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Why Do Phone Companies Sell Our data?

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Why Do Phone Companies Sell Our data?

In today’s digital age, it is becoming increasingly common for companies to collect and sell consumer data.

This includes phone companies, which are often guilty of selling their customers’ data to third-party companies without their knowledge or consent.

One example of the risks of selling consumer data is the 2017 Equifax data breach. In this breach, hackers were able to access the personal information of over 140 million Americans, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. The breach was attributed to a failure by Equifax to adequately protect their customers’ data, and it highlighted the potential risks of collecting and selling consumer data.

Another example is the controversy surrounding the use of consumer data in political campaigns. In 2018, it was revealed that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had obtained data on millions of Facebook users without their knowledge or consent. This data was then used to create targeted political ads during the 2016 US presidential election. The controversy sparked a debate about the ethics of using consumer data in political campaigns, and it raised concerns about the potential for political manipulation and interference.

In response to these concerns, some countries have taken steps to regulate the collection and use of consumer data by phone companies and other organizations. The European Union, for example, implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, which gives consumers greater control over their personal data and requires companies to obtain explicit consent before collecting or using this data.

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In this article, we will explore the reasons why phone companies sell our data, the potential risks of this practice, and strategies for protecting our personal information.

Understanding Why Phone Companies Sell Our Data

There are several reasons why phone companies sell our data. One reason is to generate additional revenue. Phone companies can sell consumer data to third-party companies for a profit, which can help to offset the costs of providing phone services. In some cases, phone companies may also offer discounts or other incentives to customers who agree to share their data.

Another reason why phone companies sell our data is to improve their services. By collecting data on their customers’ usage habits, phone companies can gain insights into how people use their phones and what features are most popular. This can help phone companies to develop new products and services that better meet their customers’ needs.

Finally, phone companies may sell our data to comply with legal or regulatory requirements. In some cases, phone companies may be required by law to collect and share certain types of consumer data, such as data related to emergency services or national security.

What Are the Risks of Selling Consumer Data?

While phone companies may have legitimate reasons for selling consumer data, there are also significant risks associated with this practice. One of the biggest risks is the potential for identity theft and fraud. When phone companies collect and sell consumer data, they are providing third-party companies with access to sensitive information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers. This information can be used by criminals to commit identity theft, credit card fraud, and other types of financial crimes.

Another risk of selling consumer data is the potential for privacy violations. Many consumers are uncomfortable with the idea of their personal information being sold to third-party companies without their knowledge or consent. This can lead to a loss of trust in phone companies and can damage their reputation.

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Finally, selling consumer data can also lead to discrimination and unfair treatment. When third-party companies use consumer data to target their advertising and marketing efforts, they may inadvertently discriminate against certain groups of people. For example, an advertiser may use consumer data to target their ads to wealthy individuals, which could lead to discrimination against low-income individuals.

Strategies for Protecting Personal Information

To protect our personal information from being sold by phone companies, there are several strategies that we can use. One strategy is to read the terms and conditions carefully before signing up for phone services. Many phone companies include clauses in their contracts that allow them to collect and sell consumer data. By reading these clauses carefully, we can better understand what data is being collected and how it will be used.

Another strategy is to use privacy protection software and services. There are several software programs and services available that can help to protect our personal information from being collected and sold by phone companies. These programs and services can block tracking cookies, prevent data collection, and provide other types of protection.

Finally, it is important to be aware of our rights as consumers. In many cases, consumers have the right to opt out of data collection and sharing by phone companies. By exercising our rights and taking an active role in protecting our personal information, we can help to ensure that phone companies are held accountable for their data collection and sharing practices.

Conclusion

The practice of phone companies selling our data is a complex issue with both potential benefits and risks. While phone companies may have legitimate reasons for collecting and sharing consumer data, it is important to be aware of the potential risks associated with this practice. Consumers can protect their personal information by being aware of their rights, reading the terms and conditions carefully, and using privacy protection software and services. Additionally, there is a need for greater regulation and oversight of the collection and use of consumer data by phone companies and other organizations, to ensure that our personal information is being used in a responsible and ethical manner. By taking these steps, we can help to ensure that our personal information is protected and that phone companies are held accountable for their data collection and sharing practices.

