Today's Blind Items - The Whistleblower
Was he a whistleblower? I titled the blind that, but the thing is though, the person he was planning on meeting has been making a living selling secrets to various tech companies and governments. Maybe our victim thought he was doing good, but it was going to end up bad. Our victim's employers are very good at tracking every movement of their employees. Once you start your first day, they have you fill out what looks to be a normal direct deposit form. It isn't. It gives the computers at this tech giant a look at your bank account every month. It spots trends and also notices huge deposits that might be there from selling trade secrets. They also spy via the free devices they pass out like candy to their thousands of employees. They also listen in on everything. It is not just for keeping tabs on their employees, but also as a testing tool for their marketing. Yes, when you talk or type, it is no coincidence you see an ad for that product, sometimes within minutes. All of it is tested via employees.
The company learned that some of this technology was going to be leaked/sold to an outsider. It was technology the company had previously denied using and would probably generate an uprising. So, the security people at the company needed a solution. A permanent one. They found out the employee had a thing for drugs and had dozens of nights booked in hotels each month, despite living not far from work with his wife and family. They started "actively" listening and tracking and discovered he was frequently cheating on his wife with other women. They found his type and planted a woman everywhere he went in hopes they would run into each other. They did. He was smitten. He chased her. The company watched. After two meetings, the executive was killed and the team from the company swept in and wiped everything clean before anyone could arrive.
An accident. Unfortunate. Really though, a murder to protect their company and their profits.
The company learned that some of this technology was going to be leaked/sold to an outsider. It was technology the company had previously denied using and would probably generate an uprising. So, the security people at the company needed a solution. A permanent one. They found out the employee had a thing for drugs and had dozens of nights booked in hotels each month, despite living not far from work with his wife and family. They started "actively" listening and tracking and discovered he was frequently cheating on his wife with other women. They found his type and planted a woman everywhere he went in hopes they would run into each other. They did. He was smitten. He chased her. The company watched. After two meetings, the executive was killed and the team from the company swept in and wiped everything clean before anyone could arrive.
An accident. Unfortunate. Really though, a murder to protect their company and their profits.
Of course Enty of course but just to ply along I'll say Microsoft
ReplyDeleteAs a Seattlelite, I was teetering between Microsoft and Amazon. 🤣
Delete*play*
ReplyDeleteI think this the google executive who died of a heroin overdose. The prostitute went to jail for it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like google and google ads.
ReplyDelete+1 MD the guy on the yacht
ReplyDeleteForest Timothy Hayes is his name.
ReplyDeleteScreams Google, or Alphabet
ReplyDelete+MDAnderson
ReplyDeleteBig Tech is starting to scare me.
ReplyDeleteForest Hayes,his name.
ReplyDeleteForrest Timothy Hayes and Alix Tichelman
ReplyDeletetake your pick...
ReplyDeletetechcrunch.com/2019/07/26/siri-recordings-regularly-sent-to-apple-contractors-for-analysis-claims-whistleblower/
‘Siri recordings ‘regularly’ sent to Apple contractors for analysis, claims whistleblower’
Google, Apple, Amazon all named
original article w/the whistleblower at The Guardian, looks like they work(ed) for Apple.
‘Sometimes, “you can definitely hear a doctor and patient, talking about the medical history of the patient. Or you’d hear someone, maybe with car engine background noise – you can’t say definitely, but it’s a drug deal … you can definitely hear it happening. And you’d hear, like, people engaging in sexual acts that are accidentally recorded on the pod or the watch.”
theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/26/apple-contractors-regularly-hear-confidential-details-on-siri-recordings
Isn't this a google blog? Just sayin' 😅
ReplyDeleteIs Google HQ build upon dead bodies of abused children and women? Cmon Enty, dont hold out on us!
