each city to deliver the best possible micromobility programs.”
South Korea tried to improve the parking and congestion issues by imposing new regulations, including a revised Road Traffic Act
The revised act took effect in May of 2021 and states that riders have to be at least 16 years old, have a driver's license, and wear a helmet
It also states that riders need to use bike paths and use designated parking areas, or else they’ll get a $30 towing fee
E-scooter companies like Wind Mobility and Gcooter left South Korea after the new regulations were imposed
Lime also said that these rules caused a drop in ridership…
JMC/MW: Would you commute on a scooter in an urban area? Where do you see micro mobility going in the next 10 years?
TRANSITION: We’re gonn wrap with a fun one
WLITF: Voicemod AI Voices beta has eight options to transform your voice into fantasy characters, pilots, astronauts, and the actor Morgan Freeman
