#...this discussion *once* and further inquiry will probably go deleted

[uncanny-tranny]

I can't stand masculine women. I am transmasc and I try a lot to be percieved as a man but I am only seen as a tomboy only because some girlies think being its fun to dress like a guy.

I understand where you're coming from, and I'll presume this isn't bait, but: your anger is misplaced, and the way you are expressing it is only hurting women, and it will not make transphobes have a change of heart.

It isn't appropriate to hate an entire group of people because other people are transphobic. As a trans man, transphobes don't hate me because there are butch women, they hate me because I'm a trans man (and, let's face it, butch and GNC women are in the same boat. Transphobes are often just as hateful toward GNC/butch women). Transphobes don't care what you are if they know you are deviant. They will never respect a butch or transmasc because transness and GNC inherently go against their worldview.

I'm sorry, anon, that people are transphobic, I really am. But misogyny isn't going to fix the issue. If GNC women didn't exist, you would still have the same issue because transphobia is the problem, not GNC women.

I really hope you can build connection with GNC people because it really shows you a whole lot. I've found a ton of GNC women who are on my side and recognize my maleness and celebrate it with me. Gender deviants tend to get where trans people are coming from, because society treats them just as shitty. Do not let misogyny go unchecked because society is transphobic.

[endenogatai]

Cambridge Analytica email chain with Facebook sheds new light on data misuse scandal

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Brittany Kaiser has released new documents today that suggest Facebook accepted only a simple acknowledgment on email from the firm that it had deleted data associated with 87 million Facebook users’ profiles.

The data was improperly obtained in 2014 by researchers with access to Facebook’s developer platform who were being paid by Cambridge Analytica to obtain and process social media users’ information for the purpose of targeting political ads.

In December 2015 a Guardian article about Cambridge academic Dr Aleksandr Spectre (Kogan) outlined how he had acquired the Facebook profiles for research, and that Cambridge Analytica had improperly acquired that data.

In subsequent Washington Senate hearings into the scandal, Mark Zuckerburg apologized for having failed to check that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the information.

At the time he said: “When we heard back from Cambridge Analytica that they had told us that they weren’t using the data and deleted it, we considered it a closed case. In retrospect, that was clearly a mistake. We shouldn’t have taken their word for it. We’ve updated our policy to make sure we don’t make that mistake again.”

Instead, Facebook let the political consultancy self-certify that it had destroyed the records, which it said had been acquired in violation of the social network’s rules.

Furthermore, for example, in a submission to the UK Parliament, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer said: “In late 2015, when we learned Kogan had shared the data, we immediately banned TIYDL [the personality quiz app used to harvest data] from our platform and demanded that he delete all data he obtained from that app. We also demanded deletion from everyone that Kogan identified as having been passed some data, including Cambridge Analytica, and certification from all parties that the deletion had been completed.”

The information Kaiser releases today appears to show a difference between Schroepfer’s account and what the emails actually say – with Facebook only requesting by email that CA delete the data — and only asking the company to “provide us with confirmation” [i.e. of deletion], with no mention of a specific process of ‘certification’, as Schroepfer later told the UK parliament.

Today Kaiser revealed exclusively to TechCrunch on stage at the WorldWebForum conference in Zurich that the only acknowledgment from Facebook had come in a simple email exchange with Cambridge Analytica executives.

This ’email exchange’ – which TechCrunch has not been able to independently verify at this point – as never previously been published. Kaiser released to TechCrunch what she claims is a copy of the exchange. We have reached out to Facebook for comment.

According to the document passed to us, writing on Dec 17, 2015, Alex Tayler, Chief Data Officer for Cambridge Analytica, allegedly wrote to Facebook executive Allison Hendrix saying:

“I wanted to confirm that following your inquiry, that Facebook is satisfied that CA has not breached it’s terms of service or stolen data on non-consenting individuals. If you are satisfied this matter is resolved, would it please be possible for us to have a statement from Facebook to disseminate through our PR agency? We are still finding some articles repeating the initial false allegations made by the Guardian, and would like to be able to firmly refute them in order to prevent any further reputational damage to our company. Alternatively, if Facebook would like to issue a joint press release, we would welcome the opportunity to do so.”

