ICE Vendors
July 2, 2019
We spotted a list of vendors working with ICE. You can find the company names plus some details about their work in “An Incomplete List of Companies Working with ICE.” The write up uses the phrases “concentration camps” and
ethnic cleansing” which spin the list in a way that advances a particular mental slant. Here’s the description of Palantir Technologies, a vendor providing intelligence software or what DarkCyber classifies as “intelware”:
Palantir Technologies (@PalantirTech): This famously evil company got a $39,340,901 contract from ICE for building and helping to run FALCON, “a database and analytical platform […] to track immigrants and crunch data on forms of cross-border criminal activity.” More info on Palantir’s involvement with ICE and deportation here. Reporting by Spencer Woodman (@SpencerWoodman).
My former employer appears in the list as well:
Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.(@BoozAllen): A huge infotech company which received a contract worth up to $100,457,166 for advising ICE with their ethnic cleansing campaign and concentration camp system.
However, for a company looking to sell support services to firms with existing government contractors, this list is useful. Cross correlate this list with the names of the individuals at these companies responsible for locating specialist subcontractors, and you might find a bonanza.
Recycling public information can be difficult, and this list is a good sales reference for certain types of vendors.
It would be helpful if the list were in alphabetical order, but that’s unnecessary if one has a short attention span and thumb types with agility.
You may have to register to read the article. However, that ploy is unlikely to deliver the benefits the Medium operation anticipates. Annoying those who suggest others read one’s work seems to be an interesting marketing angle. My dog is now officially a Medium “reader.” He’s a French bulldog, and he is indifferent to Facebook tracking. Good boy!
Stephen E Arnold, July 2, 2019
Google: Are Stress Cracks Appearing?
June 9, 2019
I thought briefly about doing an item about the clown car YouTube. Instead I will focus on stress cracks evident from Google’s more aggressive marketing. Google may be implying that Apple’s iPhone is overpriced. The price angle is important because Google is pushing one of its devices as a great deal.
What difference does a little letter “i” make? Not much in one recent ad campaign, because it can be considered implied. “Google Rips iPhone for Being a Rip-Off,” reports ZDNet. Writer Chris Matyszczyk noticed that Google’s ads had been comparing their Pixel 3a, at $399, to “Phone X,” priced at $999—the same cost as a 64GB iPhone X, as it happens. However, he insists, this is about as accurate as comparing a Mini to an Audi A8. The write-up observes:
“In essence, then, Google wants you to believe that its 3a is just as good as an iPhone that’ll cost you more than twice as much. … I don’t dispute for a nanosecond that the Pixel 3a isn’t a very fine phone. Some might say, though, that its specs might bring it closer to an iPhone SE than an iPhone XR. If you buy a 3a, you’ll make so with a single camera for your selfies — the shame of it. You’ll also have a far slower processor. Oh, and you won’t be able to drop it down the toilet or in the swimming pool without ruining it. One more thing. Your wireless charging joy will be extinguished.”
Still, Matyszczyk concedes Google may have a point to make about inflated phone prices. Few people are prepared to pay a grand for their phone, so Android will benefit if Apple is painted as a brand for elites. The author wonders, though, whether some buyers will be disappointed in their Pixel 3a’s in the end.
The importance of this tiny stress crack is significant. Google and its approach to management are now dipping into the textbooks which explain how to sell commodities. Perhaps the methods of used car sales people will have more utility as Google wobbles forward, burdened by regulators, employee pushback, and the emissions of the Bezos bulldozer powering through the advertising landscape.
My goodness. Google is marketing the old fashioned way.
Cynthia Murrell, June 9, 2019
Google: Old School Advertising Embraced
May 23, 2019
Price is important.
What difference does a little letter “i” make? Not much in one recent ad campaign, because it can be considered implied. “Google Rips iPhone for Being a Rip-Off,” reports ZDNet. Writer Chris Matyszczyk noticed that Google’s ads had been comparing their Pixel 3a, at $399, to “Phone X,” priced at $999—the same cost as a 64GB iPhone X, as it happens. However, he insists, this is about as accurate as comparing a Mini to an Audi A8. The write-up observes:
“In essence, then, Google wants you to believe that its 3a is just as good as an iPhone that’ll cost you more than twice as much. … I don’t dispute for a nanosecond that the Pixel 3a isn’t a very fine phone. Some might say, though, that its specs might bring it closer to an iPhone SE than an iPhone XR. If you buy a 3a, you’ll make so with a single camera for your selfies — the shame of it. You’ll also have a far slower processor. Oh, and you won’t be able to drop it down the toilet or in the swimming pool without ruining it. One more thing. Your wireless charging joy will be extinguished.”
