Archives for August 2018

“Hello?”

 

All it takes is an eerie silence at the other end of the call to make you speak, but you quickly realize you’ve been robbed of time when a robotic voice says you owe money to the government.

 

Picking up the phone has become a gamble— people don’t know if they will be speaking to a real person or an automated message.

 

Robocalls have been plaguing the devices we rely on, and the number of victims has only been increasing in recent months. According to YouMail, the developer of a robocall blocking software, “4.1 billion robocalls were placed nationwide in June 2018, equaling roughly 12.7 calls per person affected.”

 

Robokiller, another service that claims to block these unwanted calls, can separate robocalls from other scam or telemarketing calls because they are “auto-dialed from a computer and deliver a pre-recorded message.” The app’s website reports that political robocalls are legal, but “most robocalls are either illegal, fraudulent, or both.”

 

During the election season, political robocalls aim to sway voters or seek donations. They were approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has been working to find the origins of robocallers. The FCC has considered creating an authentication system to distinguish real phone calls from fraudulent ones. The system focuses on harmful robocalls that evade call-blocking systems by hiding their original phone numbers behind fake caller IDs, which makes them harder to trace.

 

However, defining problematic calls threaten some businesses. They argued that without the convenience of automated messages, they risk losing communication with their customers. In April, the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) submitted a letter to a Senate committee explaining that consumers benefit from calls and texts “ranging from low balance notifications to repayment counseling, among other important notices and alerts,” according to the CBA website.

 

The recent flood of scam calls has swallowed important messages reminding users of their medical appointments or notifying them of canceled flights. People are hesitant to answer their phones as fraudulent calls distract them from vital information or daily life. Though some robocalls are important, the everyday cell phone user would be much more at ease if auto-dialed calls were filtered out altogether.

 

The New York Times reported that New Jersey doctor Gary Pess gets so many calls that “mimic his area code and the first three digits of his phone number” that he stopped answering them, which led him to ignore a call from an emergency room doctor about a patient who needed his attention.

 

He had grown to expect unwanted calls, and so missed one that was real and legitimate. Many more people could fall into the same habit and risk missing important calls.

 

A recent outbreak of robocalls targeted at Chinese immigrants has spread to users regardless of their national origin. According to National Public Radio (NPR), these robocall messages claim to come from the Chinese consulate and warn immigrants of a document that may affect their status in the United States. To discuss how these documents must be picked up, the call connects people to live scammers. These scammers present themselves as police officers, telling the victim the case will be resolved if money is sent to a Hong Kong bank account.

 

Queens resident Jane Rivkin was pestered by around seven of these calls. She claimed her spouse had also been disrupted by the many calls from their local area code.

 

Though Rivkin and her spouse quickly hung up because they could not understand the calls, Mandarin speakers have fallen victim to the telephone scams. NPR reported an estimated “$3 million has been stolen from [New York City’s] residents.” The NYPD, along with security experts “say they think the calls are originating in mainland China.”

 

Since robocall scammers have found ways to slip by filters and appear convincing enough to swamp legal messages, businesses would be more productive if they cut down on auto-dialer services completely. Recipients may be more inclined to receive notices or reminders through text message. Businesses would lift the worry of distinguishing good robocalls from bad ones if they limited their use. OneReach, a telecommunications service provider that offers companies custom voice and text solutions, claimed “77% of consumers aged 18-34 and 64% of all consumers are likely to have a positive perception of any company that offers texting.”

 

NPR suggested putting phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry in order to “cut down on unwanted calls.” Robocall blocking services are also available, but scammers quickly learn to evade them.

 

With 4.1 billion reported robocalls, how many moments have been robbed from us?

 

The recent firing of Guardians of the Galaxy movie director James Gunn had fans, the actors for the movies themselves and Hollywood in a shock. James Gunn had a history of film making in the past with him producing the live action movie for Scooby Doo in 2004, and the reboot for Dawn of the Dead in 2007.

Then a few years later he joined Disney working with Marvel in his upcoming two movies for Guardians of the Galaxy, which became a huge hit for the fans of marvel and another entry in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) that would mix with the timeline before their encounter with a former member of the Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War.

