listening

We have all suspected that our cell phone is listening to us. The company that sold this technology has just recognized that it was a lie

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There are many people who are convinced that cell phones listen to everything we say. We have all had the same disturbing feeling when we see an ad for something we recently talked about with a friend or family member, but have never searched for on the internet. The most solid proof that they really listen to us was a leak from a company that sold a technology called “active listening” and it did exactly what you’re thinking. Well, it was all a big lie. what has happened. They count in Wired that the US Federal Trade Commission (FCT) has fined Cox Media Group $880,000 for deceiving its customers with its active listening technology. They have also fined two other companies, MindSift and 101 Digital Networks, $25,000 each. In total, $930,000 will be used to compensate businesses that were affected by this deception. What they sold. Cox Media Group claimed that its technology could capture conversations from cell phones, smart speakers, televisions and other devices. Then, using AI, they segmented the advertising based on what people said and also based on their location, which they also claimed to be able to obtain. Their excuse was that users had already agreed to be recorded by accepting the terms of service. The company didn’t have many scruples, just look at the slogan they used to sell the product: “Is it scary? Sure. Is it great for marketing? Without a doubt.” What it really was. According to the FCT, it was all a hoax. They were not able to listen through all those devices, nor could they know the location of people. What they did was buy generic email lists from data brokers and resold them for a price much higher than their real value. The FCT also notes that agreeing to generic terms of service does not constitute explicit consent to something as invasive as these recordings. Why it is important. We are surrounded by technology that has the potential to spy on us with microphones, not only mobile phones but speakers, headphones and even smart watches. Today has not been proven that cell phones listen to everything we say, but it is a very widespread belief and these companies decided not only to feed the conspiracy theory, but also to profit from it. The answer. When the cake was revealed, Cox Media Group attempted to place the blame on an unknown third-party vendor. Speaking to Wired, a company spokesperson said that “Our local marketing team relied on marketing materials provided by a third-party vendor about their product. We quickly removed the materials and stopped use of the product.” All three defendant companies admitted fault and agreed not to make false statements about their products in the future. Image | Xataka with Gemini In Xataka | Yes, the V16 beacons transmit your position in the event of an accident. No, the DGT cannot “spy” on you with them

how to access your Wrapped with your listening statistics from the day you registered

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Let’s tell you what is the new experience Your Years in Party Mode from Spotify, a kind of Wrapped with a summary of your main data since you registered on the platform. This is a special experience created by the streaming service to celebrate its twenty years of existence. Actually, this experience is quite simple, and it only shows you a few pieces of data, much less than what you can obtain with third-party services with which to collect your Spotify statistics. However, it still shows you some curious things like the first song you listened to or your most listened to artist. Therefore, we are going to tell you how can you launch this experience and what are the statistics that you will be able to see with it. In addition, you will also have a special playlist and several slides to share in stories of social networks. How to see your Wrapped with data since you signed up for Spotify To launch the experience of Your Years in Party Mode from Spotify, you have to enter the website spotify.com/20 in the browser of your mobile or your computer. If you do it on your mobile, you can directly open the Spotify app from within, and from your computer you will have a QR to scan with your mobile. Once you start the experience, you will have a kind of long history where your data is displayed. There are not several slides that you can navigate, but a single one where everything is shown little by little, but with buttons that allow you to interact with it. The first thing you will see is the exact date you registered on Spotify with your account. That was your first day. Below you can click on Next giftwhich is a poor translation of the follow to next data button that you will see on each screen. Then you will go to another screen where you are told the total number of songs you have listened to on Spotify from the day you registered. This is a good first piece of information to share and compare with your friends. Then you’ll be able to guess which one it was. the first song you heard between four options, game after which you will be shown the topic that was. And when you do this, then you will be taught What is the artist you have listened to the most? from the day you registered with Spotify, also indicating the number of minutes you have spent listening to it. Then comes one of the most interesting parts, and that is that Spotify gives you a playlist with your most listened to songs ever. Come on, the topics you’ve been listening to the most since the day you registered. When this screen appears, tap Save to library to save the playlist and listen to it whenever you want. Finally, you will go to a screen where 5 slides are shown to choose from, and in each of them you have a button to share it on social networks. You can share slides with your registration date, total songs listened to, most listened to song, your top artist and another with all this data together. In Xataka Basics | Spotify listening statistics: what they are and how to access them to know which artists you have listened to the most each week

