March 2022 – Page 5 – Online Personals Watch

Dating News Headlines: Spark Networks

Posted on March 15, 2022

Quick links to today's dating news headlines.

Spark Networks Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Financial Results and Guides to a Return to Total Revenue Growth in 2022 – Spark Networks website
Spark Networks Announces Successful Completion of Debt Refinancing Transaction – Spark Networks website

UK to Criminalize Cyberflashing

Posted on March 14, 2022

EURONEWS NEXT – People who send unwanted 'dick pics' will face jail under the UK's new online safety law. Under the proposed legislation announced on Sunday, anyone who sends a photo or film of a person's genitals – "for the purpose of their own sexual gratification or to cause the victim humiliation, alarm or distress" – may face up to two years in prison. The new policy, part of an upcoming Online Safety Bill, will mean cyberflashing carries the same maximum sentence as indecent exposure. The British government warns that its revised online safety bill, due to be presented in parliament this week, will also put more pressure on search engines, social media platforms, and dating sites to tackle a range of illegal and harmful content on their services.

by Natalie Huet
See full article at euronews.next

Clarifai Accused of Scraping Biometric Data From OKCupid Photos

Posted on March 14, 2022

BLOOMBERG LAW – An OKCupid user sued Clarifai in Delaware federal court, alleging that the AI company (Clarifai) violated Illinois privacy laws when it used the facial geometry of thousands of OKCupid users to train its facial recognition algorithms.

by Samantha Hawkins
See full article at Bloomberg Law

See the top news on OkCupid

Wingr – Friends Play Matchmaker

Posted on March 14, 2022

HOUSTON CHRONICLE – Wingr (on iOS) launched in Jan and allows friends to set friends up. Users like through a heart button or directly respond to to start a conversation. "Set the Mood" allows users to communicate their mood to their matches indicating whether they're feeling flirty, hungry or sassy and the chat window changes colors to display that mood. The majority of users reside in Bayou City.

by Monique Welch
See full article at Houston Chronicle

Blast From the Past – Match.com Began Screening Users Against Sex Offender Registry, in 2011

Posted on March 13, 2022

OPW – TRUE was the first sizable company to offer background checks back in 2004. Match then offered them but did not publicize the fact, starting in 2011. Background checks are more complete and more up-to-date in digital form now. Also, verification technology has advanced. See news from 2011 here, along with a very interesting industry commentary thread.

Courtland Brooks is working with three best-in-class tools that are worth of your attention.

1. RealMe – Background checks, now available beyond USA. "Protect your users from bots and fraud."
2. FaceTec – 3D face matching and liveness checking and age checks.
3. OneRep – Removes people's private information off Google and scrubs their profile from 100+ sites.

Online Privacy Becomes a Growing Concern as Data Becomes More Accessible

Posted on March 12, 2022

WXYZ – Experts say a simple search on the internet can reveal an individual's home address, phone number, and more. According to the latest annual Data Breach Report, the overall number of data compromises last year was up ~68% compared to 2020. Senior VP of OneRep Mark Kapczynski says these days you can find a lot about someone on the internet in 30 seconds. "They are called people search websites," says the security expert. "They buy all our personal information, name addresses, DOB, where we work, everything about our kids.They create pages that can be indexed by google, so that's why it shows up on google." Kapczynski says one of the most effective solutions is to sign up for a web scrubbing service, where a customer's data is monitored and removed every time it pops up.

by Faraz Javed
See full article at WXYZ

See the top news on OneRep

Which Dating Apps Got the Most Press Coverage Last Year?

Posted on March 12, 2022

OPW – Last year, we mentioned 281 internet dating industry brands in 1,066 posts. Although Match Group and its brands are clearly dominating this list, Bumble takes first place this time, even though only by one post. Here is the full list of companies with the most press coverage for last year.