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In the offices of Magellan Logistics in outer Melbourne, workers spend their days helping people import and export goods all over the world.

But late last year, the company started getting calls every day from people about shipping containers they had bought.

The thing is, Magellan Logistics has never sold shipping containers.

"We are in a lovely office with lots of desks and people working away, phones, computers, all of that," Melissa Wraith said.

"We don't have a container yard, we don't handle freight, we don't handle containers."

It soon became obvious scammers were posing as the company, and running multiple Facebook pages under variations of Magellan Logistics's name.

The scammers were offering shipping containers to eager buyers.

Magellan employees reported the pages to Facebook, but even when they were taken down, they would pop back up again the next day.

"I've lost track of the number of times I've reported these pages. Whenever I go to look at them, I report them again," Ms Wraith said.

Social media is delivering a healthy return for scammers in Australia.

According to the ACCC's Scamwatch, it is a much better way to make money than scamming on the phone, email or text messaging.

In the past year, Australians have been fleeced more than $21.5 million from scams running on social networking sites.

It has prompted the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to call for urgent government action which could potentially lead to a world-first digital platforms ombudsman.

"Consumers and small businesses find it almost impossible to have their disputes resolved with digital platforms when problems arise," chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

While the ACCC works with social media companies to take content down, the commission has no power to force the company to act.

Now, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) Cynthia Gebert has told the government she wants the gig as the country's and the world's first digital platforms ombudsman, helping people with problems like dealing with scams and being locked out of their accounts.

The aim is for the new ombudsman to officiate in disputes between platforms and usersand, based on the prevalence of smartphone use, there are plenty of areas it could help.

"We have the expertise to help consumers and the digital platforms find resolution with complaints and highlight systemic improvements that can create meaningful change," Ms Gebert said.

In her current role, Ms Gebert helps thousands of people deal with disputes with telcos and internet providers, but she is unable to assist if people are having trouble with social media companies and messaging apps.

"At this point, there's a limited amount that we could do and this is really the opportunity to improve consumer protections and build trust and confidence," she told the ABC.

"We'd generally be referring you to a local, state-based consumer affairs organisation.

"If we refer you to the ACCC, that'd be useful data for them, but they're not going to be stepping in on an individual level to get complaints resolved.

"Customers just feel like they're hitting a brick wall."

While the ACCC would like to see an independent umpire appointed, it worries the job is too big for the telecommunications ombudsman on top of her current role unless resources are significantly boosted.

"We recommended the role should be undertaken by a new digital platform ombuds to be appropriately resourced to deal with a high volume of complaints and disputes and with the technical expertise to meaningfully assist," Ms Cass-Gottelieb said.

Professor Derek Wilding, co-director of the Centre for Media Transition at the University of Technology Sydney, has conducted research about the need for a new dispute-handling scheme.

"In our research, we didn't come across any similar scheme that provides an obvious point of comparison.

"We didn't find any in other jurisdictions an ombudsman of this kind," he said.

"We all know Australia has led the way in developing other interventions to deal with problems arising from digital platforms."

Professor Wilding pointed to other important Australian world-firsts, like the establishment of an e-Safety commissionerand the Online Safety Act.

"[The e-Safety Commissioner] deals with aspects like image-based abuse and child exploitation material in the online environment."

The proposal for a digital platforms ombudsman is likely to receive pushback from the industry.

Peak bodythe Communications Alliance, whose members include Facebook, Apple and TikTok, says mandatory rules could have unintended harmful consequences and self-regulation should be allowed to continue to develop so the industry can resolve the issues.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement the government was considering its options, following the ACCC's fifth Digital Platform Services Inquiry (DPSI) report, released last year.

"Submissions to the public consultation process are being reviewed by the Treasury and will inform the government's response to the fifth DPSI report," the minister said.

"The issue of how best to have consumer disputes considered is also one that agencies within the communications portfolio, along with industry and academia, are actively engaged in examining."

In the meantime, innocent companies remain caught in the middle between scammers and their victims.

For Magellan Logistics, the situation got so bad the company had to hold training sessions for staff who had to explain to people they had lost thousands of dollars.

"It's not what you expect in the normal course of your day to sit with people, I guess, while they go through a range of emotions, as they discover some pretty bad news," Ms Wraith said.

"Usually they were just ordinary citizens, private citizens.

"They wanted a container for a storage shed or as part of a construction project [it was] a variety of different people, not large corporates, people that can ill-afford to lose the money."

