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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#31

Post by JazzNU »

Netflix Is Testing Log-In Warnings to Curb Unauthorized Password Sharing


By Todd Spangler


Netflix may be finally getting serious about cracking down on password sharing.

The streaming giant in the past week launched a new test that displays a warning to some users that says, “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.” Per Netflix’s terms of service, a customer’s account for the streaming service “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.”

In the Netflix test, the prompt provides three options to users: They can get an email or text verification code to authenticate the account, or they can click on a button that says “Verify Later.” The message also lets users sign up for a new account.

A Netflix rep confirmed that the company has kicked off a limited test of the feature. “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” the rep said in a statement to Variety.

The test is being run in multiple countries and only on TV devices. It’s not clear if the prompts are random or if they’re triggered by specific activity on a given account. One of the goals is to put in place a security mechanism to block unauthorized users who may have obtained stolen Netflix login credentials.

The test of the password-verification feature was reported by GammaWire after spotting users on social media who received the prompt.





The practice of mooching off someone else’s streaming account is pervasive, according to research studies. Nearly 40% of Americans say they use a streaming login and password that doesn’t belong to them — and about a third do so without permission from the account holder, according to a LendingTree survey of 1,500 consumers conducted Feb. 11-16.

According to the LendingTree survey, 51% of those who have a streaming service account admitted they let others use it. Netflix is the most popular shared service: 72% of respondents with the service say they let someone use their account, according to the study.

As Netflix has continued to grow — with 203.7 million globally at the end of 2020 — it will start to hit a saturation point in its most mature markets, including the U.S. And as that happens, one clear way to boost revenue is to try to convert freeloaders into paying customers.

One reason password sharing hasn’t been a major problem for Netflix is because the service already has guardrails to keep it in check. The Standard plan ($13.99/month in the U.S.), for example, allows just two concurrent HD streams per account, which makes it impractical for sharing among multiple people. The $17.99/month Premium tier allows up to four streams per account.

In October 2019, on the company’s earnings interview, Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters was asked about the issue of password sharing. He said the company was “looking at the situation and we’ll see, again, those consumer-friendly ways to push on the edges of that.”

In years past, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings has said that the phenomenon of password-sharing not only was not problematic but a boon to the service. “We love people sharing Netflix whether they’re two people on a couch or 10 people on a couch,” Hastings said at the 2016 CES tradeshow. “That’s a positive thing, not a negative thing.”

That same year, Hastings told analysts that Netflix had no plans to crack down on password sharing activity. “Password sharing is something you have to learn to live with, because there’s so much legitimate password sharing like, you know, you sharing with your spouse, with your kids,” he said. “So there’s no bright line and we’re doing fine as is.”

https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/n ... 234928544/
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#32

Post by ti-amie »

WHOA!
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#33

Post by ponchi101 »

It happened to us already. My GF uses an account that is paid by her cousin, in Florida. The account is legal and her cousin has up to 4 screens at a time, so it is being paid, we simply do not live together.
My mom's account is also that way. She shares it with my nephew, and my GF's niece and sister. It is all paid here in Colombia because in Venezuela Netflix does not sell pre-paid cards. So if they implement this system, basically all of Venezuela will be off Netflix, and here we will need to contact our cousin when the verification code gets sent.
There was also a software problem: my Roku did not let me reach the send verification code button to press. So Netflix needs to make sure one can navigate there.
Side thought: because of course, Netflix is going bankrupt.
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#34

Post by dryrunguy »

Now, a woman in Pennsylvania used deepfake technology to create and disseminate bogus photos and videos of her daughter's cheerleading rivals participating in such activities as drinking, smoking, or posing nude.

::

As clear as the potential for deepfake abuse might be, there are still new, stranger examples popping up. The Philadelpha Inquirer and Harrisburg's Patriot-News report that police arrested Chalfont, Pennsylvania resident Raffaela Spone for allegedly using deepfakes in a bid to kick rivals off her daughter's cheerleading squad, the Victory Vipers. According to law enforcement, Spone sent coaches AI-altered photos and videos of the teens to portray them drinking, smoking, or naked.

Police first received word in July, when one of the victims received messages from an anonymous number, but that led others to come forward with similar stories. Officers linked the messages to Spone by tracing the numbers to a telemarketer-oriented site, and then pinpointing them to an IP address used in Spone's home. A search of the woman's smartphone found evidence tying her to the numbers.

Spone faces misdemeanor charges of cyber harassment of a child and linked offences. Police haven't taken action against the daughter as there's no evidence she was aware of her mother's actions.

