Street Fight Daily: Uber Hid 2016 Data Breach from Users, Huge Ad Fraud Scheme Uncovered

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Uber Hid a 2016 Data Breach That Affected 57 Million People And Paid Off the Hackers (Recode)
Uber failed to notify some 57 million users that their data — including names, email addresses, phone numbers and driver’s license numbers — was exposed when hackers accessed that information in 2016, newly minted CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement on Tuesday.

How the End of Network Neutrality Could Affect SMBs and the Public Interest (Street Fight)
Peter Krasilovsky: For many years, the government’s assessment of the public interest was to encourage Web access to all. The current FCC, however, contends that this position is better met by eliminating the net neutrality rules — that SMBs will be able to have a variety of ISP options based on their actual needs with the end of the net neutrality rules.

Fake-Ad Operation Used to Steal from Publishers Is Uncovered (WSJ)
An ad-tech firm says it has discovered a large and sophisticated advertising-fraud operation in which fake websites and infected computers were used to scam advertisers and publishers out of upward of hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.

Google Collects Android Users’ Locations Even When Location Services Are Disabled (Quartz)
Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals’ locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy.

The NYT Is Making All of Its Ads Available Programmatically (Digiday)
In the third quarter, the Times began selling its custom Flex Frame ads programmatically, which helped it double its programmatic direct revenue over the previous quarter.

Using the Right Tech and Data to Keep Mobile App Users Engaged (eMarketer)
eMarketer’s Tricia Carr spoke with Lou Orfanos, head of sales and marketing at mobile engagement platform Localytics, about tactics and technologies that are helping marketers build up their apps’ active and engaged user bases.

Chatbots Enter the Coupon Market (MediaPost)
The old coupon is getting a new technology. Enter the coupon chatbot. A new forecast suggests that chatbots offer significant potential in terms of loyalty as well as through the auto-creation of personalize offers.

A Higher Level of Personalization Requires Moving Beyond Functional Data (AdExchanger)
Michael Wilhite: Measuring the effectiveness of digital advertising depends less on absolute performance and more on the benchmark. Current standards suggest that the bar is low.

Lyft Gets Approval to Test Self-Driving Cars on California Roads (TechCrunch)
The California Department of Motor Vehicles added Lyft to the list of companies that can test self-driving cars on the state’s roads recently, following Lyft’s foundation of a self-driving technology development center earlier this year. 

PayPal Sellers Can Now Send Invoices to Buyers Directly via Facebook Messenger (AdWeek)
PayPal director of product, next-generation commerce Shilpa Dhar detailed the new chat extension for Messenger in a blog post, saying that sellers can now create and send invoices complete with prices and images directly to buyers via Messenger conversations.

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