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Typically, the topics for Spillikins are out of sync, the events are interesting, but diverse. But last week brought so many events from the field of corporate management that they involuntarily lined up in a thematic collection. This release is very important, as it is a snapshot of how companies have lost all connection with reality and believe that it is normal to provoke theft of their own products if it brings money, and the subsequent deaths are not taken into account. This is about what is said and how the service is advertised, and when you lose your money, they forget about you and you are left alone with your misfortune. About officials who close their eyes, because they have a big company in front of them and they can do anything. About everything that makes up our modern world, but with specific examples that cause indignation and bewilderment, how this is possible in principle.

You know, when I look around, sometimes it seems to me that the world has gone crazy, and in the pursuit of the golden calf people lose themselves, do not realize who they are turning into. Often people see this and are afraid to say something, because as if something does not turn out bad for them. And therefore, direct, undisguised evil exists, many believe that having slaves is not at all bad, and even call people this way among themselves (in one Russian company, employees said to me the phrase “issue a new portion of slaves, documents at the post office”). Oskotinivanie in the truest sense of the word. But the 25-year-old girl who said this phrase expressed the meaning, and it is very precise – the people they hire agree to terrible conditions, and this is their choice. Perhaps out of despair, and a large profitable company is taking advantage of this. But at all kinds of symposia, HR specialists tell with aplomb what conditions they create for their employees and how happy they are. Not everything, and obviously not everything.

The text turned out to be emotional, a bit too much. But this is something bad that is in us all, and something that needs to be fought. Five stories that share the same thing – the belief of companies that they can do anything and nothing will happen for it. They are strong, and they can do so, although this is only an appearance. Go!

Content

1. Tele2 on the path of thoughtless PR plus games with the law – funny and sad stories
2. 533 million Facebook accounts leaked to the network
3. Mistaken Belief in Apple’s Security – How to Lose a Million Dollars
4. Deadly car sharing – a ride without a license as the norm
5. Amazon Forcing Drivers To Pee In Bottles

Tele2 on the path of thoughtless PR plus games with the law – funny and sad stories

I honestly wanted to pass by when one thoughtless story happened, but then a couple more events happened, and decided to talk about it. Akhmatova’s lines are spinning in my head, which can be altered a little: if you knew from what rubbish PR grows without knowing shame… I have approximately the same feeling when I read the press releases from Tele2, since it is impossible to discern in them an understanding of the subject that people are writing about. The feeling that modern educational standards have reached the operator’s press service and now PR people simply react to stimuli. The boss comes and says that they need an informational occasion, they create it from what is at hand. A kind of stick system, in which you should not look for reasonable grain. Here’s your first example.

The Earth Hour press release is very funny, it was written by aliens who are sipping smoothies on the space station and do not understand the inhabitants of Moscow at all. Let’s start with the basics, which seem to be the highest mathematics for many – you can compare the data week to week, but it’s still worth looking at what happened a year ago. I am sure that they looked at this data, but it turned out that a year ago Tele2 traffic was 25-30 percent less, and this did not fit into the fabric of an invented artificial story. The fiction here is very simple: Tele2 subscribers are entirely conscious people, they know what the Earth Hour is, and participate in it. I can confidently say that this is not at all the case, and this follows from the press release.

On weekends, the weather was warm, and people left the city, which affected the traffic. The operator sees the movement of subscribers, this data could be viewed and “killed” this press release. But the task was simple – to fill the information space at any cost, even if the operator looks ridiculous and ridiculous. I, of course, amazed by it, pulling an owl on a globe in a classic performance, this technique is mastered with a plus.

Press releases on April 2 can only be issued by serious companies that understand for sure: no one will think that they are joking. Here you can find a gorgeous text from TeleXNUMX, which informs about a new service.

I reread the text of the press release ten times, because I could not believe what I had read, I can say without understatement that this is a masterpiece! Tele2 subscribers are offered to replenish an electronic wallet “with digital currencies”, settlements in which are not allowed in Russia (but are not prohibited either). In fact, a state-owned telecom operator advertises incomprehensible schemes for the shadow economy, and this is not the first time Tele2 has been seen doing something like that.

De facto, Tele2 is promoting a wallet for exchanging digital currencies for rubles, and for calculating in the latter. This is an ideal tool for the shadow economy, when you can move money between different accounts, and they will remain outside the control of the state. The topic of transferring large amounts between phone numbers (count, SIM-cards) is over, now the state is monitoring this. It is possible that this story was born as an attempt to revive something similar, to give a new tool for the shadow economy.

