Iran using all resources to sell oil in 'grey market': deputy minister

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has mobilized all its resources to sell oil in a "grey market",by passing U.S. sanctions that Tehran sees as illegitimate, state media quoted Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia as saying on Sunday. The United States, which last year withdrew from a 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers, has told buyers of Iranian oil to stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions.

Iran says it will continue to export oil in defiance of U.S. sanctions, part of a campaign by Washington aimed at halting Tehran's ballistic missile program and curbing its regional power. "We have mobilized all of the country's resources and are selling oil in the 'gray market'," state news agency IRNA quoted Zamaninia as saying.

Zamaninia gave no details about the "gray market", but Iran is widely reported to have sold oil at steep discounts and often through private firms during sanctions earlier this decade. "We certainly won't sell 2.5 million barrels per day as under the (nuclear deal)," Zamaninia said, giving no figures for current sales. "We will need to make serious decisions about our financial and economic management, and the government is working on that." "This is not smuggling. This is countering sanctions which we do not see as just or legitimate," Zamaninia said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa-sanctions-oil/iran-using-all-resources-to-sell-oil-in-grey-market-deputy-minister-idUSKCN1SB07U

Google Confirms It Will Automatically Delete Your Data – What You Need To Know

Ahead of the annual Google I/O developer festival opening its doors on Tuesday, Google has already made one major announcement: it will soon start deleting your data automatically.

Writing in the official Google safety and security blog, David Monsees and Marlo McGriff, the product managers for Google search and maps respectively, say that the company is responding to user feedback asking to make managing data privacy and security simpler. "You can already use your Google Account to access simple on/off controls for Location History and Web & App Activity," they say, "and if you choose, to delete all or part of that data manually." What's new is the soon to be rolled out "auto-delete controls" that will enable users to set time limits on how long Google can save your data. Said to be arriving within weeks, the new controls will apply to location history as well as web and app activity data to start with. Users will be able to choose a time limit of between three and 18 months after which the data concerned will automatically delete on a rolling basis. You can already delete this data manually if you want, but the ability to have it deleted automatically is long overdue in my never humble opinion. Especially given reports last year that suggested Google was storing location data even when users had turned off location history and considering the somewhat arduous manual deletion process.

Not that everyone will want to delete this data of course. As with most things online these days it comes down to a choice between privacy and function. Actually, make that a balance between the two as it's rare for anyone to be totally binary when it comes to such matters truth be told. Google says that this data "can make Google products more useful for you, like recommending a restaurant that you might enjoy, or helping you pick up where you left off on a previous search." If you are of the don't store any of my location data thank you very much persuasion, then disabling location history altogether would seem like a better option given that some mobile apps can track location data when they aren't running. For everyone else, the new auto-deletion controls will be a welcome weapon in the "taking back control of at least some of your data" arsenal. Keep checking the Data & Personalization section of your Google account settings, specifically the "Manage your activity controls" option I would imagine, to see if the function has rolled out for you in the coming weeks.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/05/05/google-confirms-it-will-automatically-delete-your-data-what-you-need-to-know/#3fc6fb420d44

FTC split on punishing Mark Zuckerberg in settlement with Facebook

Federal regulators are split on whether to hold Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally responsible for data privacy issues at the social network. According to the New York Times, the Federal Trade Commission’s negotiations with the social network are coming to a close yet the agency’s five commissioners are still unable to agree on how to deal with the Facebook founder. Sources familiar with the talks tell the Times that along with the dissent over Zuckerberg, the FTC is also wrestling with the exact financial penalty to be levied against the company. Facebook is expecting to pay a record-breaking fine of somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion.

Facebook has already agreed to additional proposals included in the settlement which will increase oversight on the company. The social network would be tasked with hiring privacy officials at the leadership level and setting up a committee on the board focused on its data issues. The FTC would also appoint an independent watchdog to oversee Facebook’s data practices.

One proposal Facebook would not agree to, which is also a major point of debate among FTC commissioners, is holding CEO Mark Zuckerberg “personally responsible” for the company’s data mishandling. FTC chairman Joseph J. Simons likely has the votes necessary to approve a deal without stronger punishments for the social network, according to the Times’ sources. However, the Republican chairman is looking for a bipartisan agreement on the deal and is still seeking the vote of at least one of the agency’s two Democratic commissioners. The stakes could not be higher. The previous largest fine levied against a tech company was $22.5 million in 2012 when Google was found to be misrepresenting how certain tools were tracking people.

The FTC opened the investigation into Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which broke in 2018. The Facebook settlement is expected to send a strong message to other Silicon Valley tech companies when it comes to policies that abuse users’ privacy.

https://mashable.com/article/ftc-split-punishing-mark-zuckerberg-facebook/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

Mark Zuckerberg Buys $59 Million Lake Tahoe Compound

Don’t underestimate the reach of Mark Zuckerberg’s influence, whether online or in real estate. The Facebook founder and CEO secretly acquired two adjacent waterfront properties on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore, The Wall Street Journal reports, with the possibility of a obtaining a third property located just across the street. According to the WSJ, Zuckerberg used a limited liability company, a high-end wealth manager, and a series of nondisclosure agreements to ensure that news of the purchases would be kept under wraps; he even made sure that photos of the home were removed from listings online.

People familiar with the transactions, however, told the paper that the two properties Zuckerberg purchased are the Carousel Estate, formerly owned by the family of late investment banker Robert Quist, and the Brushwood Estate, previously owned by San Francisco philanthropist Tamara Fritz. The tech titan bought the Carousel Estate for $22 million in December, according to the WSJ, and later snapped up the Brushwood Estate for $37 million in January.

Zuckerberg's privacy concerns may have made interior images of the property scarce, but both homes have been described as understated. The Carousel Estate spans three-and-a-half acres, with a seven-bedroom main house and a rare marina-style pier meant to support a large yacht. The slightly larger Brushwood Estate sits on 6.2 acres, and is perhaps best known as the venue for the annual League to Save Lake Tahoe’s annual Oscar de la Renta fashion show lunch. The main house is a spacious 5,322 square feet and has six bedrooms; there's also a separate guesthouse and a private dock. Zuckerberg’s purchases are unusual given that homes in the area rarely trade hands, according to the WSJ, instead tending to be passed down through the same family. The dual purchase of the Lake Tahoe abodes adds substantial heft to Zuckerberg’s already expansive real-estate portfolio, which includes properties in San Francisco, Palo Alto, California, and Kauai, Hawaii.

https://news.yahoo.com/mark-zuckerberg-buys-59-million-201257646.html

Note: No end to what he will do to protect his privacy.