Facebook: Fine, We Are Cooperative
July 25, 2019
Other than sharing fake news, being a hotspot for senior citizens, and causing more drama than a family reunion, Facebook is known to not cooperate with authorities. As a private business, Facebook chooses its own autonomy but the French are fed up and Facebook might comply. A story from Reuters shares that it is an “Exclusive: In A World First, Facebook To Give Data On Hate Speech In French Courts.”
Facebook is notorious for not protecting its users’ privacy, because they sell it to advertisers. However in an odd turn of non-self-serving events, Facebook complied with French courts to turn over information on users that post hate speech. French Minister for Digital Affairs Cedric O is a big supporter of French President Emmanuel Macron and has advised him on numerous issues related to technology companies.
Macron wants France to exhibit model behavior:
“The decision by the world’s biggest social media network comes after successive meetings between Zuckerberg and Macron, who wants to take a leading role globally on the regulation of hate speech and the spread of false information online. So far, Facebook has cooperated with French justice on matters related to terrorist attacks and violent acts by transferring the IP addresses and other identification data of suspected individuals to French judges who formally demanded it.”
Facebook already turns over information related to terrorism and violent actions, but the inclusion of hate speech will allow French judicial processes to run as intended. O maintains connections with Facebook executives. Since O took office, he has made it a priority to target hate speech. O is also not against US tech companies buying smaller, promising French startups.
Facebook has not revealed hate speech users’ information in the past, because the company says it upholds freedom of speech and does not want other governments misusing that power.
Facebook may be a freed of speech champion, but we known they are ruled by the almighty dollar or, in this case, euro. Or is it eur O?
Whitney Grace, July 25, 2019
Facebook: Fighting the Good Ad Fight
July 21, 2019
It is search to the rescue! Following a settlement meant to eliminate discrimination on Facebook last year, the company is amending how it delivers housing, job, and financial services ads. ABC News reports, “Facebook to Make Jobs, Credit Ads Searchable for US Users.” The platform makes most of its money from targeted advertising, but the technique has its problems. Reporter Frank Bajak writes:
“The move is likely part of Facebook’s strategy to show regulators that is doing a good job policing its own service — putting it in compliance with existing anti-discrimination law — and doesn’t need a heavy-handed approach from lawmakers. It comes as the company is facing increasing regulatory pressures.
As part of the settlement with plaintiffs including the ACLU and the National Fair Housing Alliance, Facebook agreed in March to stop targeting people based on age, gender and zip code and to also eliminate such categories as national origin and sexual orientation. The groups had sued claiming Facebook violated anti-discrimination laws by preventing audiences including single mothers and the disabled from seeing many housing ads — while some job ads were not reaching women and older workers. Galen Sherwin, senior staff attorney at the ACLU and the group’s lead attorney in the case, said making the three Facebook databases searchable by anyone ‘definitely creates greater access to information about economic opportunities.’”
Of course, there could still be a lot of bias hidden in those ad-steering algorithms, but good luck achieving complete transparency there—proprietary software and all that. Besides, there are also the issues of privacy, anti-trust violations, and hate speech to consider. At least Facebook appears to be looking ahead: they say they are fighting voter suppression efforts and potential attempts to interfere with the 2020 census. Will it be enough to keep its critics, like the ACLU and the National Fair Housing Alliance, at bay?
Cynthia Murrell, July 21, 2019
Facebook: Soldiering On Despite Adversity
July 19, 2019
The Libra hearing was painful to watch. Not only was the information presented in a colorless manner, Facebook’s attention shifter illuminates what happens when governance and regulation take a holiday.
Anyone considering a job at a large company should take note of this resource— ZDNet reports, “Glassdoor Survey: Employees Give Top Rating to VMWare’s CEO, but Zuckerberg Plunges.” Poor Zuck; the famous Facebook CEO dove from 16th place last year to number 55 in this year’s roster of the 100 best CEOs to work for. It could be worse. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has yet to appear on the list, which began in 2013.
Glassdoor only considers companies with more than 1,000 employees “large” for the purpose of this survey. Writer Tom Foremski reports:
“The annual ranking of the top 100 CEOs of the largest US companies is prepared by Glassdoor, which hosts reviews of companies and their management by employees. … Adobe, Microsoft, and LinkedIn CEOs joined VMware in the 2019 top 10. Overall, the tech sector has the most employee-approved CEOs with 27 in the Top 100, followed by healthcare with 12 CEOs, and manufacturing with eight CEOs. The San Francisco/Bay Area is home to 17 CEOs on the Top 100 List — with nearly all in tech. New York City has 16 CEOs on the list — none are in tech — with mostly financial services and management consulting companies.