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TECHNOLOGY

Next-gen chips, Amazon Q, and speedy S3

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AWS re:Invent, which has been taking place from November 27 and runs to December 1, has had its usual plethora of announcements: a total of 21 at time of print.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the huge potential impact of generative AI – ChatGPT officially turns one year old today – a lot of focus has been on the AI side for AWS’ announcements, including a major partnership inked with NVIDIA across infrastructure, software, and services.

Yet there has been plenty more announced at the Las Vegas jamboree besides. Here, CloudTech rounds up the best of the rest:

Next-generation chips

This was the other major AI-focused announcement at re:Invent: the launch of two new chips, AWS Graviton4 and AWS Trainium2, for training and running AI and machine learning (ML) models, among other customer workloads. Graviton4 shapes up against its predecessor with 30% better compute performance, 50% more cores and 75% more memory bandwidth, while Trainium2 delivers up to four times faster training than before and will be able to be deployed in EC2 UltraClusters of up to 100,000 chips.

The EC2 UltraClusters are designed to ‘deliver the highest performance, most energy efficient AI model training infrastructure in the cloud’, as AWS puts it. With it, customers will be able to train large language models in ‘a fraction of the time’, as well as double energy efficiency.

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As ever, AWS offers customers who are already utilising these tools. Databricks, Epic and SAP are among the companies cited as using the new AWS-designed chips.

Zero-ETL integrations

AWS announced new Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon Relational Database Services (Amazon RDS) for MySQL integrations with Amazon Redshift, AWS’ cloud data warehouse. The zero-ETL integrations – eliminating the need to build ETL (extract, transform, load) data pipelines – make it easier to connect and analyse transactional data across various relational and non-relational databases in Amazon Redshift.

A simple example of how zero-ETL functions can be seen is in a hypothetical company which stores transactional data – time of transaction, items bought, where the transaction occurred – in a relational database, but use another analytics tool to analyse data in a non-relational database. To connect it all up, companies would previously have to construct ETL data pipelines which are a time and money sink.

The latest integrations “build on AWS’s zero-ETL foundation… so customers can quickly and easily connect all of their data, no matter where it lives,” the company said.

Amazon S3 Express One Zone

AWS announced the general availability of Amazon S3 Express One Zone, a new storage class purpose-built for customers’ most frequently-accessed data. Data access speed is up to 10 times faster and request costs up to 50% lower than standard S3. Companies can also opt to collocate their Amazon S3 Express One Zone data in the same availability zone as their compute resources.  

Companies and partners who are using Amazon S3 Express One Zone include ChaosSearch, Cloudera, and Pinterest.

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Amazon Q

A new product, and an interesting pivot, again with generative AI at its core. Amazon Q was announced as a ‘new type of generative AI-powered assistant’ which can be tailored to a customer’s business. “Customers can get fast, relevant answers to pressing questions, generate content, and take actions – all informed by a customer’s information repositories, code, and enterprise systems,” AWS added. The service also can assist companies building on AWS, as well as companies using AWS applications for business intelligence, contact centres, and supply chain management.

Customers cited as early adopters include Accenture, BMW and Wunderkind.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity and the cloud from industry leaders? Check out Cyber Security & Cloud Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

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HCLTech and Cisco create collaborative hybrid workplaces

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Digital comms specialist Cisco and global tech firm HCLTech have teamed up to launch Meeting-Rooms-as-a-Service (MRaaS).

Available on a subscription model, this solution modernises legacy meeting rooms and enables users to join meetings from any meeting solution provider using Webex devices.

The MRaaS solution helps enterprises simplify the design, implementation and maintenance of integrated meeting rooms, enabling seamless collaboration for their globally distributed hybrid workforces.

Rakshit Ghura, senior VP and Global head of digital workplace services, HCLTech, said: “MRaaS combines our consulting and managed services expertise with Cisco’s proficiency in Webex devices to change the way employees conceptualise, organise and interact in a collaborative environment for a modern hybrid work model.

“The common vision of our partnership is to elevate the collaboration experience at work and drive productivity through modern meeting rooms.”