There are people listening to Drake on Spotify 23 hours a day. Or maybe they are not human and it is a ‘royalty’ fraud

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That Spotify pays artists quite poorly It’s no secret, but now they are being accused of something else: there are artists inflating their reproductions in order to reduce the payment for the rest since the distribution is proportional. The demand. They count in Ars Technica which is a class action lawsuit proposed by American rapper RBX. In it, the platform is accused of having allowed Drake to inflate his views. Currently, the rapper holds the record on the platform with 120,000 million views. Although Drake is at the center of the lawsuit, he goes further and claims that Spotify ignores “millions of fraudulent streams.” The signs. According to RBX, Spotify ignored at least 37 billion inauthentic streams of Drake’s music over the past three and a half years. To do this, they have analyzed listening patterns and have detected strange behaviors such as “months of significant increases” without the release of new music to explain those peaks. But the most suspicious of all is that certain accounts only played Drake’s music for 23 hours a day, something they consider “astonishing and irregular” and why Spotify had detected it. The payment system. Spotify does not pay artists for each play, but instead uses a proportional model. Every month a “pool” of money is created and each artist receives a proportional share based on the reproductions they have had in that period. Thus, if one month the sum amounts to 1 million euros, an artist who has achieved 1% of the total reproductions would take home 10,000 euros. It affects everyone. With the proportional system, if one artist inflates his figures, it negatively affects all the other artists competing for a piece of the pie. Although they have not given details of how they arrived at that figure, the lawsuit speaks of “hundreds of millions of dollars.” If the judge accepts the case, it could cover more than 100,000 copyright owners who use the platform. It’s not something new. Years ago we talked about the techniques to manipulate the charts on the platform. The most famous case was that of Justin Bieber, who In 2020 he asked his followers to loop his song ‘Yummy’ to take it to number one on the charts. But the normal thing is that it is done undercover, using fake accounts hidden under a VPN that hides the real location. In statements to Rolling Stonea Spotify representative has denied benefiting from fake plays and claims to invest in systems to protect artists and eliminate fake plays. Image | Wikipedia, Pexels In Xataka | The problem is no longer that Spotify has been filled with AI artists: it is that AI is “reviving” dead musicians

For me listening to music was always something private. Spotify’s social functions invaded that shelter but I already took action

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The announcement that Spotify users We can send us direct messages It was an immediate reminder for me: the time had come to thoroughly review the privacy in the application. I have always been clear that what I hear and when I hear it belongs exclusively to my personal sphere. With that idea in mind, I decided to take action on the matter. I opened the app and went to Configuration and privacy > Privacy and social. There is the panel that marks what is shared and what is not, so I took the time to go calmly. Private session. It is Spotify’s unknowns Annual Wrapped. It expires automatically at six hours. I did not activate it because I decided to adjust the rest of the options permanently. Reproduction activity. Spotify can transmit your reproduction activity to your followers (which feeds the feed of friends on the desk). If you are listening to a certain song, your followers that are in the desktop app can see it almost in real time. I deactivated it. I do not need my listening from the minute by minute to be exposed. Recently heard artists. As I mentioned, your profile can show a “artists heard recently”. If you don’t want others to see what your last artists or genres were, you can deactivate that option. I prefer that this information does not appear, so I chose to disable it. Public lists vs. private lists. Something that at the time made me a little noise is that when you create a new playlist in Spotify, by default it will be public. This means that any user could access it if he finds the link, and will appear listed in your profile (if the privacy settings allow it). If a playlist contains songs that you prefer not to be visible, you can mark it as “make private”, which totally hides it: no one else can access, not even with the direct link. The private playlists only see them. Even so, there is a useful nuance: in the desktop version you can manually choose which concrete playlists you want to show in your profile. It is a way of maintaining fine control: all private by default, and I only highlight what I decide. Profile visibility. I deactivated followers and following that no one can see who I follow or who follow me. Less noise, less exposure. Messages in Spotify. It should be said that they are not yet active in Europe and that Spotify has begun a progressive deployment in other regions. On a personal level, the idea does not attract me too much: as I said at the beginning, my relationship with the application is that of a musical refuge, not that of a social network. As the company has advanced, the function will have its own privacy controls and can be completely deactivated, something that you will surely receive it. In any case, there will also be complementary measures, such as blocking unwanted users or rejecting message requests. As a complement, out of that menu I checked two more sections: I deactivated personalized advertising and removed the option to share data with Facebook. Thus I limit the crossing of information with third parties and I prevent my account from relating to a social network that I do not need to listen to music. The final experience does not change in the essential: I still search, choose and reproduce as always. What does change is my sense of control. My playlists are not published alone, my activity does not appear in the feed of others, my profile does not show recent artists or monitoring relationships. And if one day I need an extra layer, I know that private session is waiting there. Images | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 Flash | Screen capture In Xataka | Spotify is no longer a music player. It is a “audio netflix” who wants to devour your whole day

