Facebook to be hit with multi-billion dollar fine

From Tony Romm, reporting for The Washington Post

The Federal Trade Commission and Facebook are negotiating over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency’s investigation into the social media giant’s privacy practices, according to two people familiar with the probe.The fine would be the largest the agency has ever imposed on a technology company, but the two sides have not yet agreed on an exact amount. Facebook has expressed initial concern with the FTC’s demands, one of the people said. If talks break down, the FTC could take the matter to court in what would likely be a bruising legal fight.

Perhaps this will get Facebook to pay closer attention to consumer privacy.

Shopper Behavior and Trader Joes

Enjoyed this video about Trader Joes and how they avoid the paradox of choice. One thing not mentioned in the video is the fact that most of the competition in the spaghetti sauce section at a typical grocery store is multiple brands competing with the same basic sauce flavors (e.g., Tomato and Basil, Vodka, Alfredo, etc.). Since Trader Joes mostly sells house brands, they have no motivation to create multiple versions of the same sauce, hence dramatically reduced product selection.

If you want to know a big reason why there are so many varieties of spaghetti sauces, watch this classic TED video by Malcolm Gladwell.

Amazon Recorded Video Of A Seller's Face For Identification Purposes

From BuzzFeed News

An Amazon seller based in Vietnam told BuzzFeed News that he was prompted to take a five-second video of his face using his computer’s webcam in January as he signed up for a seller profile. Amazon seller consultants told BuzzFeed News they believe the company may be testing video to verify seller identities to prevent the creation of multiple seller profiles, a major issue for Amazon and its ongoing battle with fake sellers and counterfeit goods.

Nope. No facial recognition training going on here. Move along.

Reached for comment by BuzzFeed News, Amazon disputed neither the authenticity of the facial verification process it required of the seller, nor the screenshot.The company, however, refused to explain its collection of sellers’ faces.

It just seems crazy to me that we don't have a general online privacy protection law in this country. Congress passed COPPA in 1998, but it hasn't done much of anything since. For now, the EU's GDPR is the de facto law of our land...and that doesn't really sit well with me.