But it turned out even funnier than one might expect. The Central Bank was so stunned by all this that they did not delay and revoked the license from LLC RNKO RIB, which was behind this electronic wallet. Here is the press release.

This quote about the reasons for the revocation of the organization’s license especially delivers: “it violated the requirements of the Bank of Russia regulations in the field of combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.” Although this phrase is also good: “RNKO” RIB “specialized in conducting non-transparent operations aimed at ensuring settlements between individuals and illegal online casinos and bookmakers.”

The choice of partners on the part of “Tele2” looks at least surprising. Anyone who has come across the security service of operators knows how meticulous they are, and they definitely cannot go through such schemes. But then it all happened!

After the Central Bank announced the revocation of the license, the action had to be closed quietly and peacefully, few people want to be associated with opaque operations and online casinos. But on the website of the action “Tele2” it is noted that it is extended for three months and the operator will simply replace the financial partner.

The current partner of the action, namely the e-wallet, is not going smoothly either, I had to make a lot of reservations and explain the business model of working in Russia right at the entrance to the site.

Already in the second paragraph of the explanations, the very thing is contained, let’s read together: “The interaction of the group of companies operating under the Joys trademark with clients and counterparties involves, when carrying out all operations related to working with digital assets and digital currencies, their transfer for execution either to Russian companies, having the legal right to conduct such operations, or transfer them for execution outside the Russian jurisdiction to companies in other countries where these operations are in the legal field and are legally authorized. In the Russian jurisdiction, operations not provided for by Russian legislation are not performed, since a technology is being implemented that implies the execution of an individual’s order to exchange funds belonging to him in euros for rubles, with which he replenishes his ruble electronic wallet and from which payments for goods and services in the territory Russia “.

I didn’t quote it entirely, this is enough for us to understand. In Russia, operations with cryptocurrencies are not allowed, since January 1, 2021, the law “On digital financial assets” is in effect. It clearly and unambiguously states that cryptocurrencies are prohibited to pay for goods and services on the territory of Russia, and advertising of payments with digital money is also prohibited. How Joys and Tele2 circumvent this law raises questions for me. Quote from the Tele2 press release:

The Joys Wallet payment service (owned by Digital Payments LLC) is the first electronic wallet in Russia that allows you to make transactions with digital currencies from your smartphone. Now Tele2 subscribers can easily top up any wallet available in the application. To do this, you first need to replenish a ruble wallet from your Tele2 account, from which funds can be converted into digital currencies. Operations in the Joys Wallet are performed in rubles and comply with Russian legislation. ”

Match exactly? So far, I see this as an attempt to deceive the Central Bank and other supervisory authorities. When small LLCs are engaged in this, questions do not arise. When a large state-owned operator is involved, it looks amazing to say the least. The scandal will obviously gain momentum, since such tricks cannot be applied in practice to circumvent the laws, other, small companies may follow in the footsteps of Tele2, which will create a headache for many. Considering the course that the state has taken to fight the shadow sectors of the economy, this service with a wallet looks very untimely. In 2019, schemes using SIM cards to secretly drive money around the country were quickly shut down. There is no reason to believe that now something will be different, the scheme with a digital wallet will clearly command a long life. But all this shows the systematic nature of such problems in “Tele2”, and after that I don’t even want to swear at the press service and their cute exercises with pulling an owl onto the globe. These are clearly flowers. What do you think about this situation? “Tele2” in its own right as a state company and can bypass the laws of Russia, or does it still look very strange?

533 million Facebook accounts leaked to the network

On one of the forums, a database has appeared that contains data of Facebook users, in this database there are 533 million accounts, and this is the largest leak of its kind to date. Information about it appeared recently, although the leak itself is not new.

The problem is that the records contain a Facebook ID, which you can find on your own, as well as the mobile phone number associated with the account, date of birth, full name, postal address, location. For some accounts, the information is incomplete, but this does not matter much. About 10 million records have been compromised in Russia.

Very quickly, a bot appeared on Telegram, which allowed checking this data by Facebook ID, within XNUMX hours it was blocked. Nevertheless, the data leaked, I found my phone number and some information about myself in the database (at that moment I was glad that I registered everything to the phone number that I do not use for other purposes).

This leak will not directly affect the performance of Facebook, but for the company it means a big headache, many explanations will arise around it, and first of all, the question will be how it protects user data. And why such a leak is in principle possible.