How to share on Instagram what you are listening to Spotify in real time and at all times

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Let’s explain How to share on Instagram what you are listening to in Spotify At all times, and always in real time. It is a new option that has implemented the application of musical streaming, and that makes use of the Instagram notes system. The idea is that when you enter the Instagram messaging section and above all in the row of notes you can see what others are listening, and that they can see what you listen. This is a function that begins to arrive now, that is, it is recommended have updated apps to its latest version. What you listen to in Spotify, on your Instagram To be able to share what you are listening, you just have to Create a new note on Instagram. You can do this directly from your user profile, but you can also do it by going to the private messages section, and starting a new note. When you are going to create a note, you have several options. Above all you can simply write a text, and below you can choose interactive notes. Here, click on the icon of the musical note To share a note related to music. This will take you to a screen where you can choose a song that you want to share. In it, you have to click on the option of Share from Spotify That will appear above all. You will need to have Spotify installed and the session initiated. Once you choose this option you don’t have to do more. You will go to the final preview, where you will see what you are listening to right now with the icon of headphones. Here, click on the button Share To send this note. And that’s it. With this, you will create a note in which What you are listening will always appear At all times, until the body expires at 24 hours. Good option to listen to a little more social music. And when someone clicks on your note, you can listen to a fragment and you will have the option to listen to that song in your spotify. In Xataka Basics | 14 apps and services to discover new music in Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services

We have been listening for years that “a glass of wine a day is good for health.” Science is clear that