A day later on 18 December 2015, Hendrix replied:

“Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me last week and providing additional information into Dr. Kogan’s development of the GSR app which was funded by Cambridge Analytica (via SCL Elections). As discussed, we don’t allow any information obtained from Facebook to be purchased or sold, and we have strict friend data policies that prohibit using friend data for any purpose other than improving a person’s experience in your app. From our conversations, it is clear that these policies have been violated.

“You have told us that you received personality score data from Dr. Kogan that was derived from Facebook data, and that those scores were assigned to individuals included in lists that you maintained. Because that data was improperly derived from data obtained from the Facebook Platform, and then transferred to Cambridge Analytica in violation of our terms, we need you to take any and all steps necessary to completely and thoroughly delete that information as well as any data derived from such data, and to provide us with confirmation of the same.

“We need additional information to complete our review. As an initial matter, did you transfer any data you received from Dr. Kogan to any person or entity other than Ted Cruz’s team? Have you made any other use of the data from Dr. Kogan? If there is any additional information of which you think we should be aware, we thank you in advance for providing us with that information and for your help resolving these issues.

“Please respond at your earliest opportunity confirming when you can complete the above request to delete all data (and any derivative data), and providing the additional information I’ve requested above. As mentioned above, our review is not complete; accordingly, we may have additional questions, requests, or requirements going forward, and this email should not be construed as a waiver of any of Facebook’s rights.”

On December 19, 2015, Tayler replied:

“Dear Allison, There are several incorrect statements in your email. First and foremost, Cambridge Analytica has not transferred the data we received from Dr Kogan to Cruz for President, nor to any other party. The only data we share with our clients are lists of contact information, perhaps with a few tags attached, for target audiences we identify for them (e.g. likely donors, persuadable voters), and models that we have produced under their direction. Secondly, Cambridge Analytica did not fund the development of Dr. Kogan’s app. We did not pay GSR for their time or technology, but rather paid the third party (e.g. survey vendor) costs for the surveys they ran. Please note that GSR was contractually obliged to us to carry out this research with the consent of the survey respondents and in line with the terms of service of their vendors.

“Having made that clear, the model we received from Dr Kogan wasn’t very accurate (in validation experiments we ran, we found his predictions only slightly better than random). For our goal of extrapolating personality scores across our whole database, his model was simply not accurate enough to use as a training set, or to apply it commercially in any other way.

“Nevertheless, we still considered the project a success in that it provided us with a proof of concept for the personality research we have since undertaken internally (which is in no way connected with Facebook). It is these data that we have collected independently of GSR about which we have built our current business offering. For this reason, and in the spirit of the good-faith relationship we would like to maintain with Facebook, we will comply with your request to delete all data we received from Dr Kogan.

“Please let me know what else you require from us as soon as possible. It is a matter of urgency that we make it clear that Cambridge Analytica has not done anything wrong.”

There was then a time-lag probably due to the break for the holidays. On 5 January 2016, Hendrix replied:

“Thank you for your timely and detailed response, and for agreeing to delete any and all data that was derived from the Facebook Platform. Can you let me know how you were storing the data and what you did to delete it?”

On January 6, 2016, Tayler replied, copying in CA CEO Alexander Nix, saying:

“To be clear, we have not yet deleted the data we received from Dr Kogan, but will be happy to do so once Facebook confirms that this will resolve the matter. We are currently storing the data as csv files in an encrypted directory on our file server. When we delete the data we will simply rm -rf the directory.”

Six days later on 12 January, Hendrix:

“As a reminder, you received the data inappropriately and are obligated to delete it. You’ve indicated that you would like to maintain a positive relationship with us. Having one will require deletion of the data. In addition to deleting the data from the directory, can you check to see whether your server has any backups which also contain the data? While we don’t anticipate further issues at this time, we reserve our rights and can make no guarantees.”

On Jan 18, 2016 Tayler replied:

“I can confirm that we have now deleted from our file-server the data we received from Dr Kogan in good faith that this resolves our obligation to Facebook. I also confirm that I have checked that the server contains no backups of that data. Our having deleted the data and cooperated in this matter should not be construed as an admission of any kind of wrongdoing on our part.”

On January 18, 2016, Hendrix replied:

“Thank you, Alex. I will let you know if we have any follow up questions, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you or your team have any questions on your end. Thanks again. – Ali”

This entire exchange was then forwarded by executives from the N6A PR agency to Cambridge Analytica executives and was, in turn, obtained by Kaiser on 23 January 2016.