For scammers, this is a gift of fate, as they will expand their databases, and now the “security services of banks” will start ringing new numbers, knowing exactly who is on the other end. This detailed information makes it easier to use social engineering skills to hack people and gain access to their resources, such as money. At the same time, there was no leakage of passwords, so they are unlikely to be able to steal your Facebook account. But they may well try to select keys for other accounts. None of us is immune from this, so you need to follow the rules of digital hygiene and always think about what you are doing, not open letters with a proposal to log into your account, not answer calls from companies, and so on.

The philosophical question of why Facebook is being broken probably does not require an answer – they are the largest and most visible. At the same time, the same Google is also trying to break, but Google is investing a lot of money in security, and there were no such leaks. The story is big, and for the whole market it will come around again and again. There is only one question on the agenda, were they Russian or Chinese hackers? Facebook will definitely not be looking for someone to blame, especially since now it is considered good form not to bother with any evidence, gentlemen take their word for it.

Mistaken Belief in Apple’s Security – How to Lose a Million Dollars

The worst thing in life is when you are told about something for many years and you believe in it, you turn off critical perception. For example, my friend from Korea, from childhood, explained to her that vitamin C is a miraculous thing, it helps against all diseases. It is impossible to convince her that the vitamin cannot play the role of antibiotics. Another example, my American friend knows for sure that by eating one avocado a day, he will never get problems with blood vessels and heart. Looking at how he eats fatty foods, you understand that this is some kind of amulet materialized in an avocado. Many people experience fears from certain things, but they immediately create in themselves the belief that nothing bad will happen, since they have foreseen everything and secured themselves.

Let’s remember the stories that roam the market regarding Android and iOS, in principle, they are similar to the discussions on Windows and MacOS. At first, there are always viruses, fake programs, and dangers lurk at every corner, while the genius of Apple made everything so that you can just use the device and not worry about anything. Antivirus for macOS? It is definitely not needed, no one can break this system, as Apple fans say. The reality turns out to be completely different, but people simply do not know about it and live with the false confidence that everything is fine with them and they are protected, because the right choice was made!

We always pay the greatest price for our self-confidence and faith in other people’s words, lack of critical thinking. Apple has argued for many years that it makes sure that there are only safe applications in the App Store and that they cannot harm the consumer. This rhetoric is heard all the time, but in reality there is no particular difference from Google’s approach. For Apple, this is only rhetoric, but not at all reality and not an attempt to do something in this direction. This is the protection of their own interests, large commissions from developers and the absence of competition, unlike Android, where it is possible to deliver applications directly, bypassing the Play Store. In Apple’s concept, this is not at all safe.

But practice proves that Apple has created a sandbox that does not guarantee security at all, since the human factor interferes. Apple is not very good at testing apps that they put on their own store. Here’s an example. A person searched the App Store for an app (his name is Phillipe Christodoulou) to check the balance of his crypto wallet, he used the Trezor hardware wallet and assumed that the company had a corresponding app. In his search for the App Store, he quickly found this application, the familiar logo, the ability to log into the account. Having entered his password and username, he instantly lost 17.1 bitcoins, which is now about a million dollars.

The situation is ridiculous because Apple, fighting off attacks in the US Senate over predatory App Store commissions, claims that they are going to support a large staff of moderators and reject all attempts to host fraudulent applications. But such applications are more and more often found in the App Store, and the company only reacts when a scandal breaks out. She saves on security exactly the same as always.

In a specific situation with the Trezor app, Czech developers found a fake app in both the Google store and the Apple store. The company asked to remove the app on February 1st. In the App Store, the app was removed on February 3, but then it reappeared (and our hero suffered from the reappearance of the fake).

Trezor originally appeared as a program that can encrypt files, no cryptocurrency, no wallets. Already on January 22, the application hit the App Store. Then the developers of the application changed it, and it turned into a wallet, a corresponding description appeared, that is, the moderation system from Apple was simply deceived, and this deception is typical, hundreds of applications use it. Apple has not re-tested the app and relies on user feedback that something is going wrong. That is, you can submit one application, and then radically alter it, and if no one complains, then everything will be fine.

According to SensorTower, the fake app has been downloaded over 1000 times in the App Store. He had a five-star rating, and there were 155 reviews in total, most of them positive, but there were also screams from deceived people. There was no reaction from Apple until they were contacted by a company whose trademark rights had been infringed. That is, the reviews of deceived people who lost their money did not become a sufficient reason for an internal investigation and the closure of the application. Philip’s appeal to Apple remained unanswered, and the company did not say whether it applied to law enforcement agencies in connection with the application, stealing other people’s money, and so on. Stoic silence so as not to draw additional attention to the issue is typical Apple’s approach.