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Many times we have heard that “a glass of wine a day is good for our health.” We have also heard that “the Recommended alcohol amount It is zero”Who is right in this debate? The debates about the benefits and prejudices of a food are not exclusive to fermented drinks such as wine or beer. The relationship between eggs and cholesterol is a classic example but we can also find apparent contradictions regarding the consumption of coffeehe rice or the potatoes. Human health has many dimensions and our nutrition is very varied (even the poorest diets involve the consumption of a wide range of compounds present in the ingredients of the product or in their additions). Studying in detail The effect of each product is difficult precisely for this reason. That is why science often advances slowly, with the succession of seemingly contradictory studies that are actually simply refining the aim. However, the accumulation of these experiments is granting us a better idea of what happens in our body when we consume alcohol, even when this consumption is restricted to “a glass or two” wine. To better understand the debate, we can start asking us, what is good for wine? The idea that wine can be beneficial to our health is mainly based on polyphenolsnon -nutritious substances but with antioxidant capacity. These compounds present in grapes of which the wine is fermented, they can be beneficial to our health. The problem here is that There are non -alcoholic alternatives where these compounds are also present, such as must or grape itself. In part due to these compounds, it is usually attributed to wine Potential benefits About our cardiovascular health. Experts believe that this improvement could be due to the fact that these compounds favor the reduction of blood pressure and reduce cholesterol. Still there is some discrepancy in this regard among the different studies. A drink with risks Cancer is One of the main risks that are associated with excessive alcohol consumption. AND There are several types of cancer which have been associated with this consumption: in addition to the liver, alcohol consumption has been linked to oral cavity cancer, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colorectal and, in the case of women, with breast cancer. “The response to whether the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer risk is clearly established is that there is sufficient evidence,” said Marina Pollán, director of the National Epidemiology Center, in statements collected by Science Media Center (SMC) Spain. The risk, of course, “is proportional to the amount of alcohol ingested, being lower for moderate consumption.” But beyond cancer, excessive alcohol consumption has been conventionally linked to the appearance of the Hepatic cirrhosis (which can also lead to cancer). This disease It arises with the formation of “scars” in our liver, and can also be caused by hepatitis. While we link moderate consumption of wine to an improvement in heart health, alcohol consumption can have an opposite effect. This has also been related to the appearance of alcoholic myocardiopathy, arrhythmias and other heart problems. It should not forget the relationship between alcohol consumption and mental health problems such as addiction itself, being able to exacerbate existing problems. Various studies made in recent decades They have pointed out Alcohol as psychoactive substance More harmful In social terms. One of the most outlined studies in this field was carried out in the United Kingdom and Posted in 2010. Posted in The Lancetits results indicated that this was not so much to the damage it generated in the individual (in this sense it was overcome by heroin, the crackand methamphetamine), but for its social cost. However, these risks are generally manifested after consumptions that we consider “excessive”, in contrast to “moderate” consumption that is often promoted. The problem is that, beyond social conventions or recommendations perhaps without excessive scientific foundation, we do not know if there is such a thing as moderate consumption. According to the Monograph Alcohol 2021. Consumption and consequencesof the Spanish Observatory of Drugs and Addictions, this border does not exist, or in the words of the text itself: “There is no level of risk consumption free of risk.” That is why the health authorities speak not of “moderate” consumption but “low risk” consumption. The risk is never zerobut it is possible to keep it low. And how much is considered “low”? According to the report limits of low alcohol risk consumption, this would be two standard drink units (UBE) in men and one in the case of women. These “standard” measures are equivalent to 10 g of alcohol or, in terms of wine, approximately a 100 ml glass. It is not the same to ensure that moderate alcohol consumption is compatible with a healthy life than to say that this moderate consumption is beneficial to health. Nor is it the same to say that wine can generate a specific benefit in our well -being with ensuring that this possible benefit can be greater than the risks involved in this or other alcoholic beverages. As we pointed out at the beginning, alcoholic beverages (like any other food) contain a myriad of compounds, some harmful, other beneficial for their operation. The general consensus is that the damages of compounds such as alcohol are superior to the benefits that others such as polyphenols can provide. In short, a glass of wine a day can hardly kill us, but We must be aware of the risks They are associated with her. As always, a balanced diet and an active life can always help us reduce our risk of suffering certain diseases, perhaps even helping us to compensate for these small excesses that we can incur. In Xataka | The forbidden dish of Italy: a cheese so extreme in its preparation that the European Union had to put limits In Xataka | The industry has determined to coin the “healthy ultraprocesses.” Science is clear about what is behind Image | Helena Lopes *An earlier version of this article was published … Read more

Listening to music without ads is, from now on, a little more expensive

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As I was plannedSpotify has risen in Spain. The Swedish company has raised The price of the individual plan, which is now a more expensive euro. The climb will affect the new customers. Here are all the details. The climb. Last April it was leaked that the company intended to raise the price in several countries in Europe and Latin America. Now the climb has become effective. The increase affects the individual plan, which goes from 10.99 euros per month to 11.99 euros per month, or what is the same, one more euro. According to the statement, this increase will be effective as of September and will affect the markets of South Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. 27 Spotify tricks – Control your whole music like nobody! This is how Spotify prices remain after the rise in August | Image: Xataka And the rest of the plans? They do not change, at least for the moment. The family plan continues at 20.99 euros per month; Duo retains the 16.99 euros per month and the subscription for students stays at 6.49 euros per month. It is the individual plan that goes up in price without, everything is said, incorporate any additional novelty or advantage. Ten and two. Ten years was Spotify without increasing the price of the individual plan, which cost 9.99 euros until 2023. It was then that we attended At the first climbwhich left the price at 10.99 euros. Two years later, the price has increased again to 11.99 euros per month. In a nutshell and speaking in silver, in a matter of two years the price has risen two euros. What has motivated this climb? According to Spotify, this increase aims to “continue innovating in our supply of products and functions and offer users the best experience.” However, this increase does not entail any new product or function offer. What yes It arrives is at a good time for the companythat In 2024 he signed his first year being profitable. In maintaining that profitability and In the search for “1 billion paid users” There are several strategies. The price increase is one, but the most expensive plans with high definition sound (of which nothing is known), artificial intelligence and, above all, the foreseeable arrival of audiobooks in Spain and Latin America are bets to take into account. Perhaps the price increase justifies, at some point, to have audiobooks, but we will see. Spotify’s situation. Currently, the company has 678 million users of which 268 million are paying. Only in Europe has more than 100 million subscribers, thus tripling Apple Music or Amazon. The problem is that, unlike Apple and Amazon, which have other (very generous) sources of income, Spotify depends alone and exclusively on profitable to their subscribers. To this we have to add the constant complaints of the artists, which They claim to charge little for their music in Spotify. Cover image | Cottonbro Studio In Xataka | Spotify is no longer a music player. It is a “audio netflix” who wants to devour your whole day

