Feds Ordered Google To Unmask Certain YouTube Users. Critics Say It’s ‘Terrifying.’
Feds requested data on everyone who watched a certain video last year. In two court orders, the federal government told Alphabet/Google to turn over information on anyone who viewed multiple YouTube videos and livestreams.Data requested was the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and user activity of Youtube accounts and IP addresses that watched select YouTube videos. Feds claim this was part of a larger criminal investigation.
The videos were sent by undercover police to a suspected cryptocurrency launderer... In conversations with the bitcoin trader, investigators sent links to public YouTube tutorials on mapping via drones and augmented reality software, Forbes details.
The videos were watched more than 30,000 times, presumably by thousands of users unrelated to the case. YouTube's parent company Google was ordered by federal investigators to quietly hand over all such viewer data for the period of Jan. 1 to Jan. 8, 2023.
Unknown of Alphabet/Google complied, but Feds told Google to keep the request confidential.
Google claims they receive requests like this from law enforcement regularly , but does not always comply. Meaning sometimes they do comply.
Government pressures tech behind the scenes, says former Facebook employee. It’s called jawboning.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments from two states alleging that the Joe Biden administration illegally coerced social media companies into blocking conservative content. Matt Perault, now with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center on Technology Policy, says that in his former job working in policy at Facebook, jawboning happened all the time.Use of a tool called “Custom Audiences to target voters with specific messages”
Nancy Pelosi “deep fake” 30 sec video of appearing drunk FB/Meta refused to remove
Africa’s gaming market is expected to top $1 billion in 2024
Video game market in a slump in the US and Europe - EXCPET in Africa where it is expected to hit $1B this year. Mostly in Nigeria and South AfricaProblem is payment for subscriptions - Only 2% of the people in Africa have credit cards
New payment methods being explored
Pay before playing using bank transfers to a storage card and buying voucher cards at stores
Prevents younger gamers from running up debts