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[iotrant]

Home Automation is an addiction: Once you’ve had a taste, it is a very difficult drug to give up. We’re high on the concept that all of the things that used to be tedious tasks before, now happen for us automatically. Its affinity keeps us bound, where we are chasing our next euphoria–constantly connecting different parts of our homes to different services; whether it’s SmartThings, Wink, Wyze Cam, Google, Nest, Ring, or any of the countless other smart home platforms, we are intertwining our homes and devices to them. With that said, you bet your ass that all of these companies are all taking little pieces of data from us–so why don’t we as well? If we did, what would we do with it? Well, together, let’s take a look and see what we can come up with.

Many people struggle to wrap their heads around just how much data our connected homes generate. Without a shred of doubt, the companies mentioned earlier recognize this, and they clearly see a value in it; if they didn’t, we would not be reading daily about privacy concerns. I earnestly do not have that many concerns about the data I’ve generated that is out there; I surely take steps to protect the data that is personal to me, and I also take measures to ensure that no data is going any place that I do not want it to. However, I have accepted the fact that as soon as any piece of my life, or my home, is connected, some data will be transferred out; but I also make sure I draw data for myself. With this data I’ve reserved, I have been able to grow my automation to what it is today–but this leads us to a very important question: Why should we collect data from our connected homes?

Our inquiry as to why we should be collecting data from our connected homes can be answered quite simply: You can never have too much data! Indulge–especially when it comes to sensor data. Bask in your efficiency!

  Statistics charts (Graphs, charts, statistics and reporting series)

Pie chart and graph

I am a glutton and use every tool at my disposal to log every sensor state change, from every device that I am able to, and trust me, I have a Hell of a lot of devices; I’m obsessed! A great example of this desire to utilize all data I can, is my Aeon Labs Home Energy Meter; hourly the data readings from this get logged into a spreadsheet, which allows me to plot graphs and track my energy consumption, historically, so I can see when things spike, and if those said spikes become the new norm. When I see a constant pattern of spikes, I know there is something that I need to look further into, so that I can examine if it truly is the new norm, or if an issue has arisen, such as an appliance dying. Without this historical data, I typically would be none the wiser until at least a few months down the line, bleeding money straight from my pocket that I didn’t know I was losing and could have easily prevented. Since we live in a world of online banking and auto bill pay–which is exactly how my electric bill is–I cannot tell you the last time I actually looked at a bill, especially an electric bill. With the data logging from my Aeon Labs Energy Meter, dissecting my energy consumption on my electric bill will be a task of the past. And you can practice the same type of efficiency with Contact Sensors, Motion Sensors, Light Sensors–really, any kind of sensor you wish–and with just little effort, you can have that data displayed in a graph that can show you everything that you could ever want to know.

Our connected homes, however, consist of more than just sensors. I also log all of my other device state changes as well; this allows me to track patterns in the usage of these devices so that I can plan automation around them. It is this data that allows automation to actually be autonomous. Our lives are ever-changing, and our automation needs to adapt to these changes. I track everything–from the times that lights go on and off (and how long they were on in-between), to fan state changes with my HVAC system. I can compare this data to various data from my sensors, and further track patterns, allowing me to adjust and create new automation. HVAC data can also be compared to local weather patterns; for this, I use a Netatmo Weather Station. By overlaying this weather data with the data, I collect from my Ecobee Thermostat, I can get a real look at what is going on.

So, you might think I am nuts (I am slightly, but that’s for another discussion…)–you are probably thinking you just want to set up SmartThings or Wink, connect some lights, and wow your friends with the ability to turn them on and off with an app or with an Amazon Echo; that is all well and good, but my friend, that is not automation. To truly have automation, you must have data. Now, I know a lot of data can be had just by looking through the various apps you use to control your smart home, but who has time to do that when you can spend a few hours setting things up with IFTTT and a Google Sheet and have it all plotted out for you? Of course, I am not saying that everyone needs to go to the lengths that I do, and literally collect every little piece of data that you can, but you should be collecting something and using that to make SMART decisions and turn your connected home into a smart home.