ReplyDeleteI also believe this is Google but something interesting (or perhaps I should say scary) happened to me the other day. My family turned on Amazon Prime and we saw an ad for a movie with Blake Lively which I had previously seen. I mentioned it was a good movie and said the name was "A Simple Favor". I didn't think about it again but the next morning I turned on my Fire Tablet and it's first suggestion for me was the movie, you guessed it, "A Simple Favor". I hadn't used my tablet at all the day before and not once said "Alexa" which is supposed to make it start listening. These products are not only spying on their employees but their customers too.
ReplyDeleteYour accounts are linked because they are both amazon products.
DeleteForrest/Timothy/Hayes.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a good bravo/lifetime movie. I remember when this story broke.
Isn't Google known for snooping on everybody? That's why I rarely use it
ReplyDeleteWait until the future when if you say something nasty about someone powerful a teeny-tiny little drone finds you, drops something toxic onto you, and then buzzes away unseen.
ReplyDelete@J, I kind of feel bad that we probably won't be around to see a 1984 type revolution or something 🤣
ReplyDeleteFuture's gonna be a strange, ugly place, Brayson. I'll take my years here... as I always say, my timing's been outstanding.
ReplyDeleteI am saying FB for a change as its the only one that has actively shown me adverts of something I have never ever searched by was said in a bar or restaurant I was at.
ReplyDeleteLike a few weeks ago during amazon prime day, a trivia host at a bar I was at was talking about what he got. He got one of those dog cameras that remotely gives out treats, never heard of it before, dont own a dog, didnt even know about prime day etc.... there was zero reason for that ad to pop up.
So after his story and in between rounds, I looked at my FB timeline and there it was, advertisement for that fucking product.
creeped me out
Use Facebook only via a web browser.
DeleteThe apps have more ways to spy.
The best thing about this blind is that everything the “evil” company was described doing to stalk their employees are the exact same things that almost all large corporations do every single day. I work in data science and workforce management and can tell you from health care, to tech, to transportation companies; any devices they give you are monitored (phones, computers, etc) and if your company has a trade secret or corporate espionage program they do tell you that your accounts will be monitored for certain transaction/trading amounts. This is not anything secretive. And as for the ad programs being tested on their employees, why not? It’s a great use of resources, and I consulted for Google and their employees are well aware of this because they are the ones programming and analyzing the data. I’m not saying corporate murders/cover ups don’t happen, it’s just that the salacious nature of the “secret” corporate acts is laughable.
ReplyDeleteYeah, surveillance and malignant data usage is ubiquitous.
ReplyDeleteYou can't avoid it... but still I can't get my head around people who are fucking eager to let Alexa or Siri into their lives.
Wait until we have to live under their Social Credit system.
ReplyDeleteI'd guess Facebook or Apple, but I'm leaning more towards Facebook/Zuckerberg.
ReplyDelete@J, Some people just aren't very interesting in general, that's the trend I've seen with people who put smart speakers in their homes. They might as well have glass walls on their houses because watching paint dry would be more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI know this is happening everywhere now, but I notice it most with Facebook, that I'll browse something there, and then get emails about the product or see ads in the sidebar of my email browser. Not too long ago, my husband was making the bed, didn't see that my iPad was buried in the covers. When he flung the covers off, my iPad was flung with it, into the wall. Screen broke (turned out to just be the screen protector, though that's neither here nor there), so I yelled "WTF you just broke my iPad!" and I kid you not, next thing you knew, we BOTH had ads for a screen repair company in our Facebook feeds. So Facebook heard me say "you broke my iPad" and then offered me a solution.
ReplyDeleteI quit Google months ago. Opera. Try it. Duck Duck Go
ReplyDelete@Cadmium77, I don't use Opera all the time, but anytime I download torrents, I do it on Opera because they have a free built-in VPN. When the download starts, it automatically opens my Torch browser, which has a built-in BitTorrent client on it.
ReplyDeleteI used to download through Firefox and the Torch browsers, but I kept getting nasty emails from my internet provider about copyright infringement.
