Jamie, the Senior Intern in our Department of the Obvious, was exceptionally excited by this report that auditors found Facebook decisions have caused “serious setbacks for civil rights”. At first we thought it was the news itself, but Jamie then explained it confirmed his belief that presenting the obvious is a valid career path. He can’t wait to tell his parents.
Let’s try to find some good news today, if only for the challenge. We can start with this FitForCommerce report on leading retailers, which found they were steadily adding digital services even before the pandemic. Since 2016, the number offering online purchase for in-store pickup doubled from 33% to 66% while Web display of in-store inventory rose from 39% to 67%. An impressive 69% offer next day delivery and 20% offer same day delivery. Remember when those were crazy talk?
Spending your budget on privacy tech instead of cool things like trigger campaigns and personalization? OneTrust is offering a collection of free tools for data mapping, data access requests, cookie consent, and more. That’s free as in free beer and if there are limits, I couldn’t find them listed.
Google lashed out at the Department of Justice’s threat to break up the company, calling the proposals “radical.” Among other things, Google says the proposals would threaten users’ privacy, stifle innovation and break Android and Chrome. Given the appeals process, it will likely be years before we know whether Google will stay in one piece.