Is Philip to blame for what happened to him? Definitely yes. His fault is that he lost his caution and believed that Apple was watching their app store, which led him to lose a large amount of money, eventually lose his business. Does this person believe in what Apple claims about the security of their devices, the app store? No, he doesn’t believe it anymore, but he paid a great price for it.

Apple’s fault in this story is that the company is deliberately misleading and claims that they have created a secure app store, where the likelihood of deception is minimized. This is not true. The company does not spend enough time and money on testing applications, it is possible to deceive the built system, and today it is put on stream. And misconceptions about App Store security can cost you money, hassle, and time. You should not turn off your head and believe everything that you are told. And when problems arise, you will not get anywhere from Apple, the company does not condescend to communicate with its customers who have lost money because they did not do their job.

Deadly car sharing – a ride without a license as the norm

Driving along the Third Ring, I saw the consequences of the accident, two cars collided – a taxi and a car-sharing car.

Already reading the news, I found out how everything happened. The traffic police asked the car sharing car to stop, the driver instead increased speed and tried to escape. He flew into the oncoming lane and flew into a taxi. As a result, both the taxi driver and the perpetrator of the accident were killed.

A noteworthy fact here is that the driver of the car sharing, according to law enforcement agencies, was deprived of his license, he refused to undergo a medical check when he was detained the previous time. And now he was driving again, and this resulted in his death, with him he took the taxi driver. Two deaths due to the fact that carsharing turns a blind eye to who drives cars. We have raised this question more than once, but still there is no answer.

I am surprised why it is impossible to implement a minimal additional check, when a person not only takes pictures of the car, but also shows his face, so that the car sharing operator is sure that this is exactly the one to whom the account is registered (the operator is not a person here, but a company, all checks on the side of algorithms). It is not difficult for Yandex to implement this technology, as well as blocking those drivers who play checkers creates dangerous situations on the road. In words, all car sharing companies are working to prevent this from happening. In fact, I am constantly faced with the fact that carsharing cars fly around the yards at an insane speed, not paying attention to pedestrians.

The fault here, of course, is not only on car-sharing companies, for which every penny is important, because all this happens due to the connivance of officials who are in the position and do not tighten regulation, do not build new rules. It is enough to introduce a fine, for example, 50 million rubles for a fatal case in which the car-sharing driver drove under a fake account and without a license. A fine of a million for stopping a driver in such a car and he, too, will have a fake account. Car sharing companies broadcast these penalties to users, there is no doubt about that. But the main thing is that they will start to create verification systems, they will shake over every account.

Do you think that the problem is far-fetched and that companies are really doing something in this area? Let’s take a look at Yandex and how the company is fighting fake accounts. We open a search engine from “Yandex”, type “buy a Yandex account …” and immediately see the options that are offered to us.

I was sure that Yandex understands the degree of responsibility and the fact that this leads to the death of people, as we saw in this story. But what opens on the search page shows that money doesn’t smell and people at Yandex do not care at all about anyone except themselves and their pockets. The company advertises selling fake accounts. See for yourself!

I click on the link, and here is a miracle, in the list of goods sold, including a Yandex.Drive account, the price is only 1 rubles. Dear comrades at Yandex, how is it possible that you get money for advertising your own product, which is sold in violation of any rules and laws? How so?

Yandex.Dzene provides detailed, thorough instructions on how to solve problems with the traffic police, for example, give a bribe or just run away!

Of course, I understand that these are different products – contextual advertising, search, Zen and Yandex.Drive. I understand that money is very necessary. But you completely went to Yandex there ”? I am outraged by this situation, I can promise that I will make every effort so that both Yandex and others are forced to change their approach to this issue.

But since Yandex is an ecosystem company and promotes hacked Yandex.Drive accounts with all its might, does it clearly deliberately (it’s hard to believe otherwise, people cannot be such idiots, they will lose their jobs instantly), I sincerely hope that Tigran Khudaverdyan will take a moment to publicly explain this whole story, as he likes to do on his Facebook. The taxi driver died because such a mess is going on inside Yandex, there can be no discrepancy here. Yandex is the face of Russia’s IT business, and I really don’t like the way it looks. I hope that Tigran Khudaverdyan will find the strength to explain to people what is wrong with his company and why this is happening there. We, as users of various Yandex services, at least deserve an honest answer to this question. Why do I have to think every time, looking at a car sharing car, who is driving there? What problems can this car bring to my life? We will gladly give a tribune to the guys from Yandex, if they can tell something about this situation.

