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Payment Methods: A Wealth of Options to Spend

Eamon

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4th April 2018

Payment Methods: A Wealth of Options to Spend

Recently I opened a new current account with a bank which offers Apple Pay as one of their payment methods. Being a bit of a technologist, I have an Apple watch (albeit a Series 1) to go alongside my Apple iPhone SE, but I also have a Kerv Payment ring.

For those who don’t know about the Kerv ring, it is a contactless payment device built into a wearable, in this case, a ring. Basically, it is a wearable pre-paid Mastercard, you go to the Kerv website and top your account up and then you can use your Kerv ring offers at all contactless points of sale. I invested back in the Kickstarter phase, but they now retail for about £90 sterling. You can find out more at Kerv.com.

Anyway, I basically find myself with six payment methods on me at any one time. I feel like it’s good time to have a look at these various payment methods and weigh up the pros and cons of each. Obviously I am not trying to pick a favourite, the ring is obviously my favourite, I am just trying to be objective…

Cash: Cold Hard Moolah

It’s still here and will be for a long time yet. Generally I like to get €40 from the ATM until it dwindles away. It still feels like the go-to payment method in pubs and non-chain stores. I keep the paper stuff in my wallet and the metal stuff mainly in my pocket. Like many people I also have a mug on my desk where I throw the coppers.

Convenience

Back in the days when we all got paid in little brown envelopes, cash was great. Now, we have to go out of our way to get it. Nobody (or virtually nobody) uses cashback despite Alan Partridge extolling it’s virtues.

However, it is the easiest way to pay our way with family or friends.

Acceptance

This is where Cash is King. Merchants might be happier not to, but everywhere takes cash. Maybe not so great when shopping online though!

Novelty

It’s been around a fair while now so… not really.

Cash: The Verdict – 5/10

Pros: Universally accepted

Cons: Not particularly convenient, especially when travelling (even to our nearest neighbours).

Debit Card: Laser No More

Many of us still call it the Laser card despite Laser being something of the distant past. Now the Debit schemes that we all use are run by Visa or Mastercard depending on who you bank with. The introduction of contactless has been huge for Debit cards, Tap for anything up to €30 is just great. €30 feels about right too. Any more and I’d want the higher sense of security that only a PIN can offer! Again I keep mine in my wallet but I have to confess – I have a soft spot for my permanent tsb card. Being able to put my own picture on the card might be a gimmick, but it does increase my loyalty to the card.

Convenience

Reverting to the PIN after every three uses is a bit of a pain for low-level transactions but overall it is easy to use. Not great for paying out pocket money, although nothing other than cash is.

Acceptance

Just about anywhere and everywhere takes Debit cards. You do come across the odd place that doesn’t (like the student shops in Trinity) but it is the exception rather than the rule. Also great for the online retailers where it is increasingly replacing the credit card as the payment method of choice.

Novelty

Unless you have yours personalised with a picture of your favourite cat, nothing much here to excite.

Debit Card: The Verdict – 7/10

Pros: Wide acceptance, pretty convenient

Cons: Still calls for the use of a PIN

Credit Card: Like the Debit Card But With Someone Else’s Money

The Credit Card has its place. For example, you can’t hire a car without one. It is also a good source of short-term credit but generally, it is a really bad idea. With interest rates running at around 20% it is an expensive way to pay for stuff. We all have great intentions of paying it off as soon as we get paid but which of us ever do?

There is a reason why Visa and Mastercard are hugely profitable and why legislation such as PSD2 is trying to lessen their grip on the payment economy. I keep mine in my wallet (as much as possible!).

Convenience

The Irish banks will all be rolling out contactless Credit Cards over the next year or so, but in the meantime, it’s another PIN to remember. Unless you’ve got it attached to your Apple or Google Pay digital wallet. To be fair, it is convenient to be able to pay for larger purchases up front and pay it off when you can, but it can be a dangerous game…

Acceptance

Again, just about anywhere: on or offline. Still not great for paying pocket money.

Novelty

What there is can wear off pretty quickly once the bills start to come in.

Credit Cards: The Verdict – 6/10

Pros: Wide acceptance and easy access to credit

Cons: Expensive and reliant on the PIN

Apple Pay by Phone: Who Needs a Wallet?

OK, so it sits in your virtual wallet, but you know what I mean. In essence, Apple Pay is a way to use your normal bank Debit Card through your phone. It is a digital version of that card which sits in your real wallet. Yes, we could go into tokenisation and how Apple is eating into the interchange rates (bank speak) but what really matters to most of us is that instead of tapping our card, we will be tapping our phone. The payment still comes from the same bank account.

The big win here is that sometimes we all forget our wallet or purse but we never forget our phone. To be fair, I was a bit of a cynic until I started to use Apple Pay. It does pain me to say it, but it is so much handier than the card. Double tap on the home button and it is ready to go, it takes your fingerprint for authorisation. It might only be saving a few seconds but it feels so much quicker.

Convenience

Almost perfect. Is there a more convenient way to pay? (Spoiler: see below).

Acceptance

Accepted wherever they take contactless. It also makes online purchases that much easier.

Novelty

Up there for the moment but will become more and more mainstream as time goes on.

Apple Pay by Phone: The Verdict – 9/10

Pros: Wide acceptance and fingerprint authorisation

Cons: Double pressing on the home button happens more than you think when you are opening your phone. Apple pay popping up can be an annoyance.

Apple Pay by Apple Watch. Still Rooting in your Pocket for Your Phone?

All that’s good about the phone, just on the watch. Double press your button and you are ready to go. I wear my watch all the time, except when it is charging, and this really is exceptionally easy to use. How long does it take to press the side of your watch twice?

Convenience

Even better than the Apple Pay on your iPhone

Acceptance

Exactly the same as Apple Pay on the iPhone.

Novelty

Still raises the odd eyebrow and it’s hard to get tired of that.

Apple Pay by Apple Watch: The Verdict – 10/10

Pros: Wide acceptance and ease of use

Cons: Not so many people have the watch

Kerv Payment Ring: Still Bending Your Wrist and Pushing Buttons?

OK, so I have to go to the website every couple of weeks to top-up my account. It takes about 10 minutes to register and then a few days for Mastercard UK to authorise for use in Ireland. But once it is up and running my Kerv Ring is the easiest, most convenient and coolest way to pay for stuff. It’s on my finger. I fist bump the payment terminal. Done.