Some researchers believe that AI is making us more dumb. We have listening the same from the calculator

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The AI ​​is making us dumb. A recent study has revived an old fear: that of technology by decorcing our cognitive abilities. It has happened with writing, calculators, television or internet. With the irruption of Great language modelsAI is in the center of the debate, but does it really make us more dumb? A MIT study. A few days ago a study conducted by MIT researchers About the “cognitive cost of using chatgpt in the educational context of writing an essay.” In the study, which lasted four months and had 54 participants, they wrote an essay a month while monitored by electroencephalography. The participants were divided into three groups: one used chatgpt, another used the search for Google and the third did not use any tool. The group that used Chatgpt gave the worst results in brain activity and also became more lazy with each essay they wrote. It has logic. If we use a tool to do a homework for us, the natural thing is to stop doing that task manually. Thanks to the calculators we no longer need to do great operations by hand. Having a GPS we arrive at our destination without having to memorize the route and with a search engine like Google it is no longer necessary to know by memory all the rivers of Spain. With the AI ​​we already saw how Some programmers no longer know. The key question that arises is: does this dependence imply a real decrease in our intelligence? A historical fear. It is not the first time that we fear that a new technology will become less intelligent, in fact it is a constant fear throughout history. In the 370 AC, Socrates already questioned if the writing was weakening our ability to memorize (the funny thing is that he did it In a book). With the pocket calculators came the fear that we forget to perform math operations by hand. A fear that It was fulfilled (Who makes divisions by hand having calculator?), But that does not mean that we are worse in mathematics. In fact, this Meta analysis He concluded that calculators do not negatively affect performance and even improve the attitude towards mathematics. Technology and brain. For years we wanted to know the effects of new technologies on our brain and television has been in the spotlight. In This studythe researchers verified how seeing films our brain entered a mode of “low demand” similar to that of deep sleep. In This other study They conclude that seeing a lot of television is associated with a lower volume of gray matter. Something similar concluded This study about the effect of playing a lot of video games. The Internet was a radical change in the way we access information. In This 2011 studythe ‘Google effect’ was coined or how, when we know that we can access the information whenever we want, we tend to memorize less specific data. Instead, we remember better how and where to find that information. Without clear evidence. Studies that say that technology makes us dumb either lazy There are many, but there are also others who claim that There is no clear evidence that it is so. The appearance of new technologies changes the way we entertain ourselves, we look for information or work, but that does not necessarily imply that there is long -term damage in our cognitive ability. The comparative advantage. The theory of Comparative advantage It was developed by David Ricardo in the early nineteenth century in the context of international trade and is defined as the ability to produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost than others. In his Column in The Free Presseconomist Tyler Cowen applies this theory to the IA issue. The opportunity cost in this case is the time and energy that we dedicate to a task or, as they say in the study of MIT, the cognitive cost. Less effort does not mean more silly. Following the concept of comparative advantage, memorizing the capitals of all countries would mean a high cognitive cost, greater effort. Here the AI ​​would have a comparative advantage over us because its effort is almost null. On the other hand, when performing more creative and analytical tasks, such as writing an essay on geopolitics, we have the comparative advantage. We can interpret it as if it reduces our capacity, or we can interpret it as AI is an assistant who deals with more repetitive tasks so that we can focus on the most important. It is not the AI, it is we. Returning to the analogy with the calculator: it is not the same to use it to make complex operations than to depend on it to add 1+2. Obviously, what chatgpt does Little has to do compared to the calculator. The abilities of language models are infinitely higher and the risk to depend too much on it for too many things It is very real. However, There are psychologists who affirm That the impact on our intelligence will depend on the use we make of it. As the psychologist Jason Lodge says in This great articleAI is the electric bike of the mind. To close, the best example I can give you is this article. Reading all the studies that I have cited and draw conclusions would probably have taken more than one working day. What I have done is ask Gemini, Chatgpt and Perplexity to summarize some of these texts. It has helped me to understand everything better and faster. Or I could have asked for That the whole text and copy it literally And I wouldn’t have learned anything. Image | Gemini In Xataka | Chatgpt is taking some people to the edge of madness. Reality is less alarmist and much more complex

