π Meta's Llama Pivot, Military Data Leak, Google Secrets
Good morning. Itβs Wednesday, November 20. Today we are covering:
How Mark Zuckerberg has fully rebuilt Meta around Llama
Anyone Can Buy Data Tracking US Soldiers and Spies to Nuclear Vaults and Brothels in GermanyΒ
How Google Spent 15 Years Concealing Its Internal ConversationsΒ
China's SpaceSail to Challenge Elon Musk's Starlink in BrazilΒ
Google is further cracking down on sites publishing 'parasite SEO' contentΒ
Letβs dive in
How Mark Zuckerberg has fully rebuilt Meta around Llama
By Sharon Goldman via Fortune
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta released Llama 2, an open-source generative AI model, in July 2023 to challenge OpenAI's GPT-4, aiming to drive innovation and leverage community contributions while embedding generative AI into core Meta products like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The open-source strategy helped Meta rapidly close the gap with competitors, positioning Llama models as a cornerstone for AI-driven tools, despite investor skepticism over the long-term monetization of this approach.
Meta's pivot to generative AI has redefined its industry role, with Llama downloads exceeding 600 million and plans for advanced iterations like Llama 4 driving significant capital investment and ambitions for artificial general intelligence (AGI).
π: Excited (ok, stoked!) to share this @FortuneMagazineΒ online/print deep-dive into how Mark Zuckerberg went all-in on open-source AI (yes, come at me, really open weights) and made Meta's Llama the cornerstone of the company's generative AI ambitions. - Sharon Goldman (@sharongoldman)
Anyone Can Buy Data Tracking US Soldiers and Spies to Nuclear Vaults and Brothels in GermanyΒ
By Dhruv Mehrotra via WIREDΒ
US military and intelligence personnel in Germany are at risk due to the sale of mobile location data, which reveals their movements at sensitive sites, including bases housing nuclear weapons and NSA surveillance facilities.
Data collected by US-based brokers exposes service membersβ routines, vulnerabilities in military security protocols, and off-base activities, enabling potential misuse by foreign governments, terrorists, or criminals.
Experts and officials warn the unregulated data broker industry is a critical national security threat, with calls for urgent action as investigations reveal widespread data leakage from 11 key US military sites in Germany.
π: Billions of coordinates sold by a US data broker exposed the movements of thousands of US military & intel personnelβfrom nuclear vaults and NSA hubs to their homes and brothels. The DoD knows the data is out there but canβt stop its sale. - Dhruv Mehrotra (@dmehro)
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How Google Spent 15 Years Concealing Its Internal ConversationsΒ
By David Streitfeld via The New York Times
Google's 15-year deletion strategy involved suppressing internal communications through measures like default off-the-record chat settings, invoking attorney-client privilege, and discouraging written records, as revealed in multiple antitrust trials.
Judges in these trials criticized Google's practices as a "systemic culture of suppression", alleging deliberate efforts to evade accountability and destroy evidence, including in cases involving monopoly power and anti-competitive behavior.
Despite changing its policies in 2023 to save all chat histories, Google employees reportedly shifted to encrypted platforms like WhatsApp, reflecting ongoing skepticism about the company's commitment to transparency.
π: How naive. I worked for an old-fashioned publishing company that did the *exact* same things: document retention policy, avoiding words like "dominate," & copying lawyers on *everything.* - Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis (@jeffjarvis)
China's SpaceSail to Challenge Elon Musk's Starlink in BrazilΒ
By Daniel Carvalho via Bloomberg
China's SpaceSail, led by Jason Jie Zheng, plans to enter Brazil's satellite internet market in 2026, directly challenging Elon Musk's Starlink with a focus on areas lacking fiber-optic infrastructure.
The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras S.A. to study local demand for satellite internet solutions, aiming to provide connectivity in underserved regions.
This move positions SpaceSail as a key competitor in the global satellite internet race, highlighting China's growing presence in high-tech industries outside its borders.
π: Elon Muskβs Chinese rival in the satellite internet business says it plans to start operations in Brazil in 2026 - Stephen Wicary (@wicary)
Google is further cracking down on sites publishing 'parasite SEO' contentΒ
By Mia Sato via The VergeΒ
Google has strengthened its policy against "parasite SEO" content, targeting articles exploiting site rankings with irrelevant or spam-like material, regardless of whether publishers or third-party firms created it.
The updated rules highlight that site reputation abuse, such as AI-generated product recommendations by firms like AdVon Commerce on platforms like Sports Illustrated and USA Today, will result in penalties.
By clarifying its stance, Google aims to maintain search quality standards and ensure that content aligns with the primary purpose of the hosting website.
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