To be fair, I use it mostly for low-value payments: coffees and that kind of thing. I have used it here and abroad, it usually gets noticed and makes a great icebreaker. I have had it now for about 6 months and I use it every day. It comes in a range of colours and sizes, mine is black on the outside and red on the inside or ‘Black Fire’ as it is called on the website.

Convenience

The easiest way to pay at a point of sale. It’s not for online shopping or pocket money, but it is brilliant for what it is meant for.

Acceptance

More or less everywhere that takes contactless.

Novelty

Always starts a conversation. Wherever I use it without fail. It’s the most fun of all the payment methods I’ve mentioned here.

Kerv Ring: The Verdict – 10/10

Pros: Quickest payment method, very easy to use.

Cons: Set up required and at £90, a bit of an extravagance.

So what should you take out of this? Probably not much. Like so much else in life, your preferences around how you pay will remain yours. You will use whichever suits you the most. The real call out here is that the range of options is widening and will continue to do so. Back in the early 90s, I would have sworn that we would all be using our retinas to pay for stuff by now. For the time being, I’ll use my ring.

iD Mobile and Charity Numbers: A Prepaid Pity

Marty

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4th April 2018

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iD Mobile and Charity Numbers: A Prepaid Pity

We’ve been covering the unfortunate liquidation of Carphone Warehouse’s network, iD Mobile in recent weeks. It’s a massive shake-up to the Irish mobile landscape and to date we’ve been focused on what this means for bill pay customers. Any company shutting down sucks and there are real repercussions for the iD Mobile staff. There are also repercussions for their customers including those on prepay plans.

iD Mobile Prepaid Customers Stuck With Credit

We had an iD Mobile customer get in touch with us on Facebook outlining the conundrum that faced him. As a prepaid customer, he had regularly topped up his phone with prepaid credit and had accrued over €150 in credit. He was then given thirty days notice that iD Mobile would cease to exist on 6 April 2018 and he should move his number or risk losing it forever. The problem is that when you move your prepaid number to another network, you lose your credit; that’s €150 worth of service this customer had paid for they would never get.

To be fair, customers who chose to change network in a Carphone Warehouse store were being offered €20 store credit which might cover a single top up, a pair of headphones or a phone case. Personally, when I moved from iD I went for the Chromecast; I’m a sucker for gadgets but am very aware I ended up falling into that lovely trap of doing exactly what they hoped would happen – spending more than the €20 voucher!

Look, I’m happy enough getting a new Chromecast for €20 and it sure beats paying twice that for a second hand one in CeX!

Our Facebook Community Has A Plan

Ok, so back to that customer with €150 worth of credit. Before the announcement of the liquidation, they would have thought they had years to use up that credit. Now, faced with 30 days to burn it up, they got in touch with us on Facebook. Another Goosed reader had a great suggestion; rather than lose the credit, donate it all to charity. Most Irish charities will let you donate by texting a word to 50300. For example, you can text DAFF to 50300 and donate €4 to the Irish Cancer Society.

While this would leave the customer out of pocket and they would have to sit down for the evening sending a few texts to their charity of choice, few would argue against this being a better idea than letting the credit go to waste. We’ve seen plenty of people sharing charities on Twitter and Facebook pages asking iD mobile customers to donate their leftover credit to worthy causes.

ID Mobile will be no more this Friday April 6th, make this an opportunity to put any outstanding credit towards supporting Ireland’s national listening service for children and young people this week. Support @ISPCCChildline. pic.twitter.com/mgbGhxDUMB

— Danielle Loftus (@Lilliwhiterose) April 4, 2018

Unfortunately, this plan wouldn’t work.

50300 Charity Numbers Don’t Work On iD Mobile

I personally tested out a few charities on my iD Mobile bill pay plan before I moved network and noticed I wasn’t getting any confirmation messages about my donation. During testing, I noticed that nearly every charity uses the same phone number, 50300, but requires a different word. The word decides which charity your donation goes to. I was left with two thoughts as to what could be causing this

MVNOs can’t contact premium numbers like 50300
iD Mobile never set up 50300 to process donations

Can MVNOs Use Premium Numbers?

I assumed the best and starting with the thought that iD Mobile, as an MVNO, simply couldn’t process premium numbers like 50300. At first, this appeared to be possible with Lycamobile informing us that they didn’t support premium numbers at all. Then Virgin Media threw a cat amongst the pigeons with one of the Virgin Media customer care guys informing us they have no problem at all in process charitable donations through 50300.

Hi Martin, I can confirm that donations through this number can be made on our mobile network. 🙂 ^BrianR

— Virgin Media Ireland (@VirginMediaIE) March 23, 2018

Crap.

Was iD Mobile Setup To Use Charity Numbers?

I got in touch with the company that provides this service to Irish charities: LIKECHARITY. I asked them if iD mobile customers were able to donate via text message or if they could offer some alternative. LIKECHARITY told us that “iD Mobile never asked to set up on [their] service” and “there is no way to process donations from iD mobile” phone numbers.

Which all seems a little unfair. First of all, it’s unfair that customers will not be refunded their credit. They’ve paid for a service they won’t get and iD Mobile, or Dixons Carphone or Carphone Warehouse, whoever it is, is shortchanging them. I got in touch with ComReg who confirmed that it’s impossible to refund prepaid credit and iD Mobile was within their rights to simply let existing credit expire. Frustrating as that is, I can accept it.

What I think is a real shame for the network and indeed is a shame for Lycamobile too, is a lack of support for LIKECHARITY in what seems to be sheer laziness. While I understand LIKECHARITY is a business in itself, they do generate vast sums of money for charity; over €7 million since 2012 according to a spokesperson from the company.

iD Mobile had around 40k customers. That’s 40k customers who were unable to donate to worthy charities through a very popular method; SMS. We were in touch with iD Mobile Ireland and some of their team on Twitter, Carphone Warehouse and the PR company who managed Dixons Carphone’s public handling of the liquidation. While I appreciate everyone taking the time to help us with our questions, the result was negative. Those prepay customers won’t be able to donate their leftover credit to charity.

iD Mobile: The Prepaid Pity

Right now, it kind of makes sense that no one can get this set up. The network is in liquidation and technically not even owned by Dixons Carphone anymore, the parent group for Carphone Warehouse and iD Mobile. The network is now owned by the liquidator and they’ll hardly want to see payments owed to LIKECHARITY heading out of the iD Mobile coffers. However, the question remains why the network never made the effort to get charitable donation numbers setup for customers to avail. It also begs the question how many customers think they’ve made donations over the years and didn’t receive a confirmation or error message.

