Hashtag Trending – Undercover at Amazon; Weibo’s LGBT backlash; Free antivirus software really works

Details you never wanted to know about the guy that packed your Amazon package. A Chinese social network reverses its controversial stance on gay content. And if you’re looking for the best antivirus software available, make sure you don’t spend any money on it.

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Popular on Reddit, an undercover author says Amazon warehouse employees in Staffordshire, U.K. are so afraid of missing their targets that they’d rather pee in a bottle than take a bathroom break. James Bloodworth is writing about low wages in Britain. He went undercover working at the Amazon warehouse and discovered workers running around the warehouse to gather products for delivery used a “toilet bottle” system. Bloodworth says employees were afraid to lose their job because they “needed the loo.” A separate survey of 241 Amazon workers in England backs up this assertion. It found three-quarters of U.K.-based fulfilment-centre staff members were afraid of using the toilet because of time concerns.

Trending on Facebook, a China-based social network reverses its decision to ban gay content. Weibo, which is sort of like a Chinese version of Twitter, announced last week that it was going to crack down on porn, violence, and gay videos or cartoons. There was a huge backlash from LGBT advocates online, coming in the form of hashtags and online petitions. And well, this time it looks like so-called “slactivism” worked, as Weibo’s parent company Sina said it will not remove gay content from its website.

And while we’re in China, let’s talk about a new report from Hong Kong consumer council on cyber security software. It finds that for your average consumer, the free antivirus software you can find online are just as good as the paid options. Working with International Consumer Research & Testing, the council tested 23 different software programs against 2,360 types of malware. The good news is that most of the programs did pretty well, stopping most of the malware and rating four out of five. Seven of the programs weren’t effective against ransomware. Scoring highly, with 4.5 out of 5 was Bitdefender’s Antivirus Free edition. Scoring poorly was Microsoft’s software that ships with Windows 10, Windows Defender.

That’s what’s trending today. Hashtag Trending is produced by the ITWC Podcast Network. If you enjoy Hashtag Trending, please be sure to give us a rating and a review on Amazon, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever else you get your podcasts from.

You can also check out our new podcast Cyber Security Today. We’re briefing you on the latest threats your business faces and what you can do about it. Updated three times a week and just 3 minutes long, it’s perfect for your Google Home news briefing or Alexa Flash Briefing.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Brian Jackson
Brian Jacksonhttp://www.itbusiness.ca/
Former editorial director of IT World Canada. Current research director at Info-Tech

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