She said one of the most frustrating things for the company was the lack of response from Facebook.

"You imagine the wheels are turning in the background, but you're just not sure what's happened," Ms Wraith said.

Despite contact from both the victims and Magellan, the Facebook pages only came down earlier this week when the ABC contacted Facebook's parent company, Meta.

The company said in a statement:

"Scammers present a challenge in any online environment, and social media platforms are no exception. We're committed to safeguarding the integrity of our services, and dedicate substantial resources and technology solutions to protect our community from fake accounts and other inauthentic behaviour.

"We have a dedicated reporting channel to take in all content that the ACCC is concerned about."

Read more:
Who do you turn to when you're scammed on socials? - ABC News

K-12 schools are fighting an uphill battle to keep students safe on social media sites, where schools encounter a minefield of malicious and fraudulent accounts and cyber bullying, among other cyber threats. Some educators say the need for partnerships between schools and social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook may play a key role in student safety efforts moving forward.

The need for such partnerships was among the key points of focus during a Wednesday webinar for the 2023 Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) conference, led by National School Public Relations Association Associate Director Mellissa Braham, Allendale School District Communications Manager Melissa Reese, Hinsdale Township High School District 86 CIO Keith Bockwoldt and Geneve Villacres, a U.S. policy spokeswoman from TikTok. The discussion, titled "Social Media and Schools: A Partnership for Safety," drew from a recent report co-written by CoSN and the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) that stressed the need for better verification processes to protect school accounts from cyber threats, as well as more cooperation between social media platforms and educators.

According to Reese, schools have become increasingly concerned with how social media is used for cyber bullying, between or against students. She noted that social media companies often aren't responsive to reports and requests from schools to remove malicious content targeting students, such as student fight videos and content from malicious accounts more generally.

Reese noted that social media allows school districts to inform families of important and timely news like inclement weather and school closings. However, she said, social media sites need more stringent verification and reporting processes for malicious accounts and impersonators, as well as for verifying official school district accounts to better communicate with students and parents.

According to the report from CoSN and NSPRA, a third or fewer school survey respondents were able to get their district accounts verified by social media platforms. The report added that 59 percent of schools have had to deal with accounts that harass and intimidate students, while 45 percent said social media platforms have refused to remove malicious accounts and posts. To help alleviate concerns, Villacres noted in the panel that TikTok has made efforts to improve their verification process and secure user data.

Bockwoldt agreed that impersonator accounts are among the top concerns for schools now, in addition to "inappropriate sites" named after schools and student cyber bullying, which comes in the form of posts and videos. He said its very difficult, if not impossible, to have many of these types of posts removed by most social media companies today.

Bockwoldt added that social media companies should cooperate more with schools moving forward to alleviate these issues, starting with giving a single point of contact for school systems that want assistance with these issues.

I would be willing to pay an additional fee each year to support this type of position or department, and imagine many other school systems would feel the same way. Having a direct contact would alleviate many of the issues we are constantly dealing with, he said. "[In addition], if the social media companies had a department dedicated to the education community, it would be amazing if they could present to students at school systems on digital citizenship and how their digital footprint stays around forever.

Brandon Paykamian is a staff writer for Government Technology. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from East Tennessee State University and years of experience as a multimedia reporter, mainly focusing on public education and higher ed.

See the original post:
CoSN '23: Social Media Should Cooperate With Schools on Safety - Government Technology

Smartphone owners are equipped with access to limitless entertainment and consumption almost anytime, anywhere. However, its likely the prolonged use of these platforms can have negative impacts on some consumers.

According to the Digital 2022 Global Overview Report, the average person spends 6 hours and 58 minutes per day on screens connected to the internet.

Some individuals like Help Desk Support Specialist Jayson Feliciano found they benefit from a social media break.

I feel like Ive wasted my time, I feel like I couldve done so many other things instead of using screen time to go on social media. I couldve been doing my taxes, for example. I could have been trying to build meaningful connections or actually communicate with a friend, Feliciano said.

According to the Pew Research Center, 85% of Americans own a smartphone.

Hearing how much time others spent using their phone, I decided to check my own screen time. I opened my settings on my iPhone and to my horror found I was averaging 6 hours a day on my phone, spending a total of 41 hours looking at a screen in one week.

It sounds contradictory, right? Im on social media to be social but Im not even messaging my friends. I dont feel very good, Feliciano said.

On average, people spent 44% of their waking hours looking at a screen according to DataReportal.