If you’re a Lycamobile customer, it’s worth noting you cannot donate to charities through 50300.

Sorry Martin, I’m afraid we don’t. We don’t support text payments in general 😑

— Lycamobile Ireland (@LycamobileIE) March 23, 2018

If you’re an iD Mobile customer, the clock is ticking and really time is up. If you haven’t moved yet, you need to move before April 6th or you’ll risk losing your number. I’m afraid it doesn’t look like you’re getting your credit back nor will you be able to spend it. And that’s the prepaid pity.

MyFitnessPal Hack: What Are Hashed Passwords?

Marty

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31st March 2018

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MyFitnessPal Hack: What Are Hashed Passwords?

I know I’ve tried many times to get fit and that journey usually starts with getting back into MyFitnessPal. The app helps you track your calorie intake and exercise to maintain a healthy balance of food and fitness. So popular is the app, in 2015 sports giant Under Armour bought it. They might be regretting that a little bit as they’ve just been hacked

What Happened With MyFitnessPal?

In short, the app has suffered a data breach. On the surface, that sounds awfully scary as some hackers now know I’m over weight. As do the dogs in the street though to be fair.

In the breach, hackers obtained emails, names and hashed passwords; hashed is an incredibly important word here.

What Are Hashed Passwords?

Some of the news coverage around the hack describe hashed passwords as making it harder to obtain a user’s actual password. To be completely honest, hashing can provide a level of security that makes uncovering a users password nigh on impossible.

Wired magazine provide my favourite comparison:

the difference between a Three Mile Island and a Hiroshima sometimes comes down to an arcane branch of cryptography: hashing

Hashing is a relatively simple method of encrypting information by running a computation. The best known use is hashing passwords. When you select your password for a website, it’s often hashed which means it’s run through a mathematical process and converted into a jumbled collection of numbers and letters.

When you try to log in to the same site again, the password your type is in run to this process again and checked to see it matches the jumbled numbers and letters created by the original hashing of your password.

Sure Isn’t Hashing Only Great So?

It’s really important to note that not all levels of hashing are created equal. You might remember a couple of years ago we showed you a website called “Have I Been Pwned” which lets you check if your data was compromised any of the all to regular data breaches that have taken place. One data set included in this was a LinkedIn hack from 2012 which used hashing known as SHA1.

The Problem With Hashing

SHA1 is actually realtively simple to reverse engineer. This meant when hackers got hold of this data, they could uncover the passwords and, combined with the email adresses also acquired, try accessing various other websites. This is why its recommended you don’t use the same password for all your logins.

The MyFitnessPal hack saw 150 million users’ data taken. Fortunately, the passwords taken were hashed. It’s not all good news though. While some of the passwords taken were encrypted using bcrypt, a really secure form of hashing, six years after the LinkedIn hack some of the data was remarkably only using SHA1.

What Should MyFitnessPal Users Do Now?

Stop for a moment and think: how often do you use your MyFitnessPal email address and password for other services.

You should certainly consider changing them across all services and possibly look to changing how you manage your own passwords. Password managers like Last Pass let you create unique passwords for every account you create. When creating a Last Pass accout, I’d strongly recommend using a pass phrase instead of a password. Pass phrases are sentences which you can easily remember and should contain capitals, numbers and symbols.

Finally, where possible, use 2 step verification. This security feature requires you to input a code either sent my SMS, phone call or through an authentication app after you attempt to log into your account. Google recently announced just 10% of Gmail users are using 2 step verification.

Be Responsible For Own Data

Data breaches arent going to stop. Simply put, no company will ever care for your data as much as you will and Facebook has made it abundantly clear many companies can’t be trusted. The MyFitnessPal hack may not have massive reprocussions thanks to password hashing while some users might receive unsolicited emails or be targetted through ads for having and interest in fitness.

But it’s a matter of when you’re involved in a data breach, not if, and when you’re involved, having taken the right steps to protect your own data could br crucial

You Can Now Stream Netflix When You Travel

Marty

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29th March 2018

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You Can Now Stream Netflix When You Travel

Portability of digital content services. Christ that sounds like the most boring thing ever. Let me sexy that up a little bit. Going to be out of the country for the All Ireland Hurling final? No problem, you’ll be able to watch RTÉ Player in every European country from now on. I think that’s sexied it up a bit, right?

The EU Digital Single Market

The EU is all over online right now. Simply put, the EU has recognised that there’s a massive hunger for the people of Ireland to shop online in Germany, the people of Italy to shop online in Spain etc. Unfortunately, there are massive barriers to cross-border trade which the EU hopes to stamp out with the creation and encouragement of a Digital Single Market. Recently, PSD2 was announced which will go some way towards driving progress in this project along with more transparent international shipping charges.

Portability of Online Content Services

The next stage of the EU Digital Single Market is making your subscriptions from home work when you’re on the road. This portability of digital services initiative focus on Europeans subscribing to the likes of Netflix and SkyGo and making these more available when travelling. Providers of free services like RTÉ Player will have to option of opting into the agreement, but the mandatory inclusion would appear to be premium services only. So yeah, fingers crossed my All Ireland final example rings true. The important thing is that if you’re going on summer holidays in the EU this year you’ll be able to ignore your family just like you do at home; buried into an episode of Designated Survivor.

Any Setbacks?

Ok, so let’s take Netflix. Netflix Ireland and Netflix Germany have different catalogues of movies and TV shows. I’ll actually be in Germany when this new regulation lands but I’ll still only be able to access the content that’s available to me when I’m in Ireland. I don’t necessarily get access to the local catalogue of the area I’m visiting.

The regulation does only provide international access to your home subscriptions for a temporary period of time, but they don’t specify what a temporary period of time is.

The regulation comes into force on April 1st and the EU has stated it seems that all service providers are on track to deliver access to there platforms when travelling from launch day.

Phone Insurance, Cases and Glass: Protecting Your Smartphone

Marty

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25th March 2018

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Phone Insurance, Cases and Glass: Protecting Your Smartphone

I still remember when seeing people with the first iPhone. It was weird because I knew those iPhones were worth a small fortune while I’d barely bat an eyelid should my Samsung Tocco have gone missing. Today, that’s changed dramatically as few people leave the house any more without a phone in their pocket worth anywhere up to a grand. Even so, some people go it alone and opt to live life on the edge without phone insurance, cases or screen protectors. So the question is, is phone insurance worth it?