But with a good life as a director on one of the biggest production companies ever to be seen, heard and talked about lies many consequences. James Gunn had his Twitter account timeline filled with jokes, yes jokes, about pedophilia and rape in the year 2007 and 2008. This was found by Right-Wing conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich who found them and sent them to Disney as soon as possible. Cernovich also had his timeline filled with “jokes” of pedophilia and rape in his account which stated, “Have you guys ever tried ‘raping’ a girl without using force? Try it. It’s basically impossible.”

Gunn apologized for his mistake and even called his past self a “provocateur.” “Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies,” Gunn stated as an apology.

The main actors for Guardians of the Galaxy that includes Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon) and Vin Diesel (Groot) were in sadness as their long known director and friend has parted ways with them. Recent tweets from the actors break the silence upon his firing: “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger,” Chris Pratt stated.

Zoe Saldana stated, “It’s been a challenging weekend I’m not gonna lie. I’m pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG (Guardians of the Galaxy) family. Always will.”

“I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving, caring, good natured people I have ever met. He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He’s made mistakes. We all have. I’m NOT ok with what’s happening to him,” Dave Bautista said.

Fans also took it upon themselves to encourage Disney to “bring him back” with a petition in which 300,000 fans already signed and are prepared to send out to Disney. The real downside is that the petition won’t do anything to change their minds over it, although it was a really good effort for everyone that supports Gunn. It was his role that made the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy a real treat to watch. I agree to that effort since I do enjoy a good movie and watching those movies made me laugh, cry, and just have a good time in general. 

Michael Garcia 08/03/18

 

It is no surprise that there has been a distinct relationship between real estate and neighborhood changes within the last few years.

 

This phenomenon is called gentrification, which is the process where a neighborhood is renovated so that people who are affluent will want to live in them.

 

At first glance, gentrification may seem like a positive thing for small businesses. Most people believe that people with higher incomes coming into the neighborhood could result in profit for business, but this is not the case.

 

When a neighborhood gets upgraded, rental rates for businesses in that area go through the roof. This makes it impossible for small business owners to turn a profit and continue doing business in the neighborhood.

 

Rent prices have increased 1.2 percent from June to July for NYC as a whole, and is up 1.7 percent in comparison to last year, according to a report by the New York Rent Report.

 

The data does not show the true effect of rising rent, though. The number of black-owned businesses in NYC, for example, declined from 2007 to 2012 as many gentrifying communities have undergone economic changes. According to a report called The New Geography of Jobs: A Blueprint for Strengthening NYC neighborhoods, in 2007 African Americans owned 13 percent of all businesses in the Bronx and five percent in Queens. In 2012, those figures were down to six percent and three percent, respectively.

 

Evidently, people are going out of business as a result of gentrification. With that, store owners have no revenue to rely on to live in the area as well. Comptroller Stringer says in a statement, “The increasing rents and economic distress that accompany gentrification are challenges that we as a city must confront.” Without any money to survive, what are store owners supposed to do?

Some businesses being closed are located in East Village and Tribeca. New York’s gentrified neighborhoods has raised rents in these areas to the point where many people from low-income families can no longer gain profit, resulting in homelessness, or forced moving to a new neighborhood. This is not acceptable at all.

 

The implications of this affect people who don’t own equity or property too. Lack of affordable housing for anyone in a newly gentrified area leads to a loss of diversity in residents and loss of historic structures to the people who once lived there. It isn’t hard to notice that newly introduced amenities in neighborhoods are to benefit the rich, who are mostly people of white backgrounds and hinder the poor, which is stereotypically the minority.

 

Some examples of this are hypergentrification, where the culmination of bigger, elite companies take the spots of less wealthy ones. This has been seen with companies such as Starbucks and McDonald’s. According to a data report, there are 210 Starbucks in Manhattan, slightly more than six per square mile. In contrast, McDonald’s has 74 stores in Manhattan.

 

As a result of gentrification, neighborhoods have lost cafés, theaters, shoe stores, toy stores and gift shops. Tribeca, for example as documented in the Tribeca Tribune, “Many Tribeca residents complain that neighborhood-friendly stores seem to be vanishing before our eyes. Small businesses, aren’t just struggling — they are being targeted for assassination.”