Following my discovery, I decided it was time to make a change. There was no reason for me to frequent my phone so often unless it was productive.

I would say I have fewer social media apps than I used to, but the main ones I use are Facebook and Instagram. I would say I probably spend 2 to 3 hours a day on those, Feliciano said.

According to Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, both social anxiety and the need for social assurance are associated with the problematic use of Facebook.

Monday around midnight I posted on my Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat that I would be only available to contact through my cellphone number and my email. I also deleted my game apps to ensure I wasnt going to replace my social media browsing with crushing candies.

I was ready to experience life unplugged.

The platforms themselves are geared to hook people back into their products, so its counterproductive for them to help the user out. Theyd rather you have less access to control of your device or of your ability to navigate a website, Feliciano said.

41% of American adults admit to finding screen time management challenging, according to Pew Research Center.

Truly, it was a struggle, forgetting what I had deleted 20 minutes earlier as I attempted to open Snapchat to see how other people spent their day. I soon realized my task was more difficult than I may have imagined.

Similar to gambling, social media creates a feedback loop of dopamine, causing its users to adopt addictive behaviors, according to the Journal of Neurology & Neurophysiology.

The goal of the company is to create more revenue, not to satisfy the user, Feliciano said.

Only equipped with apps like the calculator and Gmail, I began to notice how I crave social media the same way one might crave a cigarette.

Excess screen time can result in adverse health effects such as obesity, irregular sleep and declining academic performance, according to Mayo Clinic.

I knew the apps werent there, I even had many discussions with different people about my goal to stay off of them. Despite the awareness I had about these platforms and the impact they can have on its users, I was still severely underestimating my social media dependence.

Excessive use of smartphones is known to impact social communication in terms of reducing smiles when interacting with strangers, enjoyment of face-to-face interaction or drawing parents attention away from their children according to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

It not only dictates what people do, it also pigeon holes people into little niches in society, and then when we go out to meet people and do things in physical reality we dont even know what to do anymore. We dont know how to expose ourselves to new ideas or have a simple conversation with a human, Feliciano said.

Tuesday I found myself questioning what I may be missing, or whether or not anyone had messaged me despite my posts announcing my departure.

Social media addiction is not recognized by the APA as a medical condition, however many people can struggle with the addictive properties. Using social media despite negative consequences, increasing screen time and difficulty reducing time spent online are signs of social media addiction according to American Addiction Centers.

I continued to open my phone with the intention of using social media only to be reminded of my hiatus. I was surprised to discover how often I was opening my phone without notifications pestering me to return to the digital world.

The average social media user engages with an average of 6.6 various social media platforms, according to the University of Maine.

On Thursday, I realized that I wasnt worrying about how I was being perceived or how many likes or views Ive gotten on my post. I was just concerned with the people and activities I surrounded myself with and felt good about.

The internet and what its turned into is enabling that feeling of connection, its an artifice. We are no longer connecting physically, like touch-starved is a thing that is rampant right now since 2020, Feliciano said.

Touch starvation occurs when positive physical touch is limited or completely eliminated, according to Texas Medical Center.

I felt like I was spending more time with my family and pets. I was also more willing to take my time doing things as I began taking morning walks and cooking meals for myself more often in place of the time I had been spending on my phone.

According to Data Reportal, 56.8% of the global population is active on social media networks.

Only the ones who are aware of the security implications of technology could have a healthy relationship with social media and their phones. Those people are not on social media, they just dont do it because they understand the security implication that they are being monitored and monetized and they refuse to take part in it, Feliciano said.

On Friday I noted my increased productivity. I didnt feel the need to procrastinate because I had more free time.

I was feeling mentally better, perhaps from getting schoolwork done sooner or being able to value time with friends and family more. Whatever it was, I was sure it was a result of removing myself from excess screen time.

According to DataReportal, 99% of social media users access their social media via smartphones.

Cynthia Popular is a junior at UNC Pembroke, and she currently manages her sororitys Instagram page as well as her own. She regularly uses social media as a tool to engage with fellow students.

Using social media allows us to reach more members on our campus and has allowed us to gain way more members than we would without using it, Popular said.

According to the University of Maine, 40% of all internet users worldwide utilize social media for work purposes.

Saturday, it was much easier to avoid compulsively grabbing my phone and I was experiencing an odd sense of pride as a result. This was likely my first week not using these platforms since I made my accounts in my teenage years.

Limit your usage and only follow people you actually like. Dont follow someone just because your friends are if you dont like their message or the things they promote, Popular said.