Should You Get Phone Insurance?

Phone insurance or gadget insurance is available from a range of insurance providers in Ireland. Just like any other insurance, phone insurance will protect you from paying out full whack should your phone be lost or stolen while also covered out of most out of warranty damage and liquid damage. When choosing a mobile phone insurance provider, always check the fine print on their insurance policies, read through the boring terms of business and understand the process involved in making a claim. You might find one insurance company that covers theft but not loss while another insurance policy will provide cover for damage but not water damage.

Pay attention to the details of the terms and conditions; don’t get caught out.

Benefits of Phone Insurance

With that said, you also shouldn’t be scared of paying for phone insurance because the peace of mind that comes with it is incredible. Once your insurance policy is in place and you understand exactly what’s covered, you can really enjoy that €1000 mobile phone sitting in your pocket. I’ve had gadget insurance now ever since I bought the HTC One about four years ago. I’ve insured by Galaxy S7 Edge and my Note8 since then. Sure enough, I’ve only ever claimed once when I lost my HTC One and actually got it replaced by an HTC One M8.

At the time, that phone was worth around €600 and there simply would have been no way I could have replaced it without phone insurance. Now, in the four years, I’ve had phone insurance I’ve paid over €700 for the peace of mind that should that happen again, I’m covered. It’s also really important to remember I did have to pay an excess fee as is standard enough when making a smartphone insurance claim. I think it was about €50 but again, with one more phone loss, broken screen or fall down the toilet and that phone insurance is money well spent.

Now, you could ask whether or not I really need phone insurance. Without even a cracked screen in my lifetime I must be fairly careful right? Not exactly…

Phone Insurance Versus Cases and Screen Protectors

Over the years, I’ve had plenty of close calls. My Galaxy S7 Edge and Note8 have been soaked quite a few times only to be saved by the phone’s IP67 water resistant rating. I’ve dropped my phones countless times and back when I worked in the phone shop I used to deliberately fire it around the shop to show how unlikely I was to break my phone. Obviously, I had an ace up my sleeve that gave me some additional confidence.

Otterbox: King of the Phone Cases

Right, well, of course, I had phone insurance for a start so I had that to fall back to but I also had no intention of making an insurance claim. I’ve used Otterbox cases for years only swapping over to the official Samsung case for my Note8 because Otterbox couldn’t be got in Dublin on launch day. That’s how uncomfortable I am using a smartphone without a case.

Curved screens meant I stopped using screen protectors for a few years too. To be fair, Guerilla Glass has come a long way since my first contract and the HTC One. Screens are less likely to get scratched and less likely to crack than ever before but it did happen to my Galaxy S7 Edge. Nothing major, but the screen was scratched. It’s funny how your eye can be drawn to that one, tiny little scratch.

Screen Protectors

Anyway, nothing major happened because the Otterbox case has a raised lip. If the phone hits the floor, the screen usually has a little bit of space and is less likely to break, but my advice doesn’t end there.

First Generation Screen Protectors

While I have a case, phone insurance and am more careful than many with my smartphone, screen protectors are also incredibly important to use. Years ago, Zagg were some of the best protectors on the market. I’m not sure what material they were made from but they felt great. The material was a tacky plastic, almost like a transparent vinyl that reduced the likelihood of annoying smudges on the screen along with the chances of smashing it all together. Then tempered glass joined the party.

Tempered Glass Screen Protectors

Tempered glass, as you might have guessed, are glass screen protectors. They literally feel like a second layer of glass over your screen, or just like feel like the screen itself. The massive difference is that when you crack a tempered glass screen protector, it costs about €20 to €30 replace for the iPhone 8. If you crack your screen, Fonfix, an Irish repair company recognised by all major manufacturers, will charge you €410 to fix that screen.

Insurance, Phone Cases and Tempered Glass: The Dream Team

I recently went along to the Irish launch of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. In a wonderful moment of convenience, I had an iPhone 6s protected with an Otterbox Symmetry case and a Screen Hero tempered glass screen protector. The phone wasn’t insured but the guys in Fix My I had sent it to me, literally to beat around the place. So in a roundabout way, the peace of mind insurance brings was just achieved by knowing I could break the phone and not be affected by it.

Disclaimer: you’ll have heard plenty about dodgy bloggers blagging freebies and not declaring ads etc. Neither myself or Goosed took payment to do this. I needed a disposable phone and the lads wanted their logic put to the test. At worst it was bartering. Now, back to the fun.

At the Samsung launch, there were various rooms set up to show off the features of Samsung’s new camera. My personal favourite was the slow motion room with trampolines. Cue Martin having some fun with an iPhone and trampolines:

The phone survived the lot and the gathering crowd were being entertained by the crazy man bouncing an iPhone 6s off a trampoline. In short, that meant I couldn’t really stop myself. I must have bounced that iPhone off the trampolines at least ten times. The important thing to take away from all that bouncing is that the phone survived.

Honestly, that picture at the end of the video was taken in the trampoline room immediately after hopping the iPhone off the trampolines and the ground. I’ll admit that shortly afterwards while messing around and stamping on the iPhone (come on, I was at a Samsung event) I did manage to crack the screen protector:

Ok, so I destroyed the screen protector and while that phone wasn’t really mine, imagine that was my iPhone 6s. I would have just created a €375 bill to fix my screen. Instead, it played out like this:

The Otterbox case took the brunt of the repeated impacts
When the Otterbox could do no more, the Screen Hero put its life on the line
Should that have failed, phone insurance would have saved me from a €375 bill

The trifecta. I get uneasy when I see people with no case, glass or insurance. If you have a flagship smartphone, you really should consider getting one of these as they are likely to pay for themselves over their lifetime. I also recommend not hopping your phone off a trampoline.

Cambridge Analytica: What the Zuck is Going On?

Marty

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22nd March 2018

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Cambridge Analytica: What the Zuck is Going On?