Amazon Forcing Drivers To Pee In Bottles

Business is a cruel thing, you can’t get a lot of money by being almond-shaped with someone, there is always an injured party. The more money the owner of the company makes, the more those who work for him donate. Scandals around Amazon have been going on for several years, the company is fighting with its employees, they want to create a union so that their rights are respected at least to a minimum. But Amazon is about money (like Yandex in Russia, the role model is taken from the American market).

The plot of the plot, as usual, happened involuntarily; in the age of social networks, you must always assume that those who do not know how your business work for you. For example, Apple simply forbids its employees to say or write anything on social networks, and this worked at the very least in the days of Steve Jobs, now this culture is gradually becoming a thing of the past.

It all began with the fact that Senator Bernie Sanders went to Alabama, where he planned to meet with Amazon employees, including discussing the issue of creating a union. Amazon Consumer CEO Dave Clarke tweeted that those wishing to listen to Sanders and talk about the $ 15 an hour wage and healthcare can do so in the city center. Those who want to get it all can work at Amazon.

Politician Mark Pokan responded that breaking up unions is not a good idea, as is forcing employees to pee in water bottles. The response from the official Amazon News account came quickly.

As expected, Amazon called it fiction that employees urinate in bottles: “If it were true, no one would work for us.”

As expected, a portal to hell for employees of the Amazon press service opened, as they began to publish instructions for employees, which directly talk about this practice. Truck drivers who deliver packages are forced to pee in water bottles, otherwise they will not have time to deliver all the necessary packages. This is a deliberate business decision, minimization of costs for employees, they are not given an elementary respite, a kind of sweatshop.

It follows from the comments that the practice at Amazon is ubiquitous, during the pandemic, packets of excrement began to be found in vans, since, apparently, not everyone could endure and move on to the next level.

If you think this only happens in America, then I have bad news for you. Sweatshops as a style of work, in which employees are reduced to slaves on plantations, occurs wherever it is allowed to do so, and the state turns a blind eye to it. Here’s an example from Moscow.

Then the courier simply forgot to put away his urine bucket and gave it to the client. But usually they manage to pick it up, so everything is about the same here, no differences from the best American practices. And this is very annoying, because you can’t treat people like that, you can’t earn all the money in the world, but you can easily get rid of it, which is what we observe. Couriers who relieve themselves on the streets have long become the norm, here I don’t even know which is better, in the bushes in public or in the bank. Give them at least wet wipes to wipe their hands after.

As an interim result of this issue of Biryulek, I can say that these are stories united by exactly the same thing, they are about how people in beautiful offices flirt with business and allow themselves what cannot be done. Someone to a greater extent, someone to a lesser extent, but this is always the same story, the details differ. I am often accused of a prejudiced attitude towards Yandex, they say that I am unfair and the company is the leader of the Russian IT market, creates it and embodies it. In my coordinate system, the higher you are, the more demand from you for your actions and deeds. The position in which the company is right only because of the fact of its size does not cause me respect and support.

The text contains facts that each of you can check on your own, there is no room for uncertainty. I sincerely want to get an answer from Yandex why everything is going on in this way, why a taxi driver died because of this, and a person without a license was able to get behind the wheel (the car says “Yandex.Drive”, the company may have submitted an application about the theft, I do not know). But the given facts are enough to ask for an answer, it will be interesting not to me, but to everyone who uses, in one way or another, products from Yandex. Give an answer in any form, on any platform, I do not indulge my vanity that you will step over your ideas about beauty and be able to say something here. But I’m always ready to give you a podium if you need it, I’m just tired of repeating this, since you usually have nothing to say. Your silence has already led to the death of people, and you do not change anything to avoid this. This is unpleasant, but adulthood is manifested in being able to take responsibility for your actions. Try to prove that Yandex is an adult company, and not a teenager who is naughty and hides from responsibility.

PS Tomorrow I plan to talk about the next round with the implementation of the law on the pre-installation of Russian applications, there is just a circus tent, it is a pleasure to look at it. Officials deny everything, they have no problems, but they do not just exist, but are growing like a snowball.

On my own behalf, I want to wish you a good week so that the sun shines, the mood is good and there are no car-sharing drivers on the road who drive without a license, this can be the last trip in my life. Good luck!

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