Social networks like Facebook, TikTok and Twitter have already banned deepfakes, making them less likely to spread. That doesn't prevent direct harassment campaigns, though, and the incident underscores the ease involved in producing the fakes — you don't need to be an expert to create plausible-looking imagery. While there is research on spotting deepfakes, detection systems like those will only help if people both suspect fakes and catch them before there's any significant damage.

https://www.engadget.com/woman-creates- ... 24991.html
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#35

Post by ti-amie »

dryrunguy wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:43 pm Now, a woman in Pennsylvania used deepfake technology to create and disseminate bogus photos and videos of her daughter's cheerleading rivals participating in such activities as drinking, smoking, or posing nude.

::

As clear as the potential for deepfake abuse might be, there are still new, stranger examples popping up. The Philadelpha Inquirer and Harrisburg's Patriot-News report that police arrested Chalfont, Pennsylvania resident Raffaela Spone for allegedly using deepfakes in a bid to kick rivals off her daughter's cheerleading squad, the Victory Vipers. According to law enforcement, Spone sent coaches AI-altered photos and videos of the teens to portray them drinking, smoking, or naked.

Police first received word in July, when one of the victims received messages from an anonymous number, but that led others to come forward with similar stories. Officers linked the messages to Spone by tracing the numbers to a telemarketer-oriented site, and then pinpointing them to an IP address used in Spone's home. A search of the woman's smartphone found evidence tying her to the numbers.

Spone faces misdemeanor charges of cyber harassment of a child and linked offences. Police haven't taken action against the daughter as there's no evidence she was aware of her mother's actions.

Social networks like Facebook, TikTok and Twitter have already banned deepfakes, making them less likely to spread. That doesn't prevent direct harassment campaigns, though, and the incident underscores the ease involved in producing the fakes — you don't need to be an expert to create plausible-looking imagery. While there is research on spotting deepfakes, detection systems like those will only help if people both suspect fakes and catch them before there's any significant damage.

https://www.engadget.com/woman-creates- ... 24991.html
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#36

Post by ponchi101 »

Are they so easy to make that suburban moms can make them? Because I am then waiting for my first video of my murdering somebody, courtesy of my long list of enemies.
Also, one more thing to look for from spammers?
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#37

Post by JazzNU »

Yup. That's 20 minutes from me. I thought about posting it in the Random thread the other day, but wasn't sure there'd be interest. I was thinking of it as just a bizarre story though. Forgot about the deepfake discussion.
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#38

Post by ti-amie »

ponchi101 wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:16 pm Are they so easy to make that suburban moms can make them? Because I am then waiting for my first video of my murdering somebody, courtesy of my long list of enemies.
Also, one more thing to look for from spammers?
Yes
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#39

Post by dryrunguy »

Imagine what some PACs will do with this. Video of Nancy Pelosi saying things she never said--or ever thought about saying. Pics of Hunter Biden taking bribes from foreign governments. Video of Ocasio-Cortez burning an American flag. And sure, just to be fair, video of Donald Trump, Jr. snorting coke or Lindsay Graham having sex with a male sex worker. Or video of Black people or immigrants vandalizing property they never vandalized or beating up an old white woman who doesn't even exist.

Then expand it on a global scale. What will Putin do with this technology? How will Maduro use this to imprison political opponents? How will unscrupulous people use this to solicit massive donations for fake catastrophes that didn't happen? Imagine what Mugabe could have done with this.

The possibilities are endless.
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#40

Post by ti-amie »

dryrunguy wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 8:33 pm Imagine what some PACs will do with this. Video of Nancy Pelosi saying things she never said--or ever thought about saying. Pics of Hunter Biden taking bribes from foreign governments. Video of Ocasio-Cortez burning an American flag. And sure, just to be fair, video of Donald Trump, Jr. snorting coke or Lindsay Graham having sex with a male sex worker. Or video of Black people or immigrants vandalizing property they never vandalized or beating up an old white woman who doesn't even exist.

Then expand it on a global scale. What will Putin do with this technology? How will Maduro use this to imprison political opponents? How will unscrupulous people use this to solicit massive donations for fake catastrophes that didn't happen? Imagine what Mugabe could have done with this.

The possibilities are endless.
I read that as Junior snorting coke off of Lindsay Graham...
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#41

Post by ponchi101 »

ti-amie wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:29 pm ...

I read that as Junior snorting coke off of Lindsay Graham...
:rofl: :rofl:
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#42

Post by dryrunguy »

ti-amie wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:29 pm
dryrunguy wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 8:33 pm Imagine what some PACs will do with this. Video of Nancy Pelosi saying things she never said--or ever thought about saying. Pics of Hunter Biden taking bribes from foreign governments. Video of Ocasio-Cortez burning an American flag. And sure, just to be fair, video of Donald Trump, Jr. snorting coke or Lindsay Graham having sex with a male sex worker. Or video of Black people or immigrants vandalizing property they never vandalized or beating up an old white woman who doesn't even exist.

Then expand it on a global scale. What will Putin do with this technology? How will Maduro use this to imprison political opponents? How will unscrupulous people use this to solicit massive donations for fake catastrophes that didn't happen? Imagine what Mugabe could have done with this.

