News of the Cyber World

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FTC: Amazon Boosted ‘Junk Ads’ for Quick Profit

A recently unredacted FTC complaint levels serious allegations against Amazon, accusing the retail giant of deceptive ad practices and using private messaging to dodge the discovery process.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon has come under fire from the FTC for allegedly doubling down on the number of low-quality advertisements, known as “junk ads,” it served to consumers in an effort to boost its profit margins. These ads, which the company itself had previously identified as “defects” due to their irrelevance to consumer searches, were reportedly increased under the directive of Amazon founder and former CEO, Jeff Bezos.

The FTC’s allegations suggest that this surge in advertisements not only lined Amazon’s pockets but also created a thorny shopping experience for consumers and a challenging marketplace for sellers. The regulatory body quoted Amazon executives, highlighting their aggressive stance on ad proliferation. One communication explains, “We’d be crazy not to” increase the number of advertisements shown to shoppers.

The latest allegations are part of the FTC’s complaint against Amazon that were previously redacted.
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Further complicating Amazon’s position is the accusation that the company engaged in secretive communication practices. The FTC claims that Amazon employees used the “disappearing message” feature on the messaging app Signal, leading to the destruction of over two years’ worth of internal communications. This action is seen as a potential obstruction to the federal antitrust probe.

According to the FTC, Amazon is willing to do practically anything to increase its profits. For example, the lawsuit alleges that the company’s “Project Nessie” manipulated the market to allow Amazon to line its pockets:

Uber and Lyft Pay $328 Million to Settle Charges They Stole Wages from Drivers

ABC News reports that Uber and Lyft have consented to a combined settlement of $328 million. This settlement addresses the long-standing issue of withheld wages from drivers, a practice that has been under scrutiny for years.

The settlement was spearheaded by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who called it the “largest wage-theft settlement” ever secured by her office. The agreement mandates that the two companies compensate drivers with back pay and additional benefits, including mandatory paid sick leave.

Drivers who have been affected by the wage deductions are now eligible to file claims to recover their lost earnings. “These drivers overwhelmingly come from immigrant communities and rely on these jobs to provide for their families,” stated Attorney General James, emphasizing the significance of the settlement for the drivers and their dependents.

The issue at the heart of the settlement is the improper deductions from drivers’ earnings by both companies. Uber, which agreed to pay the lion’s share of $290 million, deducted sales taxes and Black Car Fund fees from drivers’ payments between 2014 and 2017. These costs, according to the law, should have been covered by passengers. Lyft, contributing $38 million to the settlement, engaged in similar practices from 2015 to 2017.

In addition to the financial compensation, the settlement introduces an “earnings floor,” guaranteeing a minimum hourly wage for drivers across the state, with those outside New York City assured a minimum of $26 per hour. Furthermore, drivers will now accrue paid sick leave, earning one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 56 hours per year.

Scarlett Johansson Takes Legal Action Against AI That Cloned Her Likeness in Ad

An AI-generated version of Johansson’s voice and image appeared in a 22-second ad posted to X/Twitter by an AI image-generating app called Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar, according to a report by Variety.

“We do not take these things lightly,” Johansson’s lawyer, Kevin Yorn, told the magazine. “Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have.”

The advertisement, which was initially spotted on October 28, appears to have since disappeared from the internet.

The ad features an old clip of Johansson behind the scenes of Marvel’s Black Widow, saying, “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett, and I want you to come with me…” before a graphic covers the actress’ mouth and the screen transitions into AI-generated images that resemble her.

From there, a fake voice imitating Johansson continues speaking, promoting the AI app, Variety reports.

“It’s not limited to avatars only. You can also create images with texts and even your AI videos. I think you shouldn’t miss it,” the AI-generated Johansson voice says.

At the bottom of the advertisement, fine print reads, “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.”

Nicolas Cage: ‘AI Is a Nightmare to Me. It’s Inhumane’

Actor Nicolas Cage has come out against artificial intelligence (AI) being used in movies as a means to replace actors and writers.

Cage issued his denunciation of AI during an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment when talking about his minor cameo in The Flash that was obviously rendered in a computer.

“AI is a nightmare to me,” Cage said. “It’s inhumane. You can’t get more inhumane than artificial intelligence … I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating [it].”

