#data-collection

#data-collection

"For the first time, we can truly see how popular and meaningful the Appalachian Trail and its landscape are to millions of people," says Cinda Waldbuesser, president and CEO of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, in an official March 2026 statement.

When Windows 10 was released in 2015, it was immediately controversial, with critics zeroing in on one feature in particular: telemetry. I spent many months in those early days reading one article after another on the subject that read, in retrospect, like entries from the diary of a mad conspiracy theorist.

Whenever I hear about consumer data tracking, my half-century-old brain dredges up that Hall and Oates hit called "Private Eyes" with the refrain "they're watching you." I don't mean to incite Big Brother paranoia; I know I'm not being spied on everywhere I go, especially not in the seclusion of my home. But while using streaming devices, you can almost guarantee that your entertainment and advertisement preferences are being tracked.

Tesla told workers during a town hall last week that it plans to begin collecting data to train its humanoid robot at its Austin Gigafactory, insiders told Business Insider. The company is looking to train Optimus how to operate in the Texas facility, it said, adding that it was targeting a February start date. Tesla has been collecting data and training Optimus prototypes in its Fremont, California, factory for more than a year.

The issues you have raised have been passed to the Regulatory Compliance team to consider as part of our ongoing case into the charity.

Tesla has launched a hiring initiative for its Robotaxi program in its twentieth country, as the company posted two new jobs in Thailand this week. Tesla is hiring in Bangkok and Kowloon for the Vehicle Operator position, which is related to data collection, and is the first in Thailand, but the twentieth country overall, as the company tries to expand into other markets.

The importance of privacy is something we know a little bit about at ProPublica (formally, Pro Publica, Inc.). We've covered the ways in which businesses and government have breached the privacy and trust of consumers and citizens, and we think hard about how we protect the privacy of our sources. We hold ourselves to a high standard on these issues. ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

Boasting that "one of their company's signature products: software" uses "a mysterious algorithm to help landlords push the highest possible rents on tenants," Parsons wooed landlords. In a since-deleted video, he noted that apartment rents had recently increased by 14.5 percent, bragging that "never before have we seen these numbers" and prodding another executive to agree that RealPage was "driving it, quite honestly." Business Insider dubbed it landlords' "secret weapon."

Inside a glass-walled lab at Tesla's engineering headquarters, dozens of workers act out the motions of everyday life: lifting a cup, wiping a table, pulling open a curtain. They repeat each action hundreds of times during eight-hour shifts, and their work is captured by five cameras attached to their helmet and a heavy backpack. CEO Elon Musk sometimes stops by to watch, and Tesla investors visit regularly for demos. It's like being a "lab rat under a microscope," one former worker told Business Insider. The goal is simple: Teach Optimus, the company's robot, how to move like a human.

Meta announced on Wednesday that data collected from user interactions with its AI products will soon be used to sell targeted ads across its social media platforms. The company will update its privacy policy by December 16 to reflect the change, and will notify users in the coming days. The new policy applies globally, except for users in South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, where privacy laws prevent this type of data collection.

The report argued that improved data is especially critical now that federal Pell Grants have been restored to incarcerated students. "Better data is essential to realizing the promise of higher education in prison," the report noted. "With reliable, accessible, and ethical data practices, programs can better support student success, identify and address disparities, and advocate for resources and reform ... At this turning point, data is not just a tool for accountability-it is a foundation for educational quality and meaningful opportunity."