Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and honestly, what is on the other side? According to several experts, rainbows are visions as well as only illusions, but after further study, they truly have nothing to hide. Then again, we’ve been told this and some choose to believe it. I have a feeling they’re wrong, wait and see. Who ever said that every wish would be heard and answered and wished on the morning star? Clearly someone thought of this concept and someone subsequently believed it. Look what it’s done so far. What is so amazing that keeps us stargazing? What do we think we might see? Perhaps one day we’ll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers, and me.
I hope you enjoyed what just went down, but here’s what you missed in the news yesterday.
Facebook…Why Do We Even Bother?
It’s almost painful how often Facebook has dropped the data privacy ball over the last few months. To be honest, I’m fairly close from closing my own account in an effort to secure my private information. According to a TechCrunch report released this week, over 540 million user profiles were exposed due to two separate third-party companies who failed to keep them safe. As for the team that discovered the data exposure, the UpGuard Cyber Risk team today reported that Cultura Colectiva, a Mexico-based media company exposed “146 gigabytes of records including comments, likes, reactions, account names, FB Ids and more.”
Given the increasing value of data among the tech industry, one would think that Facebook would be more careful with which companies it works with/shares user data with. In all fairness to Zuckerberg and his team of rag-tag engineers at Facebook, mistakes happen, especially with computers. Having said that, Facebook has dominated the headlines over the last six months for several “mistakes” that bring to mind the question of whether our data is truly safe when stored on internet databases and social media sites.
“For app developers on Facebook, part of the platform’s appeals is access to some slice of the data generated by and about Facebook users. For Cultura Colectiva, data on responses to each post allows them to tune an algorithm for predicting which future content will generate the most traffic. The data exposed in each of these sets would not exist without Facebook, yet these data sets are no longer under Facebook’s control. In each case, the Facebook platform facilitated the collection of data about individuals and its transfer to third parties, who became responsible for its security.”
–UpGuard
Mr. Trump, Your Taxes, Please…
After years of birther movements and lascivious acts, it seems as thought the tables have turned. On Tuesday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal submitted a formal request for the tax returns from President Donald Trump. Transparency for U.S. presidents is one thing, but especially considering the doubt and mistrust from the Democratic Party towards Trump, it would serve him well to share his taxes.
“Consistent with its authority, the Committee is considering legislative proposals and conducting oversight related to our Federal tax laws, including, but not limited to, the extent to which the IRS audits and enforces the Federal tax laws against a President. Under the Internal Revenue Manual, individual income tax returns of a President are subject to mandatory examination, but this practice is IRS policy and not codified in the Federal tax laws…”
–Richard E. Neal