While it’s hard to feel sympathy for the social media giant, Facebook has had a hellish week. To be honest, Facebook has had a start to 2018 they’d rather forget though I’m sure their CEO Mark Zuckerberg wishes he could go back to discussing algorithm changes. Heading towards the end of March, Facebook has already faced into:

research showing Facebook is bad for mental health
backlash over fake news battling algorithm changes
Cambridge Analytica

As the news broke about Cambridge Analytica, many expected to see the social media giant’s CEO emerge with a strong statement. Instead, Mark Zuckerberg was silent for five days and only today broke his silence.

Cambridge Analytica: The Latest Scandal for Facebook

At this stage, it’s unlikely that Cambridge Analytica is a new news story for you as we’ve had days of reporting and news stories breaking in papers, online and on TV. Cambridge Analytica is a data company who infamously played a major part in getting Trump into the White House. Exploting how Facebook provided access to user data through Facebook apps, Trump’s campaign planners were able to pinpoint specific users with tailored messages in order to influence their voting behaviour. This wasn’t any small operation either with Cambridge Analytica having access to over 50 million sets of Facebook user data. While Facebook didn’t leak data as such, they didn’t do a whole lot to fix the problem when it was highlighted to the and have since come under massive pressure.

A Lack of Trust in Facebook

Since news of Cambridge Analytica broke, Facebook has seen a massive drop in their share price to the tune of 7%. In total, during the first two days of the scandal breaking, Facebook’s value dropped $50 billion. This came as a result of reduced trust in the platform from the public; a drop in trust felt by the whole tech industry with the likes of Amazon and Apple also seeing stock price drops.

With his company reeling, shareholders grabbing pitchforks and #DeleteFacebook movements gathering momentum, Zuckerberg showed he true colours and remained completely silent. Nadda. Zip. Five days passed before Zuckerberg broke silence and made a statement from his own Facebook profile.

So Mark, What the Zuck is Going On?

Zuckerberg set the tone with his statement pretty quickly. Highlight that Facebooks has taken action, continues to act and really cares about the privacy of its users. While his initial post suggested Facebook has no intention of apologising for not protecting the data of users which would eventually fall into the hands of Cambridge Analytica, Zuckerberg did apologise in a CNN interview:

I’m really sorry this happened, our responsibility now is to make sure this doesn’t happen again

The statements reads like a plea to the public as the Facebook CEO tugs on heart strings, stating Facebook has “a responsibility to protect your data, and if [they] can’t then [they] don’t deserve to serve you”. However, the statement descends into the ludicrious when, upon learning that Cambridge Analytica had huge volumes of data Facebook effectively asked the company to promise they would delete data they acquired while violating the platform’s terms of service. But Cambridge Analytica obviously had their fingers crossed when they made that promise as they then went on to use massive volumes of data to influence American voters.

What Is Facebook Doing to Improve Privacy?

Zuckerberg’s statement also outlined plans to improve Facebook’s ability to protect the public’s privacy.

First of all, there’s going to be loads of audits and bans for developers who are taking the piss with people’s data. Next up, as should have always been the case really, Facebook will start limiting the data apps can access, only providing access when it’s really needed. If you stop using apps too, that access will be revoked. Finally, Zuckerberg outlined plans to introduce a timeline feature which will help users understand exactly which apps can access their data and make revoking access from these apps much easier.

In a later CNN interview, Zuckerberg also stated Facebook would be informing everyone whose data was affected by this breach. As it may be difficult to pinpoint who was involved he went further to include users that even might have had their data compromised.

On regulation, Zuckerberg also said he wasn’t sure Facebook shouldn’t be regulated and that he may answer government requests to speak if he is the right person to speak on the topic.

Should You Delete Your Facebook?

If you’re really concerned about all of this, deleting your Facebook is a really bad idea. All those apps will retain access to your data and it will become much harder to revoke their access to your data. If you really do want to delete your Facebook account, I strongly recommend getting your apps tidied up before you do anything else.

If you’re more concerned about seeing poorly informed content and ill-researched articles, install this Chrome Extension: Who Targets Me. Ahead of our Eighth Amendment vote, I strongly recommend you install this extension to better understand who is targeting you with messages.

Bonus: Podcast

We discuss the Cambridge Analytica scandal on Episode 5 of Tech Yurt

Updated 22/03/2018: Includes further information from CNN interview

Cambridge Analytica: Why Voting to Repeal the Eighth is More Important Than Ever

Marty

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20th March 2018

0

Cambridge Analytica: Why Voting to Repeal the Eighth is More Important Than Ever

During the 2016 Presidential election in the United States, few thought Donald Trump would become President. With their EU membership on the line, few believed the UK taking to the polls would see a majority vote for leave as Brexit became a reality. Democracy has given us these two massive shocks and others in recent years because democracy isn’t always clear-cut; a fact that people in high places are keen to exploit. With Ireland heading towards a May referendum, I wanted to show you why voting to Repeal the Eight is more important than ever.

How Trump and Brexit Votes Were Influenced

Like I said, democracy isn’t always clear-cut as voters are often on the fence waiting for something to influence them; these are known as swing voters. Steve Bannon, a senior Trump strategist during his election campaign, appreciated the power of social media in reaching these swing voters. Alongside the cash investment and leadership of billionaire heiress Rebekah Mercer, Bannon harnessed huge volumes of Facebook data to help influence the behaviour of voters, assisting Trump to the White House.

At the core of Bannon’s strategy to harness the power of Facebook is Cambridge Analytica, where Mercer sits on the board. The depths of Cambridge Analytica’s involvement in the Trump campaign were astronomical after the company gained access to the data of 50 million Facebook users. Armed with this data and the guidance of Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign was able to tailor targeted messages directed towards voters and influence them to vote Trump.

Harnessing Facebook’s Data

Facebook denied they experienced a breach and that this data was gathered through Facebook apps before being sold on to third parties, breaching the platform’s terms of service. Regardless, many, myself included, believe Facebook neglected to provide sufficient care for the personal data of their users, taking three years to repair the loophole which allowed Cambridge Analytics to harvest personal data from 50 million users.

While this all sounds very scary, it’s with some relief I can say that was the US election. With a little more unease, I have to highlight similar activity took place during the UK’s Brexit vote. While Cambridge Analytica might not have been involved, Kanto was, a company founded by Thomas Borwick; a former Cambridge Analytica employee. Unfortunately, it gets even worse. It’s suspected that a lot of money is being put behind anti-abortion ads ahead of Ireland’s referendum on the Eighth Amendment in an effort to swing votes to save the Eighth.