We also noted this statement:
“Zuckerberg held the No. 1 spot on the list in 2013 and maintained a top 10 rank until 2018, dropping to No. 16. His declining popularity with employees appear to mirror his handling of high-profile problems over privacy and targeted advertising. A similar fall from grace has affected Google, which had the No. 1 CEO in 2015 with Larry Page but now sits at No. 46. Like Facebook, Google has come under considerable public criticism over the past few years.”
Three CEOs have made the list every year for the past three: Zuckerberg, Tim Cook of Apple, and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff. Only seven women appear on this year’s list; that’s actually pretty good, though, considering only five percent of CEOs at S&P 500 companies are female. Glassdoor assures us it employs an algorithm that can tell if respondents are trying to skew results, and that it punishes guilty companies accordingly. The curious can see this year’s results, and an archive of previous ones, here.
DarkCyber believes that more exposure of the company’s plans and ideas may not add sparkle to the social media firm.
Cynthia Murrell, July 19, 2019
Facebook Usage: Who Is Abandoning Ship?
July 15, 2019
It is hard to imagine any social media platform being declared “old,” but Generation Z has already labeled Facebook as thing nobody uses anymore except grandparents sharing photos. Wandering attention spans and cooler Internet places lure younger users away, but there is another reason Facebook usage is down says The Guardian in the story, “Facebook Usage Falling After Privacy Scandals, Data Suggests.” Since April 2018, Facebook activity, including likes, shares, and posts, have dropped 20%, then usage picked up, but circa fall and winter 2018 they fell yet again.
Why is this happening to still one of the top social median platforms? The answer lays in how it handles privacy:
“The decline coincided with a series of data, privacy and hate speech scandals. In September the company discovered a breach affecting 50m accounts, in November it admitted that an executive hired a PR firm to attack the philanthropist George Soros, and it has been repeatedly criticized for allowing its platform to be used to fuel ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.”
Facebook is a social communication tool and not the problem itself. The problem is with the people who run and use, such as the attack on Soros and fueled hatred fires in Myanmar. (Does anyone else think about the Rwanda genocide, except radios were used instead of social media?). Facebook is a crazy, yet necessary tool in today’s wacko world. Despite the breaches, Facebook continues to grow
Users say that while they maintain their accounts, they are not using them as much or they have deleted them entirely. The younger crowds continue to stay away and there are more alluring Web sites to connect with than Facebook.
DarkCyber believes that Facebook chug along. At some point, most users may be law enforcement and intelligence professionals. But $5 billion fines and zero regulatory oversight suggest that whatever content is in Facebook, it has value to some people—for now.
Senior citizens do love looking at pix of their grandchildren.
Whitney Grace, July 15, 2019
Facebook: Fine and a Reminder of Ozymandius?
July 13, 2019
I just wanted to document that Facebook will have to pay a fine. Well. allegedly. On the other hand, the rumored penalty evokes the trunkless legs of stone. Ozymandius time in Silicon Valley. For details, navigate to “Facebook Reportedly Fined $5B over Cambridge Analytica Fiasco.” No high flier wants to wear a t shirt with the word “fiasco” stenciled in red. Perhaps if it were paired with the Nike Betsy Ross shoes and “fiasco” spelled “phiasco”, the label could be trendy. The t shirt would collect likes like a hamburger gathers flies at a picnic on a 90 degree day in Mountain View. I noted this statement in the write up:
The FTC approved the settlement in a 3-to-2 vote with Republican commissioners in favor and Democrats opposing, according to Wall Street Journal sources. The arrangement and further details have yet to be confirmed publicly, and any agreement will still have to be reviewed by the Department of Justice.
Yep, some money, just a bit tardy.
Stephen E Arnold, July 13, 2019
Facebook and Google: An Obvious Question Ignored
July 2, 2019
I read the Guardian’s opinion essay by Shoshana Zuboff, the author of the beach read The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. The write up’s title is “It’s Not That We’ve Failed to Rein in Facebook and Google. We’ve Not Even Tried.” I marked this passage as interesting to me:
The tech companies’ innovation rhetoric effectively blinded users and lawmakers for many years. Facebook and Google were regarded as innovative companies that sometimes made dreadful mistakes at the expense of our privacy.
The argument is that words caused law makers, users, and observers to unwittingly help out the bright folks who created “surveillance capitalism.”
This is one of the themes in Dr. Zuboff’s best selling book. A couple of observations:
- I am not sure Facebook and Google knew what they were doing. Situational decisions, user acceptance, and revenue pulled the folks forward. Hindsight makes the path easy to spot like a satellite photo that reveals an old Roman road.