Still, Matyszczyk concedes Google may have a point to make about inflated phone prices. Few people are prepared to pay a grand for their phone, so Android will benefit if Apple is painted as a brand for elites. The author wonders, though, whether some buyers will be disappointed in their Pixel 3a’s in the end. As always, caveat emptor.
DarkCyber believes that super expensive smart phones are likely to face headwinds. Lower cost options may produce revenue volume. Will profits follow? Worth watching this Don Draper moment.
Cynthia Murrell, May 23, 2019
Pavlovian Marketing: The Automated Business Intelligence Engine
May 22, 2019
If you are following the rapid evolution of smart marketing systems, you will want to keep your eye on Trial Run Media. The company offers consumers free trials like toothpaste linked to automatic data collection. The consumer’s behavior informs the monitor what’s of interest. Then the monitor can push ads and similar offers to the consumer.
The approach is explained in “World’s First Automated Business Intelligence Engines That Offer On-Demand Marketing.” The approach is explained this way:
With Trial Run, consumers are in charge of the marketing experience. They choose the ‘content’ – a free sample of the brand they want to try – by entering a campaign URL into the browser of their smartphones. They are then prompted to enter their name and cell phone number, after which, they effortlessly receive a code to enter into ABIE’s keypad to release the sample.
One of Trial Run’s founders allegedly said:
“When someone has chosen to try your brand, they want to hear your brand story and with Trial Run the possibilities are endless – you can share videos, you can chat in real-time, you can invite consumers to events and even direct them to your online store in the moment when they have your brand in their hand.”
Imagine how useful the system would be, assuming it works well, if harnessed to information.The company’s Web site is http://trialrun.media/. Note that there is a “fractal analytics” company with a similar name. These could be easily confused.
Stephen E Arnold, May 22, 2019
How to Pronounce CLTRe
May 21, 2019
DarkCyber was able to figure out how to say the name “KnowBe4.” This company is in the cyber security business and it obviously offers technology which can let a person “know before” something bad happens and take appropriate remediation steps.
KnowBe4 purchased a company named “CLTRe.” Here’s the question:
How does one pronounce “CLTRe”? The problem is similar to figuring out what the letters of a vanity license plate “mean”.
Here’s an easy one:
What about this?
Okay, back to the problem: CLTRe.
The answer appears in “KnowBe4 to Acquire Norwegian Assessment Company CLTRe.”
The word is “culture.”
The business of CLTRe is to measure clients’ security preparedness.
According to the article:
KnowBe4 currently is integrating the CLTRe assessments into its platform, and does not plan to change its pricing as a result of the deal.
We also noted this statement:
This deal marks only the latest cybersecurity merger or acquisition in an industry that analysts predict will only continue to consolidate. The data backup service Carbonite in February acquired Webroot, and some $3 billion of investors’ dollars has been pumped into the industry so far this year…
Will KnowBe4 retain the name of the company it just acquired?
WDKBWHN. This means “we don’t know but we hope not.
Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2019
Alphabet and Its Privacy Push or Alphabet Can Spell Me Too
May 8, 2019
The Seattle Times wrote about Google’s privacy push. “Google’s Privacy Promises Don’t Sway Many Experts” includes a number of interesting quotes from the experts. Here’s an example of one that seems close to the mark:
“They’re sort of marginal improvements,” said Jeremy Tillman, president of Ghostery, which provides ad-blocking and anti-tracking software. “They are not bad, but they almost seem like they’re designed to give the company a better messaging push instead of making wholesale improvements to user privacy.”
Like Facebook, privacy is the in thing.
Stephen E Arnold, May 8, 2019
Cognos: Now Transforming Business After Only 50 Years
May 3, 2019
It is 1969, and Cognos officially opened for business. That was a half century ago. Over the years, Cognos in its 50 years of “transformation” has absorbed a number of other technologies. Anyone remember Databeacon, the mid market analytics outfit. Cognos strikes me as an umbrella brand. According to CIO’s article “5 Ways IBM Cognos Analytics Is Transforming Business,” IBM’s Cognos Analytics has integrated the artificial intelligence capabilities of IBM Watson Analytics.
Okay, 50 years, much thrashing, and IBM is not on a part with the zippier outfits like DataRobot’s Eureqa. The idea of transforming is interesting, but I am not sure I buy into what looks to me like an example IBM marketing and PR. Sorry, CIO. I am just as suspicious as my neighbors here in Harrod’s Creek.
Here are the transforming things:
- Maximizing charitable donations (No, I am not kidding.)
- Optimizing retail operations with purchasing analytics. (What about Amazon’s data for merchants?)
- Leveraging data to maximize fan engagement. (No, I am not making this up.)
