The FCC announced that all carriers must adopt the STIR/SHAKEN protocol by June 30, 2021. The protocol is designed to combat robocalls, specifically aimed at the calls trying to hide their caller ID. The protocol requires carriers to verify phone numbers. The FCC estimates fraudulent call schemes cost Americans approximately 10 million per year. For the implementation to work carriers must test it with other networks. It will require cooperation among telecommunication companies. A way to display a “call verified” stamp when a unknown or unsaved number calls your device. Robocalls won’t disappear overnight but this is a step in the correct direction to preserve our privacy.

https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-31-fcc-stir-shaken-june-30-2021.html

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the government is using data from the mobile advertising industry. Government officials at the federal and state level, as well as those at the CDC,  having been tracking the movement of the public to better understand the COVID-19. 

Data collection doesn’t include personal information, such as name or number. This still raises privacy concerns nonetheless. The government says they is all to make sure citizens are complying with the stay at home and shelter-in-place order. These circumstances reduce our privacy to less than what it is. We are uncertain of how the government will use this data after the threat of COVID-19 drops.

Taking a different view the data could come in hand can see this data as invaluable to tracking the spread of the virus. The issue is people have to volunteer the rights to their location at all times.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/government-tracking-mobile-data-coronavirus/

The lobbying efforts of an alliance known as Financial Innovation Now, has finally paid off, as PayPal, Intuit & Square have all been approved to participate in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program, it provides aide in the form of forgivable loans. These forgivable loans are for small businesses that keep all employees on their payroll for atleast two months. The $350 billion small business loan program is a part of Congress $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, it is aid at those businesses with fewer than 500 employees. 

Since 2013, PayPal has provided loans and cash advances to business owners. Those efforts to date have provided access to more than $15 billion in funding for over 305,000 small businesses. PayPal become the first non-bank institution to be approved to distribute loans under the SBA Program. Intuit and Square followed as approved by the government to provide loans for small businesses.  Financial Innovation Now leader wrote to lawmakers about these specific companies because of their ability to “reach those businesses most vulnerable, in a more timely fashion than traditional financial institutions.”

https://flip.it/VIdBiB

This article gave an interesting look into the measures snapchat is taking to help businesses reach their audience during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are providing marketers with resources, insights and tools to reach their audience in this unique time we are living through. The article pulls directly from the resource itself and provides some very interesting insight into the current trends in snapchat use. Of the most interesting was the graph at the end reflecting how much snapchat use has increased, as well as other digital media streaming services and their projections. Of the other numbers, snapchat expects that their users will see a 35% expected increase in online shopping, and an overall increase in the use of shopping and food delivery apps. The insights that snapchat is providing will be important for marketing professionals to take advantage of when business is no longer functioning as usual

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/snapchat-launches-new-covid-19-business-resource-center-to-assist-marketers/576153/

The Pentagon has released three short videos showing an “unidentified aerial phenomenon” that had been previously released by a private company. The videos show service members reacting in awe. The Navy previous acknowledged the videos back in September but are releasing them now due to “misconceptions by the public”.

“These aircrafts are displaying characteristics that aren’t currently within the inventory of the United States or foreign inventory that we’re aware of,” Luis Elizondo says, former head of a classified program. Elizondo resigned in 2017 in protest of the secrecy surrounding the program and funding disputes.

With the Pentagon releasing classified footage of UFO’s Elizondo expresses his thoughts on Twitter. He’s glad that the government released the sightings but says it only scratches the surface. We should really think about the national security risk surrounding this issue.

https://flip.it/G9_GfG

Backed by the Gates Foundation, a new research initiative, Amazon will distribute at-home coronavirus assessment kits, then deliver the collected samples to FDA-approved test facilities. Amazon Care is a health arm formed by Amazon initially for internal employee care. They will be handling the delivery of the kits along with the transportation of collected samples to testing labs. The Amazon Care driver who are doing the test kit drop-offs and deliveries are specifically trained in proper handling of sensitive medical materials. Kits will be limited, but include a mouth swab similar to other kinds of swab test taking place in testing facilities. Should a person test positive for COVID-19, the person who provided the sample will then be contacted by a healthcare work for further instructions, which will include advice on how to seek treatment and prevent transmission.

https://flip.it/JBP-Bb