Why Voting to Repeal the Eighth is More Important Than Ever

Politicians, while generally questionable at the best of times, are doing the right thing and calling for increased transparency into online political campaigns. This follows fears that anti-abortion messages, ripe with disinformation, are being spread across social media. While both sides of the debate have raised questions about the use of social media as a campaign tool, The Times revealed in January how anti-abortion supporters hired Kanto to run digital campaigns to influence voters with a view to retaining the Eighth Amendment.

The most recent Irish referendum saw gay marriage become legal with 62.1% voting yes and 37.9 voting no. Right now, about half of voters would appear to be in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment, leaving plenty of wiggle room for outside influence over social media and disinformation to swing this vote, just as was the case with Trump and Brexit.

This was confirmed in a statement provided to Goosed.ie from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner which stated “micro-targeting of social media users with political advertisements and sponsored stories remains an ongoing issue today. In the absence of laws specifically regulating such political targeting online, the Irish DPC intends to issue guidance to users in terms of how they can trace why they are receiving certain advertisements and stories on social media, how they can mute or turn off receiving advertisements from those sources and how they can amend their ad preferences to control the types of ads they are served.”

Not only is it critical everyone retains a healthy level of scepticism when it comes to online, but it’s critical you get out and vote. Whether it’s in May or June, when this referendum goes ahead it’s likely to run quite close so be sure to get out and vote #RepealThe8th

Cambridge Analytica: Everything You Need to Know And How It Affects You

Marty

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20th March 2018

0

You log in, like some photos from the weekend, share a cat post scroll, scroll and scroll some more then fall asleep. Tomorrow, you rinse and repeat. Facebook is an odd place but it also seems to be a fairly harmless place too, right? Thanks to classic investigative journalism by The Guardian, Observer and Channel 4 in the UK, Facebook finds itself at the centre of a massive news story thanks to a research company called Cambridge Analytics. What is this all about and more importantly what does it mean for you?

Cambridge Analytica

There’s a chance you’ve heard of Cambridge Analytica, a company whose name was picked solely to impress former Trump advisor Steve Bannon. Cambridge Analytica rose to fame for their secretive role in getting Donald Trump into the White House through their use of massive quantities of Facebook user data. With this data, the company were able to help the Trump campaign shape targetted, personalised messages, designed to influence the general public on an emotional level.

Now, this is no massive story in itself, but how Cambridge Analytica gathered data and the lengths they apparently offer to go through to get the job done are a different story.

How Cambridge Analytica Works

As a massive data company, Cambridge Analytica depends on huge quantities of information to form their lifeblood. Naturally, the likes of Facebook actually are rather protective when it comes to data so Cambridge Analytica used some alternative means of data gathering. One such method was revealed by a former employee of the company; a founding member by the name of Christoper Wylie.

Who is Christopher Wylie?

Christopher Wylie is a data scientist and as with many numbers based people, it would appear he was deeply involved in problem-solving and information trafficking before he truly realised the impact of what he was at. Wylie revealed that Cambridge Analytica harvested data from over 50 million Facebook users through Facebook apps. Yup. You know those stupid apps that work out what age you’ll be when you die? Well, they could be feeding a lot more than your own morbid curiosity.

Wylie revealed how Cambridge Analytica paid groups of users to complete personality tests through a Facebook app. To access the app, users had to provide permission for the app to process their personal data. Meet the tip of the iceberg. With this permission, Cambridge Analytica was able to weave their way through even more users, namely friends and family of the user that initially provided permission.

Using this method, Cambridge Analytica harvested data from over 50 million users and there’s, unfortunately, an Irish connection too.

Cambridge Analytica: The Irish Connection

Back in 2011, Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems highlighted a loophole in how Facebook app permissions provided by one user could allow the harvesting of data from friends and family of that user without the users providing consent or even being aware of what was going on. This would appear to be the exact process described publically by Cambridge Analytica founder Christopher Wylie. After uncovering the loophole, Schrems raised the issue with an Irish regulator in 2011, as the social media giant provides Ireland as it’s EU-wide base.

I got in touch with the Data Protection Commissioner of Ireland who confirmed the “issue of ‘friends’ data being harvested when a Facebook user engaged with an app on Facebook was resolved by Facebook in May 2014 when access to friends data was restricted by a platform upgrade”. This came as a result of a 2012 recommendation by the DPC. The Irish DPC is also following up with Facebook Ireland to establish what level of oversight the platform has over app developers and how they use the platform.

The statement from the DPC also highlighted that “micro-targeting of social media users with political advertisements and sponsored stories remains an ongoing issue today. In the absence of laws specifically regulating such political targeting online, the Irish DPC intends to issue guidance to users in terms of how they can trace why they are receiving certain advertisements and stories on social media, how they can mute or turn off receiving advertisements from those sources and how they can amend their ad preferences to control the types of ads they are served.”

This is a worrying thought to consider as Ireland heads towards a referendum on the 8th Amendment. In January it emerged that an Irish anti-abortion group hired Kanto, a company founded by a former employee of Cambridge Analytica which offers similar analytical social services. Now many are wondering what involvement social will have over Ireland’s democratic process following similar movements influencing the US election and Brexit.

In the past few days, leaks and reports have begun streaming through the internet with British investigators seeking warrants to search Cambridge Analytica’s servers. But what’s the big deal? What harm can data do?

Cambridge Analytica: Hijacking Democracy With Faceless Propaganda

Through the continued reports emerging from various journalists digging deep into the story, the incredible influence of Cambridge Analytica has become clear. Their efforts go far beyond analysing your likes and shares, revealed through undercover recordings of meetings between journalists and Cambridge Analytica chiefs; Mark Turnbull and Alexander Nix.

Mark Turnbull: Restrained and Calculated

At first, Mark Turnbull would appear to be somewhat restrained in what he believes to be acceptable services offered by Cambridge Analytica. Trawling through user data, in a secretly taped meeting, Turnbull outlined how Cambridge Analytica could pinpoint the moment to target people and with what kind of message to influence their voting behaviour ahead of the Trump election, Kenyan elections and Brexit vote.

There’s no point running campaigns on facts. Successful campaigns are run on emotions.

While Turnbull outlined some fairly terrible facts surrounding how Cambridge Analytica operates, it would be nothing compared to the company’s CEO, Alexander Nix.