The possibilities are endless.
I read that as Junior snorting coke off of Lindsay Graham...
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#43

Post by JazzNU »

Amazon's grocery chain is growing. It isn't Whole Foods


By Nathaniel Meyersohn

New York (CNN Business)Four years after Amazon bought Whole Foods, the e-commerce giant is making another major push to sell shoppers groceries. But this time, Whole Foods isn't the focus of the strategy.

Instead, Amazon is ramping up openings of Amazon Fresh grocery stores. Amazon has opened 11 Fresh locations around the United States over the past year. It will open a 12th Thursday in Long Beach, California, and Amazon says it has plans to open an additional four stores, although it has not given a timetable. Grocery analysts expect that the company will add more beyond that.

The online retailer isn't just making those moves because it wants a bigger chunk of the US grocery business. Amazon hopes that Fresh stores will help the company gain more of Amazon Prime members' spending on groceries, thereby increasing loyalty to the subscription program. It also wants to attract new sign-ups.

Amazon is building Fresh stores to chase a different clientele than Whole Foods' well-defined customer base, analysts say. Whole Foods, which has around 500 US stores, primarily appeals to wealthier shoppers and specializes in natural and organic products. It doesn't carry national brands like Coca-Cola, Tide and Oreo.

Whole Foods "doesn't really talk to the middle of the market," said Scott Mushkin, CEO of retail consulting and research firm R5 Capital.

Amazon's new Fresh concept has lower prices than Whole Foods and a wider selection of mainstream brands. It is targeted at lower and middle-income shoppers who don't frequent Whole Foods, as well as higher-income customers hunting for deals, say analysts.
Amazon "wanted to open up something that would have broader appeal and be able to carry all those conventional products that aren't going to be at Whole Foods," Mushkin said.

Amazon (AMZN), so far, has opened Fresh stores in California and Illinois. It also plans to open two in New Jersey. Most of the stores are slightly smaller than traditional Whole Foods stores and are located in densely-populated suburban markets, according to Bill Bishop, an analyst at consulting firm Brick Meets Click. Many of the stores are in vacated former retail sites, a cheaper option than building a new store from the ground up, according to Bishop.

Amazon's "goal is to build a substantial base of digitally-connected customers, and they are not going to build that base off Whole Foods because it's a niche business," he said. Fresh stores are "leaning toward price as an appeal" for customers, he said. Low prices are not the main draw with Whole Foods, he said, referencing "Whole Paycheck" — the label frequently attached to Whole Foods.

Whole Foods did not respond to request for comment.

Amazon Fresh stores also give Amazon more pickup and delivery points to meet growing customer demand for grocery shopping online.
Store locations and layout are designed to make it more efficient for workers to pick customers' online orders and hustle them out for same-day delivery than traditional stores, said Jordan Berke, CEO of Tomorrow Retail Consulting and a former executive at Walmart. Whole Foods stores were designed for in-store shopping and are not as well equipped to handle online orders, he said.

"This is a retail concept that was designed from day one to be equally effective serving online demand as it does in-store demand," Berke said. "Amazon understands that the best model to winning the future of grocery is to have a physical location in the vicinity of customers. That allows for rapid online fulfillment."

Amazon is deploying technology in the stores to speed up checkouts and help customers find items. Amazon "wants to create a perception of innovation around this format," Berke said.

Stationed throughout the stores are Amazon Echo Show smart displays that can summon Amazon's virtual helper, Alexa, which can help answer customers' queries such as, "Where can I find the mayonnaise?"

Stores also have the Amazon Dash Cart, a shopping cart that scans groceries, links to online shopping lists, and doubles as a checkout stand. The "smart cart" resembles a one-basket convenience cart and is equipped with bar code readers, sensors and scales. After using their Amazon app to effectively log into the cart, customers place one or two shopping bags in the basket. The cart can scan items with a bar code and weigh barcode-less products such as produce.

Customers then exit through a specific sensor-enabled lane that automatically charges the credit card on their Amazon account. The Amazon Fresh stores do have traditional checkouts and cashiers for customers who opt to not use the Dash Cart or who have larger grocery trips.
Expect to see more Amazon Fresh stores in the future. Amazon has plans to open at least 84 additional Fresh stores, Berke said, citing real estate brokerage contacts. (Amazon declined to comment on the figure.) "We think they're just getting started."

—CNN Business' Alicia Wallace contributed to this article.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/17/business ... index.html
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#44

Post by ponchi101 »

If previous performance is indication of what will happen: goodbye local grocery store. Especially, goodbye small little local grocery store.
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Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

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Post by ti-amie »

ponchi101 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:18 am If previous performance is indication of what will happen: goodbye local grocery store. Especially, goodbye small little local grocery store.
In some areas, yes but the small grocery store has been under pressure in the neighborhoods where these stores will be located for a long time.

I don't think the corner bodega will be put out of business just yet.
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