A strange night a whistle has been listening for weeks in Vigo. They just found the culprit

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There are phenomena whose sounds They challenge not only reason, but even the very perception of reality. One of them is remembered in Scotland Since the late 90s, a low frequency buzz that is heard in different enclaves and that in recent times he has returned strongly. In Spain something similar to this part happened in an area of ​​Vigo. Weeks with acute noise when the night that had altered the dream of the neighbors. The problem is that they have just detected the “guilty”, and has a difficult solution. The mystery had wings. It The Faro de Vigo had. For weeks, the neighborhood of Vigo’s journey and Aragón Street has lived in confusion and irritation because of an acute, intermittent and persistent beep that began at nightfall and repeated every two or three seconds until dawn. The initial suspicion fell to multipable guilty: a spoiled alarm after the blackout of April 29, a port of the port amplified by the wind, or even some damaged traffic light out of decibels. The neighbors, unveiled and perplexed, mobilized to find the origin of the annoying sound, called 010, patrolled the streets in search of sound tracks and requested the intervention of the local police. In the end, neither industrial alarms nor port machinery: the author of the beep has turned out to be An unexpected creature and surprising, whose presence had gone unnoticed until then because of its historical silence and its expertise for camouflage. Small and nocturnal. Yes, apparently, the Local Police, after inspecting the area and confirming that it was not any mechanical source, identified the person in charge: a European autillo (Otus Scops), one of the smallest raptors in Europe (does not exceed 20 cm in length or 100 grams of weight) whose song remembers a high frequency electronic whistle. In fact and how I told the middle The biologist of SEO BirdLifeGustavo Ferreiro, the repetitive beep is part of the AVE mating ritual, which is in this time in an incubation phase. In other words: the autillo does not sing to bother, but to communicate its presence, claim territory and maintain the link with your partner during the breeding. Invisibility. Although common in southern Pontevedra, his nightlife and his perfect camouflage among the trees make him an almost inhabitant invisible which can only be detected by your voice. In this caseHabitat’s choice was an urban environment with dense vegetation and old trees, which surround the Matías Park and a nearby abandoned house. European Autillo Survival paradoxes. The case also offers other readings. The paradoxical is that The European Autilloonce a rural bird, it is today forced to take refuge in urban environments due to the loss of biodiversity In the field. Agricultural intensification has eliminated large trees, essential for nesting, and the massive use of pesticides has decimated insect populations that are fed. Thus, the natural habitat has degraded to such an extent that birds seek shelter in urban parks, where they can still find cavities and some food. This forced migration to the city is a reflection of the ecological decline in which the species is found, already included in The “vulnerable” category In the Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021. Thus, the presence of the Autillo in Vigo is not an isolated anomaly, but rather a symptom of a deep change in the distribution and behavior of many species affected by human pressure on ecosystems. Endangered species. The case of the beep in Vigo demonstrates how a daily discomfort can actually be the life sign of an endangered species. What began as a sleep disturbance became an opportunity to reflect on coexistence between the city and nature. The case reminds others where the presence of cities ends up modifying the life of species. In fact, in Valencia something similar has happened With another copy. EITHER In Icelandwhen the frailecillos season begins and humans hunt them and throw them through the cliffs (by A good reason). In this case, climate change and cities lights threaten the survival of birds. With the autillo, the loss of biodiversity is what is throwing them into such Obern Like cities. That said, and if everything follows its course, the song will send for the neighbors in August, when the chicks and the priorities of the bird change from the courtship to the care. Image | Counting stars, Frank Vassen In Xataka | We have been knowing where a strange sound has been coming from. Now he has returned strongly to an island of Scotland In Xataka | In 1960 a strange sound was detected under the waters of Antarctica. Not only do we still have no response: it is multiplying