Alexander Nix: CEO of Cambridge Analytica

As Channel 4’s video footage continued to document what the data company offered to potential clients, it became clear there are no lines. While Turnbull did try to establish limits with the “prospective clients”, company CEO, Alexander Nix, knocked down that facade. Nix publically discussed quite a bit of Cambridge Analytica’s work on the likes of the Trump campaign but videos detailing the lengths his company would go through to get the job done are jaw-dropping to watch.

While Turnbull outlined how the company would influence the public through carefully planned videos based on user data and predictive data analytics, he was also careful to highlight the company was not in the business of distributing fake news. In steps Nix who shows a lot more interest in doing whatever needs to be done to achieve their goals, whether it be entrapment through sex workers or filming dodgy deals. Aye, Cambridge Analytica has found itself in a whole world of shit; but they’re not alone.

What Does All of this Mean for Facebook?

Facebook was slow to react when Schrems highlighted the initial data loophole to Irish regulators but as this new chapter in the Cambridge Analytica story broke they scrambled a little faster. First of all, Facebook was quick to say this wasn’t a data breach as all data was accessed by users providing permission. They did point out that Cambridge Analytica, through a third party, access data breaching their policies and banned those involved; including Christopher Wylie.

Regardless, Facebook does indeed have a lot to answer for and we’ll be watching this story closely as it develops in the coming weeks and months.

What Does this Mean for Facebook Users?

While the actions of Cambridge Analytica are largely despicable and far beyond the fault of users, users can take action to reduce the likelihood of their data being handled and used by third parties. Take some time to run Facebook’s built-in privacy audit – at the very least. You should also spend a substantial amount of time looking through the apps that have access to your data. Don’t feel like this doesn’t concern you because it really does. We’re entering a new age online where data is a massive commodity, turning the gears of the world.

I strongly recommend reading this fantastic article by Hazel O’Keeffe, detailing how to take the first steps, right through to ‘Fort Knoxing’ your Facebook profile.

Update: Article updated at 14:00 20/03/2018 to include statement from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.

The Complete Guide To Irish Mobile Network Plans

Tech News

Jon

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18th March 2018

0

The Complete Guide To Irish Mobile Network Plans

As I am sure you all know by now, iD Ireland has officially gone into liquidation leaving 40,000 Irish customers looking for a new mobile network provider. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, today’s mobile network market is awash with slightly over-complicated service offerings all wrapped in up a neat cloak of jargon. While this is not intentional it can be confusing for customers and with the rake of options available it can be difficult to find the plan to suit your personal needs. So to help, we have put on our old phone shop staff uniforms and put together this one complete guide to help guide you to your next mobile provider:

Prepay Offers

Ok so let’s get stuck into this. The customers really feeling the effect of the iD Mobile liquidation is prepay customers. Any remaining credit a customer currently has will need to be used up by 6 April or it’s gone and we’ve had people contacting us with over €100 credit on their accounts with no offer of refunds. Although it might sound cutthroat it’s actually impossible to transfer credit from one network to another and refunding isn’t an option, outlined in iD Mobile’s terms of service. Still, there are plenty of good prepay deals out there to help take the sting out of things.

Vodafone

Vodafone is nationally renowned for their top-level coverage. So if coverage is more important than price Vodafone will always come out as one of the top two alongside eir. With that in mind, their prepay offers are actually quite competitively priced…

Vodafone X Student Offer

€20 per month will get you 20GB of data, 100mins of calls and unlimited texts. You also get the choice between free Spotify, Sky Sports Mobile or unlimited weekend service as a little extra to sweeten the deal.

Standard customers will get a choice between a €20 & €30 euro top-up options.

For €20 you can get unlimited calls and texts to all Irish networks with 1GB of Data or Vodafone calls and texts, 100minutes and texts with 6GB of data while the €30 option gets you unlimited Irish calls and texts, 100 international minutes and 8gb of data. If that’s not all customers can also avail of Data Rollover, so if you only use 4Gb of the 6 you have been given the extra 2GB will move into next month. Really handy for people whose data usage can change month to month.

eir

With eir, the prepay system, just like Meteor of old, is rather simple. For €10 you get unlimited calls. For €20 choose between 15GB data with unlimited social media access, unlimited calls or unlimited texts while for €30 you get all three. The only catch is here is the credit gets taken so you will show a balance of 0, still not a bad price to pay for a good deal with good coverage. Oh and right now if you port and take a €20 package they will give you an extra €10 for the first 6 months.

Tesco

As an MVNO their signal will be similar to that of iD mobile but unfortunately, Tesco Mobile don’t believe in 4G. However, their prepay offer is rather good. Unlimited calls, Tesco texts, 10GB of data all for €15. You also keep your balance which can be used for texts or add-ons. If this appeals to you please check out their coverage checker to make sure you will get service.

Three

Ah, Three; the data people. If any of the above plans aren’t floating your boat you can get a nice little package with Three for only €20. With this, you get Three to Three calls, texts to all networks and unlimited data. The cherry on top is access to music with Deezer for three months and access to their 3Plus rewards system which includes early access to gigs in the 3Arena.

Sim-Only Deals

We covered these recently but if you are thinking sim-only might be for you, pop over and give that a read you can always come back to check out your options with a phone. If you are an iD Mobile customer looking for a new network, eir seems to offer the best sim-only offer. €15 per month for 12-months, unlimited calls and texts, 15GB of data where most social platforms don’t count towards your data usage and access to eir Sports, including BT Sports. Not too shabby.

Bill Pay Options

As with everything we have covered so far, there is a small pile of ‘phone included bill pay options’. To be honest with you most will be a 24-month contract while there are one or two which will be 18-months, but we will get to that.

Vodafone

Vodafone offers three different packages, with different levels of service for the money you will pay and the cost of the handset upfront.

Their introductory package is €40 per month where you will receive unlimited Vodafone calls and 100 mins to other networks, unlimited texts and 5GB of data. You will generally pay more for a phone upfront on this plan in comparison to their higher plans but generally, they have good offers on midrange handsets like the Samsung A5 or Huawei P9. Alternatively, if you need more minutes or data then the €60 per month plan might be more your speed. For this you get unlimited Irish calls and texts with 15GB of data and access to Sky Sports or Spotify Premium. Their big plan is only for those who need a lot of minutes (if data cannot be used), this package offers 30GB of data and 500 international minutes for a whopping €80 per month.