I’ll tell you a little story: A while back, I eagerly wanted a notification when my dishwasher was finished. I thought long and hard about how to do this. I even searched for connected dishwashers, but back then, none existed. Utilizing that noggin of mine, I came to the realization that the dishwasher produced heat during its cycle, so I put a temperature sensor under it (I used a LeakSmart Sensor which could also detect a leak under my dishwasher and gave me that piece of mind), and I started logging the daily nominal temperature without it running. I did this over the course of a year, because, living in New England, we have all four seasons, and big temperature swings, so I wanted to make sure I got a realistic average. I then started logging temperature data from my LeakSmart Sensor at different parts of the dishwasher cycle. At the time, I was using Wink, which has nowhere near the automation power that I required, but to my luck, Stringify was starting its Android Beta at this time. Not only did I use my LeakSmart Sensor, connected through Wink to Stringify to log the data for me, but once I had the data, I was able to set a temperature threshold, which when that LeakSmart Sensor’s temperature reading crossed that threshold, would start a timer in Stringify that was equivalent to the time it would take the dishwasher to finish. Stringify would then send a message to me, letting me know the dishwasher was done (or about to be finished), and allow me to get the dishes put away (and score some brownie points with the wife, who all of a sudden thought I was paying attention to things like the dishwasher). What she didn’t know was that I just wanted to see what I could do with data, and it ended up being a win/win situation for the both of us.

  The power of the data that we can get from our homes really allows us to monitor and spend wisely. For instance, you can easily compare HVAC run times to contact sensor data. I don’t imagine that I am the only guy with a wife who likes to provide free air conditioning to the outside world (at my expense) by leaving every window open, whilst the air conditioner is running in the summer (if you’re reading this, I love you, honey). Being able to show my wife this data generated by my Ecobee Thermostat and my contact sensors when it came time to pay the bill for running the air conditioner, made the argument very easy for me to win. I was glorious, and it proved that the data that you should be paying attention to, is the very easiest to get, and will make a world of difference in your HVAC costs.

Now, I do have to admit with the amount of data I collect, most of it goes unused, but that does not change anything for me because I can always go back and look at it and see something that I did not see before that could potentially make life easier with automation. Automation, true automation–not just remote control–can only come from two things: sensors, and data from those sensors as well as the data from connected devices. If we really want to become the Jetsons and have everything automated, then we need to gather this data, compile it, and act upon it. As an example; why let some company (I’m talking about you Nest) make decisions about how to run your HVAC based on your data? Do it yourself! You can do an even better job because you know more about your own habits and the habits of your family.

I must warn you, however, data can also be a curse. I can spend hours, obsessing over every little detail which will only take away from your enjoyment of your smart home. So, it does take some mental training to really get into properly analyzing this data and not getting overwhelmed by it. In my opinion, data is only valuable over a period of time, so you do have to give this data some time to build up before you start digging in. I know for some (myself included), this can be difficult. I want to look at it constantly, and react on the fly to every little thing, but I have learned that doing that will only be a futile effort and not have any effect over the historical performance of any system.

You might ask, “What types of data should I be collecting?” Well, that is not a question that anyone can really answer for you. Only you can decide, based on your own situation, what data to collect. That is why I collect everything (well that and the fact that I am a total geek and love data). The daily habits of my family change and data that I may not need this year might be used next year to improve the automated quality of life for my family. To me, it is much easier to delete (or archive) data that is not needed, than it is to try and make guesses on data that I do not have.

With so many options out there for smart devices and services, collecting data from our connected homes has never been easier. Spend some time with IFTTT, Stringify, and even the smart home apps and web portals that you are already using to see what is there and what you can make happen automatically. Personally, I do not record any data myself; I use either IFTTT or Stringify connected to my various home automation ecosystems to do it for me. All I had to do was design the spreadsheets that I use to display that data to me, and then sit back and watch the charts and graphs populate. Design of these spreadsheets take some time and may take some trial and error but please take that time and make sure they are what you want and can be presented to you in a valuable, easy to understand way.