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Alexandra Zagury, VP of partner managed and as-a-Service Sales at Cisco, said: “Our partnership with HCLTech helps our clients transform their offices through cost-effective managed services that support the ongoing evolution of workspaces.

“As we reimagine the modern office, we are making it easier to support collaboration and productivity among workers, whether they are in the office or elsewhere.”

Cisco’s Webex collaboration devices harness the power of artificial intelligence to offer intuitive, seamless collaboration experiences, enabling meeting rooms with smart features such as meeting zones, intelligent people framing, optimised attendee audio and background noise removal, among others.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity and the cloud from industry leaders? Check out Cyber Security & Cloud Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, HCLTech, Hybrid, meetings

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Canonical releases low-touch private cloud MicroCloud

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Canonical has announced the general availability of MicroCloud, a low-touch, open source cloud solution. MicroCloud is part of Canonical’s growing cloud infrastructure portfolio.

It is purpose-built for scalable clusters and edge deployments for all types of enterprises. It is designed with simplicity, security and automation in mind, minimising the time and effort to both deploy and maintain it. Conveniently, enterprise support for MicroCloud is offered as part of Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro subscription, with several support tiers available, and priced per node.

MicroClouds are optimised for repeatable and reliable remote deployments. A single command initiates the orchestration and clustering of various components with minimal involvement by the user, resulting in a fully functional cloud within minutes. This simplified deployment process significantly reduces the barrier to entry, putting a production-grade cloud at everyone’s fingertips.

Juan Manuel Ventura, head of architectures & technologies at Spindox, said: “Cloud computing is not only about technology, it’s the beating heart of any modern industrial transformation, driving agility and innovation. Our mission is to provide our customers with the most effective ways to innovate and bring value; having a complexity-free cloud infrastructure is one important piece of that puzzle. With MicroCloud, the focus shifts away from struggling with cloud operations to solving real business challenges” says

In addition to seamless deployment, MicroCloud prioritises security and ease of maintenance. All MicroCloud components are built with strict confinement for increased security, with over-the-air transactional updates that preserve data and roll back on errors automatically. Upgrades to newer versions are handled automatically and without downtime, with the mechanisms to hold or schedule them as needed.

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With this approach, MicroCloud caters to both on-premise clouds but also edge deployments at remote locations, allowing organisations to use the same infrastructure primitives and services wherever they are needed. It is suitable for business-in-branch office locations or industrial use inside a factory, as well as distributed locations where the focus is on replicability and unattended operations.

Cedric Gegout, VP of product at Canonical, said: “As data becomes more distributed, the infrastructure has to follow. Cloud computing is now distributed, spanning across data centres, far and near edge computing appliances. MicroCloud is our answer to that.

“By packaging known infrastructure primitives in a portable and unattended way, we are delivering a simpler, more prescriptive cloud experience that makes zero-ops a reality for many Industries.“

MicroCloud’s lightweight architecture makes it usable on both commodity and high-end hardware, with several ways to further reduce its footprint depending on your workload needs. In addition to the standard Ubuntu Server or Desktop, MicroClouds can be run on Ubuntu Core – a lightweight OS optimised for the edge. With Ubuntu Core, MicroClouds are a perfect solution for far-edge locations with limited computing capabilities. Users can choose to run their workloads using Kubernetes or via system containers. System containers based on LXD behave similarly to traditional VMs but consume fewer resources while providing bare-metal performance.

Coupled with Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro + Support subscription, MicroCloud users can benefit from an enterprise-grade open source cloud solution that is fully supported and with better economics. An Ubuntu Pro subscription offers security maintenance for the broadest collection of open-source software available from a single vendor today. It covers over 30k packages with a consistent security maintenance commitment, and additional features such as kernel livepatch, systems management at scale, certified compliance and hardening profiles enabling easy adoption for enterprises. With per-node pricing and no hidden fees, customers can rest assured that their environment is secure and supported without the expensive price tag typically associated with cloud solutions.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity and the cloud from industry leaders? Check out Cyber Security & Cloud Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

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Tags: automation, Canonical, MicroCloud, private cloud

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