Three

Three, to their credit, keep thing nice and simple with three simple plans. €30, €45 and €60 per month and the only thing that is different is the flexi unit with unlimited data available on all packages. What the f*** is a flexi unit I hear you ask? Ok, so a flexi unit is either 2 text messages or a minute of a call. So with the basic package you get 100 of these units, so 200 texts or 100 minutes of calls or mix and match however you choose. Just keep track of it. The €45 package gives 350 units while the largest give unlimited. Each plan also comes with access to music app Deezer as well as 3Plus rewards.

Tesco

In my humble opinion, their network connection simply isn’t up to scratch. However their packages are quite well priced. So if price is the most important thing for you they might be worth a look. Unlimited mins, unlimited texts, 15GB data all come for €50 a month. 500mins, 500 texts, 15GB data for €30 a month plan. To be honest they have a €20 and €10 package but the usage is very low on both.

Virgin Mobile

Before you think about going with Virgin as yourself one question. Is your broadband with them? If not move along as you will get a better service with a bigger network for the same money. If you are with Virgin broadband hang on a minute this gets interesting. Like iD of old, your phone and service contract are separated to give you more clarity on what you are actually paying for. Their base package is €25 per month and then it comes down to what phone you choose. Say a Samsung Galaxy S8 for example you will pay something upfront for the phone and then €60 a month for the duration of contract. However if you choose a lower tiered model your monthly payments could be as low as €40pm. Why being a Virgin customer is vital is simple, for the first 6 months of your contract you receive a €12 discount to sweeten the deal.

eir

Once again are you with eir for your home broadband services? If so you can get great combined deals. Being honest, the offers are pretty good even if you’re home broadband isn’t with eir. They offer so many different packages that I won’t go into the detail and as they say a picture paints a thousand words. Just keep an eye on the second column that shows your post-introductory offer price.

So if you are with eir for your broadband:

and if not:

The Goosed Recommendation

This actually caused a bit of debate among the team as two of us are currently in that pool of 40,000 customers looking for a new deal. Really it comes down to what you as a user feel you need from your service. While prepay works for some people, billpay will suit others. While price might be more important to you, coverage is more important to someone else.

Our best recommendation is this: if you are currently on a bill or sim-only contract, download your last three bills and give them a read through. This will show you exactly what you are using and should give you a better idea of what you actually need. Don’t pay more just for the sake of more minutes when you won’t use them.

Go online to each of the networks and check their coverage in your area, because cheap so you can actually use your phone. Finally, weigh up whether or not you need a new phone right now or if you can wait a few months for the new stuff to launch. Going sim-only over bill pay for a couple months while you choose a new phone can save you a good few quid. So to summarize follow these three steps:

Check your current usage
Check coverage
Decide if you need a new phone

We really do hope this helps. If you have any questions about this or anything else (preferably tech related, we wouldn’t be great at the old life advice) please give us a shout through any of our social channels either privately or publicly and we will do our best to get you the answers.

See Ireland in 360: The Goosed Micro Tour of Ireland

Marty

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17th March 2018

0

See Ireland in 360: The Goosed Micro Tour of Ireland

We recently got to play with the Tesla Model S and boy, oh boy, was it fun. To make the most of it, I got in touch with the guys behind the Insta360 Pro; a Google Streetview-quality 360-degree camera. I got some shots in the Model S and the Model X, but being honest I didn’t feel it did the camera justice. So I set off around Ireland (Dublin and Kilkenny – I’m not superman) and created some mini-tours for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own home.

Goosed 360 Tour of Dublin

Of course, you’d expect me to head straight over to Templebar but that’s boring and you can just look at the Templebar live stream whenever you want. No, I wanted to show off something a little different, so here are some of the spots my tour will take you.

Dublin Castle in 360

Dublin Castle is an incredibly British looking place if you ever tour the inside, but then again that makes sense given it was the British base in Ireland prior to Independence. Personally, I love this place. The courtyard is stunning, the surrounding grounds are beautiful and the nearby Chester Beatty Library is a lovely spot.

The courtyard is also the spot where one of my favourite movie moments was filmed:

Trinity College in 360

One of the world’s best-known universities, Trinity has mightily impressive grounds. Now, had I brought a 360 camera into the stunning library or anywhere near the Book of Kells, I’m pretty sure I’d have been tossed out by security. I did manage to get a decent shot of the Front Gate Entrance. Funny story about that entrance; a couple of years ago a man drove his car through the front gate causing €33,000 worth of damage.

St. Stephen’s Green Park in 360

Nothing beats a quiet oasis in the middle of a bustling city. St. Stephen’s Green Park is Dublin’s answer to Central Park. It’s not just an open green either with plenty of cool things to see and even some parts easy to miss.

The history of the park is fascinating too with Arthur Guinness at the centre of it all. Believe it or not, it’s not the Arthur Guinness that everyone knows after creating the ‘black stuff’. Instead, this Artur Guinness who would go on to be known as Lord Ardilaun bought the park, paid off any related debts, landscaped it and then returned it to the public.

Once you reach St. Stephen’s Green on the Goosed 360 Tour of Dublin, you’ll also be brought into a section of the part that many miss completely.

Tour Dublin in 360

Goosed 360 Tour of Kilkenny

The Medieval Capital of Ireland, the Marble City and the home of the Cats. Kilkenny is known as many things but whatever you call it, it’s a beautiful city, striking a balance between modernity and cultural history. I didn’t want to take too much away from an actual visit to the city, but there are two beautiful spots I just had to whip out the 360 camera for.

St. Canice’s Tower in 360

I’m from Kilkenny yet I never paid the €4 it takes to climb up 100ft into the air and get the most breathtaking view of the city. I’m shocked I never did it, but with the InstaPro 360 in my backpack and a tripod in my right hand, I very carefully climbed up the tower. My advice is just climb up and leave everything downstairs because I actually thought the tripod would kill me.

Kilkenny Castle in 360

Kilkenny’s answer to Dublin’s answer to Central Park! Kilkenny Castle boasts a stunning green parkland and one of Ireland’s best-known castles. There used to be four walls but with one destroyed you get the most unique view of the structure. There’s also an incredible rose garden but typically I was got my shots when there wasn’t a rose to be seen.

You can enjoy the best of the park in 360 and the stunning views of Kilkenny from 100ft in the air below:

Tour Kilkenny in 360

If you like the look of the 8K 360-degree camera I used to capture these shots, chat to Conn’s Cameras in Dublin.