- The technology components became available. In the spirit of tinkerers, a bit of experimentation produced some winners. When internal innovation was not enough, a couple of acquisitions proved to be the spark Facebook and Google needed. Who knew that DoubleClick cookies would be a better idea? Who knew that bad actors would flock to Facebook services?
- Governments — particularly the Five Eyes’ group — realized that Facebook and Google could be very useful. I recall that after my lecture at the International Chiefs of Police meeting in Canberra seven or eight years ago, quite a few attendees wanted to talk about the utility of non governmental data captured by these two outfits.
So what’s the big question?
What value do Facebook and Google deliver to LE and intel agencies?
Answer that, and there might be some useful topics for discussion. Pointing at committees and officials who are groomed by lobbyists is not particularly helpful.
Stephen E Arnold, July 2, 2019
Facebook Versa: Do GOOG and MSFT Face a Woulda Coulda Shoulda Moment
June 24, 2019
I saw a number of references to Bill Gates and his biggest regret. The “regret”, according to a person with whom I spoke at the ice skating rink, was not inventing or cloning a phone operating system. I think that meant, “I should have done the DOS thing again.” Information exchanged at a sportsplex is about as useful as Internet content from a “begging for dollars” publisher I assume.
As I thought about this alleged “I shoulda, coulda, woulda” approach, I spotted this write up from: “Bill Gates Says His Greatest Mistake Ever Was Failing to Create Android at Microsoft.” This article may have been the source for the guy in line with his kids. I was unaware of the fact that hockey players know how to read.
The shadow message, in my opinion, is:
Facebook moved forward to create its digital currency. Google and Microsoft have not. Both can. But the initiative or momentum is Facebook’s it seems.
I wonder if the senior management of Google and Microsoft, including the lower profile founders, will look back at Facebook’s decision and roll out the “shoulda, woulda, coulda” line?
What’s remarkable about Facebook’s move strikes me as the company’s actions when it faces its greatest social and political pushback. Some executives would have avoided doing much of anything.
This action triggered three thoughts:
- Facebook doesn’t care what people think. He sees an opportunity and goes for it. Maybe this is good, maybe bad. But he did it. Action, not retreat.
- Libra is an overt, aggressive act which is definitely going to throw politicos and competitors into a tailspin. The privacy angle is a big deal, but now a global currency, essentially outside the span of control of countries?
- Microsoft did not seize on digital currency as it did DOS. Google did not seize this opportunity as it did search. It is possible that time does wither boldness and innovation’s fire?
Net net: Regulating Facebook is going to be interesting. Dithering is abdication. Perhaps Facebook will roll out a new flag featuring yet another hand gesture to customers, governments, and Google.
Google and Microsoft seem to be waiting for the “shoulda, coulda, woulda” bus to arrive.
Stephen E Arnold, June 24, 2019
Facebook: Amazon Is Shifting Gears and May Be Grinding Toward Social Media Land
June 19, 2019
The zippy 2019 news cycle is writing about Facebook: Its digital currency, a thriller for those working to enforce assorted rules and regulations about money. Facebook’s trust issues percolate in the stories as well; for example, “Facebook’s Crypto currency Has a Trust Problem,” which explains — well, obviously — Facebook’s method of saying one thing and just chugging along mostly doing what it wants to do. One must not overlook the legal tussles like the Cambridge Analytica matter; for example, “The Cambridge Analytica Debacle: A Legal Primer.” Exciting stuff.
There was an announcement which the DarkCyber team noted; specifically, “Game Streaming Site Twitch Buys Social Network Bebo.” Yawn. Bebo, a social media service founded in 2005. That’s so yesterday. Bebo pivoted to social apps, but that did not work out as planned. Then Bebo tried a hashtag messaging app. The idea was that a message had content and it had user assigned index terms just like Twitter. More recently, Bebo has dabbled in young people playing games. Think intramural sports with games like Fortnite. Bowling leagues for people who prefer digital games to those which can result in two a days, bruises, and rides on a team bus.
Wikipedia provides more details of the Bebo trajectory. The reports about this deal like “Amazon’s Twitch Acquired Social Networking Platform Bebo for up to $25 million to Bolster Its Esports Efforts” hit the basics:
- Twitch will be buying pizzas for the Bebo team
- Amazon paid an alleged $25 million for the Bebo property (fungible and intellectual property like Monkey Inferno)
- Hope for the future.
