Spam messaging is the bane of owning a mobile phone but T-Mobile is on the case and is implementing fines and even permanent suspensions for repeat offenders.
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Last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of political bias over its Gmail spam filters. Now, a federal judge has dismissed that lawsuit, noting that Google was effectively protected by Section 230 of US law, and that the RNC had not "sufficiently pled that Google acted in bad faith" by filtering out campaign emails, The Washington Post has reported.
According to the lawsuit, Google intentionally marked "millions" of RNC emails as spam, so the group sought reimbursement for "donations it allegedly lost as a result" of that. As evidence, it cited a study finding that Gmail was more likely than Yahoo and other mail systems to mark Republican emails as spam. (One of the study's authors told the Post last year that its findings were cherry-picked.)
Calling the lawsuit a "close case," US District Court judge Daniel Calabretta said the RNC had "failed to plausibly allege its claims" that Google's spam filtering was done in bad faith. Google said that the emails in questions were likely flagged as spam because of user complaints, and cited RNC domain authentication issues and frequent mailouts as other potential issues.
The court also decided that RNC emails could be deemed "objectionable" based on the CAN-SPAM Act, and the fact that Google flagged them as such was covered by Section 230, which provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content. All that said, the judge said Republicans could still amend the lawsuit to better establish a lack of good faith by Google.
Interestingly, during last year's mid-term US elections, Google created a loophole allowing political campaigns to dodge Gmail spam filters. However, the RNC reportedly didn't take advantage of the program. Google has since ended the experiment, following largely negative feedback from the public.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/judge-tosses-republican-lawsuit-against-google-over-gmail-spam-filters-075622648.html?src=rss
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Microsoft Outlook users were having to deal with inboxes full of spam on Monday after filters that usually send them to the junk folder stopped working.
Digital Trends
Google Voice has made it easier to filter out spammers trying to call your number. The tech giant has announced that the service will now flag suspected spam calls and will clearly label them as such, complete with a big red exclamation mark. Spam calls and texts have been a huge issue for a years, and they aren't going away anytime soon — according to the FCC, consumers in the US receive approximately 4 billion robocalls per month and that Americans had lost nearly $ 30 billion to scam calls in 2021. Google says the feature was designed to help protect you "from unwanted calls and potentially harmful scams."
The new label that says "suspected spam caller" will show up not just on the incoming call screen, but also in call history for future reference. If you confirm that the call is spam, any future call from that number will head straight to voicemail, and all its call history entries will be sent to the spam folder. But if you confirm that the number is legitimate and isn't a spam caller, the warning will never be displayed for it again. Here's what the label would look like on the call screen:
Google uses the same artificial intelligence that's in charge of identifying spam calls across its ecosystem to pinpoint spam callers for this feature. Apparently, that AI has been filtering out billions of spam calls a month for the tech giant. To note, the new label will only appear if your spam filter setting under Security is turned off. If it's on, all calls Google suspects to be spam are sent to voicemail from the start.
You’re not the only one tired of ringless voicemails that put spam in your inbox. The Federal Communications Commission has determined that these silent voicemails are covered by the same Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules that forbid robocalls without consent. Companies need your permission to leave these junk messages as they’re still considered calls, the FCC says. The ruling takes effect today.
The finding comes five years after marketers first asked for exemptions to the regulations surrounding ringless voicemails, the FCC says. The requests, from All About the Message and two other petitioners, reportedly drew “overwhelming” negative feedback from public commenters. The Commission added that it receives “dozens” of complaints about these voicemails each year. FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel proposed extending the TCPA to this spam in February.
As with other robocall crackdowns, there’s no guarantee the voicemails will stop. Spammers may find alternate avenues to deliver these messages, and the FCC can only do so much to limit spam originating outside the US. However, this does establish firm boundaries inside the country — companies who flout the rules risk FCC action and customer lawsuits that could prove costly.
Twitter is making a major change to its organization after former security head Peiter "Mudge" Zatko accused the company of having lax security and bot problems. According to Reuters, Twitter is merging its health experience team, which is in charge of clamping down on misinformation and harmful content on the website, with its service team. The latter reviews profiles when they're reported and takes down spam accounts. Together, the combined group will be called Health Products and Services (HPS).
The group will be led by Ella Irwin, who joined the company in June and had previously worked for Amazon and Google. Reuters says Irwin sent a memo to staff members, telling them that HPS with "ruthlessly prioritize" its projects. "We need teams to focus on specific problems, working together as one team and no longer operating in silos," Irwin reportedly wrote.
In a statement sent to Reuters, a Twitter spokesperson said the reshuffling "reflects [the company's] continued commitment to prioritize, and focus [its] teams in pursuit of [its] goals." A source also told the news organization that the teams dealing with harmful and toxic content have had major staff departures recently. Merging these two teams may be the best way to ensure that all important roles are filled going forward.
This news comes on the heels of the revelation that Zatko filed a whistleblower complaint against his former employer. In it, he said Twitter has "extreme, egregious deficiencies" when it comes to security and that it prioritizes user growth over cleaning up spam. Shortly after The Washington Post reported on Zatko's complaint, which also raises concerns about national security, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle announced that they're looking into his claims.
In an email to employees, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal defended the company and echoed its spokesperson's statement that Zatko's complaint is a "false narrative that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies." You can read the whole memo, obtained by Bloomberg, below:
"Team,
There are news reports outlining claims about Twitter’s privacy, security, and data protection practices that were made by Mudge Zatko, a former Twitter executive who was terminated in January 2022 for ineffective leadership and poor performance. We are reviewing the redacted claims that have been published, but what we’ve seen so far is a false narrative that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and presented without important context.
I know this is frustrating and confusing to read, given Mudge was accountable for many aspects of this work he is now inaccurately portraying more than six months after his termination. But none of this takes away from the important work you have done and continue to do to safeguard the privacy and security of our customers and their data. This year alone, we have meaningfully accelerated our progress through increased focus and incredible leadership from Lea Kissner, Damien Kieran, and Nick Caldwell. This work continues to be an important priority for us, and if you want to read more about our approach, you can find a summary here.
Given the spotlight on Twitter at the moment, we can assume that we will continue to see more headlines in the coming days – this will only make our work harder. I know that all of you take a lot of pride in the work we do together and in the values that guide us. We will pursue all paths to defend our integrity as a company and set the record straight.
See you all at #OneTeam tomorrow,
Parag"
Early this year, India rolled out a groundbreaking new plan to fight spam calls and texts. Unfortunately, it failed miserably — but it still has potential.
Emerging Tech | Digital Trends
T-Mobile Uncarrier is the self-branded way the carrier identifies itself and its business moves to champion the wireless customer. For the July 2020 Uncarrier announcement, T-Mobile’s CEO, Mike Sievert, unveiled “Scam Shield,” the latest change to shake up the US cellular industry. Sievert also announced it is to combine T-Mobile and Sprint brands on August […]
Come comment on this article: T-Mobile Uncarrier declares war on spam, and the Sprint brand set to disappear August 2
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