Google is taking steps to curb online scam after an investigation by The Times

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by mlawson71, Nov 14, 2019.

  1. mlawson71

    mlawson71

    Scammers are paying Google tens of millions of dollars to promote high risk or even openly fraudulent investment schemes, an investigation by the Times reveals.

    Google said it will launch a thorough investigation on the allegations and will double check all financial websites that are allowed to use its ads service.

    Many of the websites in question claim to be licensed and authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK or by some other official financial regulator, as well as to participate in a client compensation schemes.

    Some simply use the logos of official financial watchdogs, or links, misleadingly linking them to reputable organizations.

    Another technique employed by scammers is that thy use key words like “secure”, “safe” and “low - risk” to facilitate the Google search, and to convince potential customers that their funds will be in safe hands.
     
    Nobert likes this.
  2. Nobert

    Nobert

    ,,Many of the websites in question''

    The questions should be -

    How many ?
    For how long did it lasted ?
    Was it's Googles fault or scammers got unprecedentedly better ?
    (even if the second one is true, it's still Googles fault, given the theory, that they could - intentionally allow that, to slip through fingers, for increase in profits)

    If it's on a large scale, and years to years prior & because google relaxed and lowered it's guard, then the judges with senators, will bring it on and on for years , like some heritage.

    When it comes to a question, about user base, and effects of the news like that,

    they're over-diversified by now, across multiple businesses, from streaming with YouTube to robotics with Boston Dynamics, so, even if their search engine would suffer a lot, - does it matter to them ?
    { Unless EU, would award them with $2B once more }
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2019
  3. gaussian

    gaussian

    I am more and more glad I deleted all my Google products and stopped using google search and android devices every day.
     
  4. Nobert

    Nobert

    Which ones do you use then ?
     
  5. gaussian

    gaussian

    I use duckduckgo for search. Very rarely do I have to `!g` to get a google result - but for obscure programming stuff it's still necessary. I justify this because it's encrypted search.

    I use Firefox with a set of plugins (NoScript and UBlock Origin) and I have a pi-hole connected to my network as a DNS filter to block ads on every device at the DNS level that connects to my network. You never even see them, and they don't see you.

    I own my own domain and host my email with protonmail at the moment. At any point I can switch providers by just changing MX records, or host my own if I had to. I literally can't be stopped by some provider deciding they dont like me, or something about me. The downtime to switch providers is on the order of minutes. It takes longer to order a new service than set it up.

    Right now I use an iPhone as an interim before the Librem 5 releases. The lack of hardware kill switches bothers me, but after disabling all ad-related stuff and tracking the iPhone is about as close as "privacy respecting" as you can get.

    For source control I host my own. It was very cheap to set up on a low end VPS box and I store encrypted incremental backups of the server nightly to AWS (until a better non-AWS backed provider shows up) so I can rebuild my source control overnight if I need to. After the virtue signalling from gitlab and github, centralized source control is not safe for anyone that doesn't tow silicon valley's line.

    I don't typically run a VPN because they are more or less just placebo. The only time I run a VPN is if I'm in a coffee shop, and at that point I'm compromising - I'd rather the VPN company see what I am browsing than starbucks. I am looking into launching my own VPN, but right now rack space is still very expensive per lease (around ~300 a month) so I need more stuff to put on the server than just a KVM with my email, source control, and VPN.

    In today's centralized environment, spreading out your risk across 5-10 providers is the only way you can mitigate any sort of SJW disaster striking you when SV turns on some subset of their customers like they have for years now. Even ignoring the threat of SJWs, advertisers can build a complete profile of you and everything about you quickly. Do your part to make sure the profile they make of you is incomplete.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2019
    Proptrader23 and Nobert like this.
  6. Nobert

    Nobert

    Thanks, saved a link to this post and got a screenshot.

    If i had, that much of specific knowledge about this question, like you do, i would make a tread with tittle :

    ,, Become The Ghost ''

    - a simple, tutorial-guide, of how to achieve all of this, since the way i was thinking till now, TOR browser and Duck-Go-Go ,, was enough ''.
     
  7. prefro

    prefro

    Google is truly evil and should be broken up. It won't happen because they own the politicians.
     
  8. gaussian

    gaussian

    A pi-hole is a relatively easy way to get started and have a meaningful impact. No need for full opsec unless you're trying to stay a ghost. But the suggestions I said above are a great start.

    In 2 years of data, 35% of traffic on my network is blocked at the hardware level. Just internalize that number for a second - 35%. That's how many ads, tracking cookies/objects, and malware links get served just through browsing the normal web. It's been rising every single year. I expect it to approach 50% in the next 5 years.
     
    Nobert likes this.
  9. sprstpd

    sprstpd

    Impressive, although I found duckduckgo severely lacking for any programming related search (like you hinted at). It wasn't even in the same league as google. I can't use it if it doesn't work.
     
  10. elt894

    elt894

    Why can't you run a VPN off a low end VPS? I've considered it but agree that VPNs are largely a placebo.

    For email, do you not send unencrypted emails to regular gmail users? I also have my own domain for email, but Google still ends up with copies of most of my messages that way.
     
    #10     Nov 14, 2019