Mayo Clinic recommends reducing background TV, keeping devices out of your bedroom and to avoid eating in front of a screen to reduce the negative effects of screen time.

I began to ponder whether or not I should return to the apps I deleted following my positive experience without them. Something kept me hooked though: the want to stay connected.

I typically use it to follow new possible members and spread the message about what my sorority is about and what were looking for in new members. We also use it to share any events we might be having, Popular said.

As the end of the weekend creeped up on me, I considered ways I could limit my social media usage without completely purging my apps. On Sunday I made my decision, I would benefit from spending less time on social media.

Depending on what app I use and what content I see, I can feel drained and upset, or I can feel happy and confident in myself, Popular said.

Low self-esteem, loneliness, stress, depression and anxiety can all be worsened by social media according to the Social Media Victims Law Center.

I was pleased to see my screen time from last week had reduced significantly, most of the time spent on my devices was for writing and research purposes. My 2 hours and 20 minutes of social apps were spent on iMessages and Facebook Messenger.

Although it is a great tool, these platforms can be damaging to users like me if not used in moderation, so I have set limits on my social media through my screen time settings. I was surprised by how dependent I was on my phone and its applications, as well as how clueless I was of its impact on me until I quit.

Go here to see the original:
I stopped using social media for a week, this is what I learned - The Blue Banner

Disclaimer: Early release articles are not considered as final versions. Any changes will be reflected in the online version in the month the article is officially released.

Author affiliations: Dartmouth Health, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA (A. AlSalman, I.W. Martin, R. Mahatanan, E.A. Talbot); Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA (A. AlSalman, I.W. Martin, R. Mahatanan, E.A. Talbot); New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Concord, New Hampshire, USA (A. Mathewson, E.A. Talbot)

Echinococcus granulosus is a zoonotic cestode that lives in the intestine of its definitive host, canids (e.g., dogs, coyotes, foxes, wolves). Embryonated eggs released in canid feces are immediately infectious when consumed by an intermediate host, usually an ungulate (e.g., moose, deer, sheep) or sometimes a human (aberrant intermediate host). An ingested egg hatches in the small intestine, becoming an oncosphere that travels to organs such as the lung, liver, spleen, bone, or brain where it forms a thick-walled cyst. Canids become infected when they ingest flesh and viscera of an infected intermediate host (1). We report 2 human cases of E. granulosus tapeworm infection in northern New Hampshire, USA, during 2022.

Figure

Figure. Lung biopsy specimen from a patient with Echinococcus granulosustapeworm infection shows a daughter cyst containing multiple protoscolices with internal hooklets and calcareous corpuscles. Hematoxylin and eosin stain; original...

In April 2022, an otherwise healthy middle-aged man (patient 1) from rural northern New Hampshire sought care from his primary-care physician for a routine physical examination. On chest auscultation, the physician heard localized wheezes, prompting chest radiograph and subsequent computed tomography scan; the images showed a noncalcified 4-cm mass in the lower lobe of the right lung. After initial endobronchial biopsy of the mass was nondiagnostic, the patient underwent thoracoscopic lung wedge resection. A gray cystic lesion ruptured during the procedure, releasing clear fluid. The ruptured cyst was excised, and histologic examination showed the presence of a laminated outer cyst wall and numerous daughter cysts, each containing multiple protoscolices with internal hooklets and calcareous corpuscles (Figure), features diagnostic of E. granulosus tapeworm infection. The patient was prescribed a treatment course of albendazole and planned close follow-up, given the high risk for recurrence.

In December 2022, patient 2, an otherwise healthy middle-aged woman, sought medical attention for anaphylaxis that was determined to be caused by a ruptured cyst. Radiography showed 2 lung lesions and 1 small (<5 cm) liver lesion. Results of serum Echinococcus antibody testing was positive. A course of albendazole was prescribed (400 mg 2/d) and, 4 weeks into therapy, the patient had the first larger pulmonary lesion successfully excised with plans for resection of the second excision.

Both patients reported similar epidemiologic risk factors of dressing locally hunted moose and exposure to dogs in northern New Hampshire. Neither patient reported relevant travel history outside of New Hampshire. Patient 1 reported observing that the proportion of moose carcasses with extensive cystic lung lesions has increased in recent years. The stool of his 4-year-old domestic dog tested negative for E. granulosus through a commercial veterinary laboratory. We postulate that both patients acquired E. granulosus infection either by consuming produce contaminated with infected canid feces or through consumption of eggs shed in their dogs stool. The patients gave verbal permission to publish this report.