Regarding his cameo in The Flash, a reference to Tim Burton’s infamous Superman Lives movie starring Cage that never came to be, the Leaving Las Vegas star believes it was CGI, not AI.

“When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider,” Cage said. “I did not do that. That was not what I did. I don’t think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim [Burton] is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, OK, so that they could de-age me, and I’m fighting a spider. I didn’t do any of that, so I don’t know what happened there.”

Cage actually did visit the set to film his cameo, but the final version contained none of what he was told.
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Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan recently referred to AI as a giant plagiarism machine.

“I think it’s a lot of ****. It’s a giant plagiarism machine, in its current form. I think ChatGPT knows what it’s writing like a toaster knows that it’s making toast. There’s no intelligence — it’s a marvel of marketing,” he said.

Sheryl Crow ‘Really Scared’ of Artificial Intelligence

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow says she is “really scared” of artificial intelligence (AI) being used in the entertainment industry.

The “All I Wanna Do” singer appeared on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 2 and discussed one of the tracks on her latest album, Evolution, in which she expresses her worries that AI will seriously hurt music.

“It’s been so disturbing to me,” the singer told Fallon as she described her recent brush with the technology.

“I did a session the other day, and this young songwriter had this incredible song, but she needed a guy to sing on it so that she could pitch it to male singers in Nashville,” Crow explained.

She went on to say that her associate “Paid $5, put in John Mayer’s name, and she played it for me. There’s no way you could tell the difference, and it just blew my mind. And it didn’t just sound like him,” she said adding that even Mayer’s “inflections” came through with the recording.

“This is what AI can do, and it really scared me.”

DoorDash Tells Customers to Tip when Ordering or Their Fries Will Be Cold

TechCrunch reports that in a move aimed at balancing the realities of its workforce and the desires of its customers, DoorDash has unveiled a new in-app feature that nudges customers to tip in advance. Customers who opt not to tip while placing their orders are now greeted with a pop-up warning, indicating that orders without tips might face longer delivery times.

“Orders with no tip might take longer to get delivered — are you sure you want to continue?” reads the warning. This initiative appears to be a part of a broader strategy to optimize the delivery process, ensuring that all parties involved — customers, delivery drivers (known as Dashers), and merchants — have a satisfactory experience.

DoorDash spokesperson Jenn Rosenberg shed light on the rationale behind this new feature. “Everyday, Dashers go the extra mile to help connect consumers with the best of their local communities. That’s why we encourage customers to show their appreciation by tipping,” Rosenberg said. She further explained that Dashers, operating as independent contractors, have the autonomy to select or decline orders based on their perceived value, making orders without tips less attractive.

...Pre-tipping seems to be a way to assure delivery drivers of worthwhile compensation for their service, making them more inclined to accept orders promptly. This approach is particularly significant in light of DoorDash’s past payment controversies, which led to a restructuring of their payment system in 2019.

As Breitbart News previously reported, DoorDash and other delviery companies were keeping the tips customers thought they were giving to delivery personnel, only paying out a portion of each tip to the actual delivery drivers.

Google Antitrust Trial: CEO Sundar Pichai Admits the Importance of Paying Big Bucks for Default Search Status

Reuters reports that Google CEO Sundar Pichai took the stand in the ongoing antitrust trial against the internet giant, acknowledging the significance of his company being the default search engine in retaining users and sustaining loyalty. “We were obviously doing the deal for default placement,” Pichai admitted during the trial, emphasizing the strategic importance of this placement in Google’s broader business model.

Pichai, under cross-examination, revealed the company’s nuanced approach, stating, “We pay for preload exclusivity on a device-by-device basis.” This provided greater insight into the strategy employed by Google to maintain a dominant presence in users’ online search experience.
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CNBC reports that Google spent a staggering $26.3 billion last year to maintain its dominance as the default search engine on a multitude of platforms. The total amount of its payments came out as part of an internal slide presentation that was disclosed as part of the federal antitrust lawsuit against the internet giant on Friday. This hefty sum wasn’t paid to a single entity but was rather distributed among various partners, with tech giant Apple likely being the prime beneficiary.
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A top Apple executive defended the tech giant’s decision to make Google the default search engine on Apple iPhones and Macs, saying there was no “valid alternative.’’

Testifying in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter century, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said Tuesday that there wasn’t “anybody as good’’ as Google at helping phone and computer users search the internet.