- Predicting audience viewing preferences.
- Deploying data science to keep salmon healthy. (Watson may not be a winner in the cancer thing, but it appears to work on fish.)
After 50 years, the write up points to these examples or use cases as transformational. Amazing.
Eureka may not capture what Cognos with Watson can deliver. The experience, however, could cause DataRobot’s phone to ring.
PS. What’s even more amazing, one of the DarkCyber team had to register to read what is marketing collateral. Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, May 3, 2019
Google: Forgetting or Selective Remembering?
March 27, 2019
Google created many useful and brilliant projects from its trademark search to Gmail and its free office suite. Google also has its share of failures, most notably Google+ and now the admission that they “forgot” about a microphone in its Nest Secure security system. BGR reports that, “Congress Wants Google To Explain How It Forgot About The Nest Secure Microphone.”
Google says they entirely “forgot” about a microphone inside their Nest Secure security system. Smart home security systems, such as the Nest Secure, are popular among homeowners, because it allows them to monitor their homes remotely, maintain a constant camera feed, and more. Smart security systems are supposed to protect individuals and their privacy, but some US senators are concerned about citizens’ privacy and Google’s “forgotten” microphone.
Senators and their constituents are worried that large tech companies are taking advantage of their end users and are not being transparent. Google maintains its commitment to transparency and its chief privacy officer said so during a Us Senate Committee hearing. Google will respond further to the issue in mid to late March 2019 with answers about the Nest Secure’s technical specifications, how they communicated with consumers, and what stage it was forgotten.
Google is taking the full blame:
“As we mentioned last week, Google has already released a pretty bare-bones mea culpa about this, sharing a statement with Business Insider that says the mike was never meant to be a secret and should have been included in the tech specs. ‘That was an error on our part.’ The company went on to explain that ‘the microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option.’ The long and short of this is that if you bought Nest’s $500 home security system, which is only a year old, you’re just now learning that you’ve inadvertently had a microphone in your home for a year or more that you didn’t know was there. The ball is now in Google’s court to respond to the questions raised in the Senators’ letter…”
Perhaps someone at Google should read Surveillance Capitalism. No, forget that.
Whitney Grace, March 27, 2019
Facial Recognition: Accuracy in Marketing
March 10, 2019
Measurements of accuracy in search and retrieval, image recognition, and tagging human behavior are variable. Results wander from evaluation to evaluation. One can break a text retrieval system by including emojis or explicit cues that a statement belongs to a specific context. What does “cool” mean?
Recognition of images is equally tricky. Toss in low contrast images with individuals wearing hats, sun glasses, and motorcycle gang style bandanas. How accurate are these systems?
The way to work around the problem is to craft test sets of content or images. The idea is that a well formed test set will provide a level playing field.
The problem is, of course, that life is not a level playing field.
I read summaries of the NIST image recognition tests, the subsequent calls for control by Microsoft (the fading monopolist), and some of the comments about facial recognition (FR) systems having difficulty with certain ethnic groups.
When I read these, I recall the image from a hotel opening, I wonder if today’s systems can ID these individuals “accurately”:
The write up “Why Chinese Companies Plug a US Test for Facial Recognition” summarizes the results of a NIST test and references other FR bake offs. The results are variable.
My view is that the Chinese systems’ performance is less about accuracy and more about sending a message; namely,
China is in the game.
The point of FR may be that accuracy is less important than reminding those interested in FR that Chinese technology has caught up and may surpass US smart software.
Will FR be 100 percent accurate? Not as long as photos like this have to be figured out:
FR is making progress. Progress is incremental. That applies to the US and other countries’ systems.
Stephen E Arnold, March 10, 2019
Simple Ways Intelligence is Fighting Cyber Crimes
March 8, 2019
Our world has never been more technologically advanced, that’s a fact. That also means that the digital threats have never been more dire, right? Yes and no, according to one source, who says that the technology might change but humans never do. We learned more from a recent CNBC story, “Google Infosec Head Heather Adkins: Ignore Scare Stories.”
According to the story:
“Adkins said sometimes the marketplace suffers from a “proliferation of cybersecurity professionals” offering conflicting advice on passwords, antivirus software, safety practices and so on…But the best rules for individuals looking to secure their personal information are the classics, Adkins said…Keep your software up to date, and don’t re-use the same password.”
This and many other examples show that good old fashioned foresight and detective work can still help fight cybercrime, even in this world of machine learning and nanotech. As Adkins says, let’s look forward in regards to security, but also not forget our past.
However, fear, uncertainty, and doubt sell—particularly to some executives uncomfortable with today’s business environment.
Patrick Roland, March 8, 2019
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