I assume the average person buying the standard model could then just disable WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS if they so chose? So this really is for high security situations?
Time and time again, I prove that I'm human by giving this crap the finger and then visiting some other site. It's calling out a false positive and then exercising good taste.
Gmail turned me off way back when it became obvious that they scanned your email to present relevant advertising.
I've paid for email nearly forever (Earthlink, not the most high tech provider but good enough) and get nearly zero spam. Their price went up again recently, but apparently if you mention Fastmail they'll match the cost.
I was listening to the local TV news a few weeks ago and the reporter talked about an SMS scam insisting that you owe unpaid turnpike charges. He said "most of us have seen them". I'm thinking, I've never received anything like that!" and then realized it could be because I don't give out my phone number to just anybody who asks. And tend to push back when they do.
In the meantime, I'm currently using a low end Motorola moto g 5G 2023 which lets me turn off Play Services. Chrome and the Google Calendar don't run (really do need to find a replacement calendar), and I couldn't be happier. Motorola's interest in GrapheneOS makes me wonder if they did this on purpose.
I ran into this just tonight. Coincidentally, I also just received an email from IMDB:
>> Dear IMDb customer,
>> We noticed you haven't signed in to IMDb in over three years, and your account shows no activity (no Watchlist, ratings, reviews, or lists).
>> To keep your account active, please sign in to IMDb.com. If you don't sign in by May 20, 2026, your account will be closed. You will then need to make a new account to create a Watchlist, rate and review titles, and access other IMDb features.
Good. Saves me the trouble of figuring out how to close it.
Same here, but just Lowes stores. That I know of. I surveiled the two local Lowes roughly a month ago and found two cameras not mapped, which I gleefully added myself. Want to send them a snail mail complaint at some point stating they won't be getting my business until they step back from turning us into a police state.
Agreed, but this would then inconvenience millions of non-techies.
Could a solution be forcing Amazon (and Google and Flock and...) to open their backend software either for self-hosting or for running on somebody else's "cloud"? So subscribing to such a device isn't that different from getting web hosting from Dreamhost or Hetzner?
Maybe there's a host or IP field in the settings that users can easily change?
The 16% of Trump voters who want military action in Iceland was what particularly floored me. Added to the poll, I suspect, to see if people were paying attention...
I would like to think incompetence as well, but when the problem is this widespread, IMHO it does point to a corporate issue...even if that's simply leaving too many incompetent managers in charge. IMHO if you're the manager and the part-time teenager didn't finish updating all the shelf pricing, then it's on you to finish before going home. But today too many people just don't give a damn.
My first job was in retail as well, going back to the days before scanners when every item item was ticketed individually. When something goes on sale you ticket it again, then tear off the sale price stub when the sale ends. Repeat as needed. Maybe that could be a suitable punishment, too? Force stores to abandon shelf pricing for a period of time until it hurts enough that they get their act in order?
So this means I would get the app-only sale price, without using the app?
While doing some research into state retail pricing laws a few years ago, I discovered how tough Massachusetts is, being one of the last holdouts mandating ticketing on all items, and only relenting in exchange for price scanners every so many aisles. Living in Pennsylvania and annoyed by stores tying their best prices to their apps, I fancifully emailed Elizabeth Warren, asking if she'd prod a friend in state government to consider a legislative end run around apps. I had no idea such a law really existed. "First in the nation" I expect. Wonder how long it's been around?
With a browser, you have the ability to block cookies, block whole hosts/domains, alter DOM content, alter tracking URL's, and (often) disable low level features you don't like. With apps, not so much.
As a teenager I worked at a discount store, and sometimes ran the service desk, which (among many other things) involved processing returns. The returns form included a spot for "phone number", to which some customers would respond, "my number is unlisted". We honored that. Today in the USA, it seems the phone number is the new Social Security Number, which everybody wants to use for tracking. Stores used to give out physical discount cards (which I wasn't keen on either...) but now (obviously because it saves them money) so many stores have switched to a system where your account is tracked through a phone number or an app or both. No thank you.
I held onto Symbian longer than I should have, but am surprised this practice hadn't crossed my path before now. IMHO it's insidious. It's one thing for a Google Street View car to war scan my WiFi router, but another for my own phone to secretly rat me out. Not that I use Location myself, but I can't stop other members of the household. I assume this is yet another practice that Android forks like GrapheneOS disables?
I am also not very far away, and used to find myself driving through Parkesburg sometimes. Had no idea it was there! My first computers were user-friendly TRS-80 Model 1's (school) and my C64, so just missed the 1970's and earlier generations. Will look into a visit in 2026!
I'm more a syadmin type than a developer, but still get hit with online "testing" requests sometimes: a couple SQL tests for some support position, a couple psychological tests, etc. These are now a hard line for me. Why? Maybe I misunderstand...but my time is valuable, too. If HR or the hiring manager wants to reach out for a round 1 interview and then tell me a week later I'm one of your top candidates, and would I please take some online testing to continue the process, fine. But not the other way around.