We have been listening for years that commercial calls end. The problem is that they never end

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Next June 7 Mobile use will be prohibited to make commercial calls. From that moment “they will have to be done from a prefix from a province or from an 800 or 900 number,” said the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López. It is an important news in the fight against telephone spam, but the problem is that it is not enough, and most likely we continue to receive these types of annoying calls. Eternal fight against unwanted commercial calls In June 2023 It entered into force he last change of the General Telecommunications Law (LGT) that establishes that we cannot receive commercial calls without prior consent. However, Made the law, made the trapbecause the problem is that they can continue calling us if previously We gave our consent. The question is, did we give it? The truth is that yes, because a good part of these communications we have authorized when hiring various services, opening accounts on the Internet or filling business forms. In these documents there are usually clauses that we implicitly accept when leaving our data. According to the modification of the LGT, there are two exceptions that allow companies to make calls to users: If we have expressed prior consent in the contract: The normal thing is that we have granted it without realizing it. In many cases we even authorize third companies to call us if they are related to the contracted services. If the company has a legitimate interest in communication: that “legitimate interest“For example, in the case of calls to improve the service and offer discounts. In those cases they are not considered unwanted communications. Both exceptions are reasonable, but in practice companies are using them abusive. The new reform that will enter into force this Saturday, June 7, was announced months ago. It does not completely solve that problem, even if it mitigates it. There will be no commercialized calls made from mobile phones, but calls with international origin will be blocked, another method that advertisers They took the opportunity to continue “frondo” To users to unwanted commercial calls. The previous consent will have an expiration date Even more striking is the fact that the traditional “trap” that companies had used may no longer have indefinite validity. Thus, the previous consent we had granted will have a two -year “expiration”. From that moment It must be renewed. In this new reform of the regulations there are two other interesting measures that can help mitigate the problem a little more: Nullity of contracts: If we receive an unwanted commercial call and sign a contract for that call, said contract will be considered null and we can request your nullity. Registration of senders: As operators will maintain a record of authorized numbers for commercial calls: if the sender is not registered in the registry, the calls will be blocked. These measures may not eliminate the problem completely, but it is reasonable to think that they will reduce the number and frequency of unwanted commercial calls. We will continue to receive commercial calls The reforms of the General Telecommunications Law leave the doors open to companies can continue to contact users. To start and as we said, they can only do it from a prefix of a province OA through numbers 800 and 900. This type of messages and spoofing calls will probably continue being one of the traditional cyber attacks. But in addition to the calls we receive from such numbers for having given prior consent, there are two others: Operators: The law establishes a period of up to 12 months since the decline of a telephone company is caused so that those responsible can make calls in order to retain or bring the client back. Fraud and scams: It is something that companies fail to stop and continue to suffer. Through Spoofing ‘techniques They manage to falsify the sending of messages and calls to deceive users. The government has been raising solutions In this regard, but for the moment the problem persists. Many measures, no definitive The condemnation of commercial calls (whether real or scams) is limited, but seems difficult to eliminate it completely in the short term. The reforms that the government has been carrying out for two years have contributed to limiting the ways in which companies take advantage of this resource, and the end of commercial calls from mobile number is a good sample of this. However, there will continue to exceptions in them we will continue to receive commercial calls. The Robinson list It will continue to be another of the tools to try to avoid those spam calls, but there will undoubtedly other others such as Google call filter or a new alternative called Stop Advertising. All of them contribute to mitigate one of the big problems for mobile users. One that will be difficult to disappear at all, but to which little by little they are putting more and more obstacles. And meanwhile, a last resort: We can always report. The Spanish data protection agency puts at our disposal A form with which make a formal claim When we detect unwanted commercial calls that violate the law. In Xataka | Solving one of the great mysteries of our time: if it is useful to sign up for the Robinson list In Xataka Mobile | I thought I blocked the so -called spam and it turns out that I was asking to be called. This is how the previous consent works

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