In the United States, locally acquired human E. granulosus infections remain rare. However, cases in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas of Canada and Alaska are well described, mainly among Native American populations (24). In the contiguous United States, a few human cases are reported annually in Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Utah (4). E. granulosus infections have been described in wildlife of northern New England (5,6); in 2012, surveillance of the hunter-harvested moose population (Alces alces) in Maine documented the presence of the G8 genotype E. granulosus (Canadensis) in 21/54 (39%) of lung sets examined. Domestic dogs and eastern coyotes (Canis latrans) were suggested as definitive hosts, given the absence of wolves in the area. Other areas in the contiguous United States where sylvatic cycles of transmission have been confirmed include Idaho, Minnesota, California, and Montana; stable cycles were described mainly in the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas of Canada and Alaska (2). Information about E. granulosus infections in local wild canids in northern New England is lacking.

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services has notified healthcare providers caring for patients involved in moose hunting about preventive measures. Such measures include wearing waterproof gloves when dressing moose carcasses, preventing domestic dogs and wild canids from consuming raw viscera, disposing of all viscera in accordance with recommendations from New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, thoroughly cooking all game meat that is fed to dogs, and administering to dogs a deworming agent effective against tapeworms at least twice per year.

Dr. AlSalman completed a fellowship in infectious diseases as well as residency in general preventive medicine and public health at Dartmouth Health in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He is now an infectious diseases consultant at UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa.

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Excerpt from:
Early Release - Cystic Echinococcosis in Northern New Hampshire ... - CDC

Enlarge / Fitbit's now-dead Challenges feature.

Today's the day for Google's biggest change yet to Fitbit: It's shutting down some more features. As Google announced in February, the popular fitness gamification features, Fitbit "Challenges" and "Adventures," are being shut down today. Google is also removing the "Open Group" social networking feature.

Getting motivated to work out is tough for some people, so Fitbit's software included a few ways to gamify fitness to keep people interested. Challenges were introduced in 2014 as a way to share and compare your step counts with friends, hopefully motivating both of you to get more exercise. The feature came with badges that could be earned for specific tasks and trophies for winning a battle. Adventures were announced in 2017 as location-specific challenges that highlighted local places that were good for exercise and hiking, like national parks and landmarks. You could tackle these areas solo at your own pace or participate in multiplayer "Adventure Races" where you could track your hiking speed or progress against other Fitbit users. This seems like something that would only get better with Google Maps integration. Oh, well.

Adventures, Challenges, and all player-earned trophies and badges are going away today. The Fitbit community on Reddit has been furious over the feature removals, with the most popular post of the past year being a call to cancel your Fitbit Premium subscription over the changes. On Twitter, Fitbit tried celebrating the company's birthday yesterday, but nearly all the replies were about the feature shutdown and what other services people should switch to. Several users have confirmed today that the features are dead.

Fitbit

Google announced it would be acquiring Fitbit in 2019, and at the time, it described the deal by saying, "We see an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market." Google's blog post did not make any mention of continuing to produce or support Fitbit's existing products and services, and rather than some kind of promise to supercharge Fitbit with Google technology, the blog post made it sound like Fitbit would be stripped for parts.

So far, we haven't seen anything from Google to dissuade us from the initial impression that Fitbit will be slowly killed. Google announced plans to shut down the Fitbit account system sometime this year and move existing users to Google accounts. Google killed Fitbit's PC and Mac syncing last year, so it's no longer possible to load music onto the wearables. Fitbit Studio, a browser-based SDK for developing Fitbit apps, was given an April 20 shutdown date last month. Fitbit's latest product launch, the Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4, brought big feature regressions compared to the old models. They were stripped of the Fitbit app store, Google Assistant, Wi-Fi support, and music controls.

The only non-shutdown action we've seen Google do with Fitbit is rush a half-baked Fitbit app out the door exclusively for the Pixel Watch. That Fitbit app is both worse than a real Fitbit and worse than Wear OS' previous Google Fit app, before Google stripped out the advanced weight training options in 2020. There's also Fitbit Premium on the Pixel Watch, a $10-a-month subscription service that enables some sleep-tracking features and new statistics. Is this the future of Fitbit? Some software? An app that replaces Google Fit? It's still hard to say. Whatever Google's plans for the future are, we can't imagine that stripping all the key social features away from the existing community will earn it many repeat customers.

Read more:
Google is killing most of Fitbits social features today - Ars Technica