If you are not collecting data from your connected home, then you need to start, or you will always be stuck with a pseudo smart home (or connected home as I like to call it) that you may be able to control remotely and impress your friends with at parties, but that is it. Until every one of us starts using the data generated by our homes to shape true automation then the home automation space will stay in this fragmented, stagnant state that we are currently in, because the majority of people only care about remote control and not about true automation. If we all start implementing true automation, then we will cause companies, such as SmartThings and Wink, to innovate and come up with products that fulfill our automation needs. Data is big business, and it is time consumers started using it to shape business instead of letting companies make decisions based off of their own interpretations of our data. Furthermore, you do not want to base decisions off of data that is inaccurate or incomplete. Inaccuracy can be overcome with the products that we select to use in our home, and this product selection will cause companies to make better products when they see that their inaccurate sensors or devices are not being sold. Missing data is on us consumers (or a custom integrator if you do not DIY your system), and we must be vigilant in the implementation and design of our networks (more to come on that in a future article). We have the power to manipulate the market in our favor, to make our lives easier and turn connected homes into smart homes.

As consumers using the data generated by our connected homes we can transform them into smart homes that can be euphoric to see in action and give us all the high we are looking for from a truly smart home.

How many of you are collecting data from your connected home? Tell me about some of that data you are collecting and what you are doing with it in the comments below:

Collecting Data from Your Smart Home Home Automation is an addiction: Once you've had a taste, it is a very difficult drug to give up.

[ateawithbea-blog1]

Constructing a Pool of Blog Topics

For those who blog frequently, you could have some difficulty coming up with subjects sometimes. A good method to protect against that from ever happening will be to make a pool (or repository) of subjects from which to draw to ensure that you under no circumstances find yourself in that circumstance again. Getting subjects at your fingertips There are a lot of superior factors why obtaining a pool of blog topics is valuable to you and to your organization. Of course, one of essentially the most apparent reasons is that it saves you time. As a busy expert, you probably don't possess a great deal of time for you to devote to any one issue.

That involves coming up with compelling subjects (we aren't even speaking in regards to the writing element appropriate now). In the event you are faced with a blank web page and it really is a struggle to come up using a topic for your weblog, a pool will likely be a tremendous assistance. Blogs are necessary for your achievement but you would like to become in a position to streamline the blogging procedure from starting to end. The concept of posting and interacting on social media can be daunting enough for you. In case you add a struggle to come up with exciting, relevant subjects towards the mix, it might positively overwhelm you. Even so, never despair. You'll find some strategies which you can effortlessly come up with topics then it is possible to draw out of your pool of subjects over time. Once you find that you happen to be finding low, you'll be able to repeat exactly the same exercise and also you will never once more be faced with all the dilemma of not obtaining a topic. Certainly, it's also incredibly doable that a further element which is adding for your being overwhelmed is posting and syndicating your blogs. Well, let's concentrate proper now on methods for you to effortlessly collect subjects. Use photographic photos as subjects In the event you are out, you may see one thing that should aid you to create about a certain topic. Take as quite a few pictures with your cellular phone as you like. The extra, the improved. Those photographs is going to be a part of your subject pool. Content material may be extremely effective in case you combine words and pictures. You might be surprised at how much you can write about a particular image. The truth is, should you are seriously creative, you might be capable of take one image and get additional than one weblog out of it. You will discover quite a few different possible approaches to spin any given image and it will likely be extremely exciting to view what you'll be able to do with what you have got gathered. In relation to photos, you ought to under no circumstances delete them. You will potentially get a great deal of mileage out of each a single.

Moreover to coming up with original content which is connected to the photo, it is possible to also use curated content (content that somebody else has written) and add your own personal commentary to that. There is a great deal that you can do. An important factor to recall with regards to content is to try to engage your readers in all ways that you could. You can do that with photographs just in addition to it is possible to using the written word. You'll want to make your pictures as thought-provoking as you could in order that they invite stimulating discussions. Maintain WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) in mind In terms of taking photographs, recall that they should not be images of you. They should be images that your target audience is serious about seeing. Conceptually, it really is the exact same as should you were to select a topic about which to write. You don't need to write about topics that only interest you. You could possibly not recognize how many distinct solutions to present content to other people will elicit constructive reactions. For those who happen to be capable to build any sort of following at all, the chances are definitely very good that other individuals are going to be paying interest to what you're posting. You are going to wish to turn into as creative as you'll be able to possibly be. The folks who are paying focus for your content will thank you for it because it will maintain issues particularly fascinating for them. Pose thought-provoking inquiries Men and women really like inquiries because it provides them an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Everybody likes to point that what they feel is vital to other folks. It truly is only human, just after all. That implies that the concentrate shifts from you and your small business to the other particular person (which is because it really should be). Get to understand a lot more about Blogged Topics