DarkCyber’s view of the deal is mostly in line with the publicly available news reports. However, Amazon has access to data about Twitch, including outputs from users who exchange messages, inputs from “creators” or “live streamers” who want special features without having to arm wrestle with third party software, and Amazon’s own big thinkers who understand that “games” are not part of the fabric of outfits like Amazon, Facebook, and — are you ready for it? — Netflix.
There are also implications for intelligence and law enforcement and, of course, for Facebook, a digital country with its own fledgling sovereign currency. The Bezos bulldozer might be making tracks for Palo Alto to redevelop a certain billionaire’s compound.
Stephen E Arnold, June 19, 2019
Criticizing the Digital Czarina of Silicon Valley
May 31, 2019
DarkCyber would not criticize Kara Swisher. We think that her method of talking over those whom she interviews is just an outstanding way to deliver understandable audio. We find her summaries of her stellar career in journalism necessary because some of the DarkCyber team (like me) has a lousy memory for some crucial information. We enjoy her interactions with the kind, patient, and deeply informed author of The Algebra of Happiness a remarkable opportunity to learn how life is to be lived in the 21st century.
But TechDirt has a different point of view, expressed clearly in “Dear Kara Swisher: Don’t Let Your Hatred of Facebook Destroy Free Speech Online.” See, that’s what a brave person, steeped in the law, will share about a digital czarina of Silicon Valley.
We noted this statement in the 1362 word epistle:
This is wrong on so many levels that it makes me wonder where Swisher is getting her information from.
The “wrong” refers to Ms. Swisher’s posture toward Facebook censorship.
We also circled in blue, this statement:
…her analysis is simply incorrect.
Yikes. An error in analysis. The “incorrect” refers to Section 230 and other legal matters.
We also underlined this passage:
For quite some time now, we’ve been talking about the “impossibility” of doing content moderation at scale well. There are always going to be disagreements. But Section 230 is what allows for experimentation. People can (and should) criticize Facebook when they think the company made the wrong call, but to blithely toss Section 230 under the bus as the reason for Facebook failing to meet her own exacting standards, Swisher is actually throwing the open internet and free speech under the bus instead. It’s a horrifically bad take, and one that Swisher should know better about.
There it is. Ms. Swisher is not fully informed. (My mother used to tell me “You should know better.” I assume this phrasing is part of the adulting movement.
To wrap up, my hunch is that two important people in the world of Silicon Valley may exchange further communications.
Will the Czarina respond directly, or will a colleague or former colleague (of which there appear to be many) pick up the gauntlet and slap TechDirt in the head in order to knock some sense and appreciation into it?
Worth watching. There’s nothing like a lawyer and czarina dust up to reveal why Silicon Valley is held in such high regard by millions of people. DarkCyber will watch from a safe distance, of course. When elephants fight, only the grass suffers.
Stephen E Arnold, May 31, 2019
Silicon Valley Management Crises Escalate
May 10, 2019
Early in my career I worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton. There was lots of chatter about management from the MBAs. I listened, and I learned that management was a slippery fish.
Now the engineers, mathematicians, and scientists who are in charge of a couple of successful Silicon Valley firms are dealing with slippery fish, and some of these creatures are poisonous.
Let’s look at two examples.
The first appears in “Google Employees Ask Alphabet CEO to Address Walkout.” The idea is that employees are not happy, and they want to make this clear to colleagues and the real journalists who pay attention to real news. I learned:
The plea for Page’s involvement comes after months of worker protests against the mishandling of sexual harassment incidents, along with retaliation against those who report it, including the demotion and modifications of roles that female employees who reported harassment held.
Google denies retaliation, and some of the world’s smartest people employed by the online advertising firm are unhappy.
Unhappy employees means trouble with a capital T. There may be a Meredith Wilson opportunity here.
The second has been captured in statements from Chris Hughes, one of the “founders” of Facebook. This Facebooker has been on talking head TV, but the article “Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes: It’s Time to Break Up Facebook” does a good job of recycling the opinion piece Mr. Hughes crafted for the New York Times. I noted:
Hughes says that Zuckerberg has “unchecked power” and influence “far beyond that of anyone else in the private sector or in government.”
Okay, a founder and “friend” of Facebook is criticizing the company. The fix is painful because breaking up is hard to do.
Okay, two examples.
The Google problem is a revolt from within. The Facebook problem is a revolt of the insiders.
Neither Google nor Facebook is handling the management challenges in a smooth, friction free way.
Maybe it is time to call in the MBAs along with lots of lawyers to help with this Iron Man events? The high school science club is just not working. Sure, the money is still flowing, but like a gurgling Mauna Loa, further events are inevitable. Foosballl and colorful mouse pads won’t do the job. And algorithms? Nope.
Stephen E Arnold, May 10, 2019
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