Lies, Scams and Data Mining
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Another YouTube Trust Problem – Fake LIVE Badges
Slapping LIVE on a channel avatar when nothing is live is pure theatre. It exploits the same reflex as red notification dots and fake urgency banners. Your brain sees “live”, assumes scarcity or relevance, and your thumb pauses. That’s the entire game. What makes it worse is that it trains people to distrust the signal…
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Scammers Have Hijacked Your Year in Review
Your inbox is probably full of year-end roundups. Some are real. Most of them are absolutely bollocks. Scammers have worked out that December is basically open season on our attention spans. We’re expecting these “year in review” emails from Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and whatever other platforms we’ve wasted our lives on this year. We’re primed…
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Why I Don’t Trust Freemium Security Plugins
Freemium broke my trust long before AI ever had the chance. A client messages me in a panic. Their WordPress site is apparently under “security risk”. Red badge, urgent tone, classic drama. The culprit? A freemium security plugin they’d installed themselves. It fires off an instant alert… then refuses to show what it’s actually found…
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The “Login Details Reminder” You Never Asked For
Your inbox is full of lies, and this one is a favourite: the fake “login details reminder” from a site you’ve never heard of, acting like it’s doing you a favour while trying to shaft you. It’s dressed up as a friendly nudge about your account, but the only “account activity” it cares about is…
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The Quiet Mess Behind “Smart” Doorbell Cameras
The tech companies want you to believe your fifty quid door camera makes you safer. In reality, you might be installing a 24/7 surveillance device for other people’s benefit, handing out free intelligence to burglars, and feeding a data machine that knows more about your life than your neighbours do. This isn’t tinfoil hat stuff.…
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Shop Like a Billionaire – or “You Get What You Pay For”
Every time you scroll through Temu looking for a bargain, tap “accept all cookies” without reading, or share one of those referral links promising something for free, you’re not winning. You’re being sold. And the people profiting from it are bloody brilliant at what they do. You’re Not the Customer. You’re the Product. This isn’t…
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The Great British Snow Panic and Media Fear Industry
In 1991, some friends and I drove across Canada in winter. We parked for lunch, came back to several inches of snow covering every vehicle in the now completely white parking area. We couldn’t see the roads. That’s snow. Real snow. And we carried on because that’s what you do when actual weather happens. It…