SAN FRANCISCO – The contemporary internet was built on a bargain: Show us who you really are, and the digital world will be free to search or share. People detailed their interests and obsessions on Facebook and Google, generating a river of data that could be collected and harnessed for advertising. The companies became very rich. Users seemed happy. Privacy was deemed obsolete, like bloodletting and milkmen. Now, the consumer surveillance model underlying Facebook and Google’s free services is under siege from users, regulators and legislators on both sides of the Atlantic. It amounts to a crisis for an internet industry that up until now had taken a reactive, Whac-A-Mole approach to problems like the spread of fraudulent news and misuse of personal data. The recent revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a voter profiling company that had worked with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, harvested data from 50 million Facebook users, raised the current uproar, even if … [Read more...] about Calls for privacy may upend business for Facebook and Google
Business
Cash isn’t king anymore at some businesses
NEW YORK TIMES A customer buys an item using her credit card and Square, a mobile credit card reader, at a farmers’ market in New York in 2015. ATLANTA >> Allison Hill wants success for the Neapolitan pizza chain she’s helping launch in Atlanta. She just doesn’t want cash. Patrons at The Local Pizzaiolo on Atlanta’s Westside can pay by credit, debit or plastic cash cards, but not with the legal tender of the United States. Some nearby restaurants also recently put in place policies to not accept cash from customers. Expect such moves to become common. There are plenty of upsides. But even for a cash-limited guy like me, there’s something unsettling if basic commerce eventually requires all consumers — and all businesses — to connect to the financial services complex that feeds on plastic and electronic transactions. Hill, the pizza company’s CEO, told me she and colleagues fretted over the decision for another reason. … [Read more...] about Cash isn’t king anymore at some businesses
Foxconn would add $51.5 billion to state economy over 15 years, business group estimates
Share This Story! Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about Facebook Email Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest Foxconn would add $51.5 billion to state economy over 15 years, business group estimates A fully built Foxconn plant would add $51.5 billion to Wisconsin’s economy over the 15 years the state pays incentives to the firm, a new analysis says. Sent! A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 14 Join the Conversation To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Subscribe Today Log In Subscribed, but don't have a login? Activate your digital access. Rick Romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 8:00 a.m. CT March 23, 2018 | Updated 8:29 p.m. CT March 23, 2018 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN 14 COMMENT EMAIL MORE A fully built Foxconn Technology Group plant would add $51.5 … [Read more...] about Foxconn would add $51.5 billion to state economy over 15 years, business group estimates
Busy agenda at NFL Annual Meeting includes hammering out new catch ruling
Common sense, long missing in the conception of many NFL playing rules and bylaws, is expected to play a starring role at the NFL Annual Meeting, which begins Sunday in Orlando, Fla.Among the items on the agenda is the formulation of a new rule that more clearly defines what is a catch and what is not; a proposed bylaw change that will allow teams to actually strike a written agreement to hire a new head coach before his current team’s season is over; a measure to make permanent the ability of teams to administer physicals to draft-eligible players at NFL facilities; and a tweak to the overtime rule.With few exceptions, all the league’s owners, general managers and head coaches will arrive in Orlando on Sunday with the goal of departing three days later feeling a little better about their product.For the Philadelphia Eagles specifically, owner Jeffrey Lurie, executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman and coach Doug Pederson also will be asked about the … [Read more...] about Busy agenda at NFL Annual Meeting includes hammering out new catch ruling
From Blacksburg bar idea to $50 million business
BLACKSBURG — Nearly two decades after selling their startup for $50 million, the co-founders of Webmail.us shared more about the story of what happened behind the scenes before their blockbuster deal.Pat Matthews and Kevin Minnick keynoted the Virginia Tech Entrepreneur Challenge on Friday, talking about a string of bad ideas and failed business ventures that ultimately led to one of Blacksburg’s first big technology startup wins.Matthews, Minnick and a third Webmail founder not in attendance Friday, Bill Boebel, moved away from Blacksburg after the company was acquired by Rackspace in 2007. Minnick is now back in town with another startup, Chartio, and Matthews has moved on to venture capital investing.But the story, they told the crowd at the Lyric Theatre Friday, begins inside the Rivermill bar in downtown Blacksburg.Minnick and Matthews had been randomly paired together as dorm roommates during their freshman year at Tech. In 1999 they were seniors, internet startups … [Read more...] about From Blacksburg bar idea to $50 million business