Since I switched to Opera, I haven't gotten a single one of those nasty little emails.
In fact, I usually use google for everything else, but I'm gonna start using Opera for EVERYTHING. I just logged into my gmail account on my Opera browser, and I got a security check email from them saying that someone just logged into my gmail on Opera browser ... get this ... near Ukraine.
I am currently in South Dakota. That VPN is good.
Sounds like an old Hollywood blind with a cyber Eddie Mannix.
ReplyDeleteDissenter browser and poison your ad profile with clicks.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Google ...
ReplyDeleteI've worked for several tech consulting companies over the years. About 10 years ago I started working for a small fish who asked me to sign a very lengthy IT policy document on my first day of work. I asked if I could take it away to read it in detail, which they got really salty about.
There were a few things in there that raised a few eyebrows so I sought legal advice; my lawyer confirmed my suspicions and told me not to sign it. When I relayed that I was instantly dismissed which caused a huge ruckus as I was approached to work for them and they'd spent a small fortune on marketing materials announcing my joining their company.
I understand they've since changed the policy as my situation caused people to question exactly what was in the document that caused concern (previously, people would just happily sign it in front of them without fully reading it). They've also given employees the option to take the document away to read it in full in their own time, as opposed to badgering them to do it on the spot. This is all well and good, but it sucks for those who signed it without reading the fine print.
Anna raises an important point. Read everything before signing. I know people in upper management at very "reputable" companies who were asked to authorize criminal shit. Signer beware.
ReplyDeleteI do not have an Alexa, but I do have an iPhone. Yesterday I was helping my daughter with homework & she was supposed to read for a certain amount of time. My phone was screen locked & laying on a chair. I said I’d better set a timer for her reading. I reached for my phone & a message popped up that Siri wants to set a timer for me. It creeped me out because I literally had not touched the phone.
ReplyDeleteOpen a separate account
ReplyDeleteI recently started using ad free blocker website
ReplyDeleteMonths ago I was listening to a podcast (I forget who) but the guy was saying that his girlfriend went out and bought an Alexa for their house. Against his advice he suspected they eavesdropped automatically. They argued about it after the fact.
ReplyDeleteSo when driving home they decided to settle the argument once and came up with the idea that occasionally over the next few days that they would mention a product casually in conversation and see what ads popped up on their devices afterwards.
The thing they decided to go with was a bug zapper, the blue light kind you fix to an outside wall - this was in December last year in the middle of that big cold snap in the US and Canada and I think they lived somewhere northern - something that wouldn't appear by coincidence or was common enough that the odds were good it would appear on their feeds. They reckoned that given the four foot of snow conditions they were having that no one would be trending bug zappers.
So for the next day or two she would say things like, "Don't forget to buy a bug zapper, the mosquitoes are really bad this week." And he would say later, "Damn, I forgot to buy that bugzapper." etc...
Sure enough within a few days their pop up ads were all for bugzappers, pest control and fly spray type products.
This was enough to convince his gf to give the thing away.
I told my wife this just before the summer when she said she wanted an Alexa for the house. And sure enough, just as I half suspected she might, she was so impressed by Alexa's eavesdropping powers she went straight out and got one, and bought her parents one too! "It will make things so much easier," said the sheeple I married.
"Said the sheeple I married" ....... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteLook at the most recent Google whistleblower, Zack Voorhees. He released all the documents that show how Google is actively censoring political views while trying to influence the next presidential election, and they ended up calling the police on him as a "wellness check". The stuff he released was pretty incredible if you look through it.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is, it's almost impossible to not use Google products. They've proven to be a dangerous company that has way too much influence. They're many times worse than Standard Oil ever was, and they need to be broken up.
Everyone can at least start to cleanse themselves of Google by downloading the Brave browser, switch gmail with protonmail, and use DuckDuckGo for searches.
Yes. They tried to SWAT that guy Voorhees.
ReplyDelete