Users' privacy at risk? Facebook 'labels' posts manually in India

Human-powered content labeling, also referred to as 'data annotation,' is a growth industry as companies seek to harness data for AI training and other purposes.

Business Standard : Over the past year, a team of as many as 260 contract workers in Hyderabad, India has ploughed through millions of Facebook Inc photos, status updates and other content posted since 2014.

The workers categorize items according to five "dimensions," as Facebook calls them.

These include the subject of the post - is it food, for example, or a selfie or an animal? What is the occasion - an everyday activity or major life event? And what is the author's intention - to plan an event, to inspire, to make a joke?

The work is aimed at understanding how the types of things users post on its services are changing, Facebook said. That can help the company develop new features, potentially increasing usage and ad revenue.

Details of the effort were provided by multiple employees at outsourcing firm Wipro Ltd over several months. The workers spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation by the Indian firm. Facebook later confirmed many details of the project. Wipro declined to comment and referred all questions to Facebook.

The Wipro work is among about 200 content labeling projects that Facebook has at any time, employing thousands of people globally, company officials told Reuters.

Many projects are aimed at "training" the software that determines what appears in users' news feeds and powers the artificial intelligence underlying many other features.

The labeling efforts have not previously been reported.

"It's a core part of what you need," said Nipun Mathur, the director of product management for AI at Facebook. "I don't see the need going away."

The content labeling program could raise new privacy issues for Facebook, according to legal experts consulted by Reuters. The company is facing regulatory investigations worldwide over an unrelated set of alleged privacy abuses involving the sharing of user data with business partners.

The Wipro workers said they gain a window into lives as they view a vacation photo or a post memorializing a deceased family member. Facebook acknowledged that some posts, including screenshots and those with comments, may include user names.

Buying Facebook's Portal? Know about its privacy features firs

Facebook has made it clear that it wants to be a part of your entire social life.

Facebook Inc. introduced Portal, its in-home video calling device, right in the midst of a crisis of trust with its users. It was unveiled in October, just a few days after a major data breach, and a few months after Congress interrogated the company about sharing user information with developers.

Portal goes on sale in the U.S. Thursday just in time for the holidays, at $199 for the small version and $349 for the larger one. But if people are going to put a Facebook-designed video device in their homes, they’re going to need to know a few things about its privacy features first. Bloomberg asked Andrew Bosworth, vice president of consumer hardware, if he could help clear things up.

Will this device record me when I’m not using it?

“The device doesn’t even have the functionality to record,” Bosworth said. “If you wanted to do a Facebook Live from the device or ask what your cat did when you were gone, we don’t actually have that functionality today. We may over time."

The video chats will be encrypted, so Facebook can’t see what you’re saying to people. The camera doesn’t identify who is calling, and can be turned off. The device comes with a plastic cover for the camera for those who feel uncomfortable.

So what kind of information is Facebook collecting?

Portal uses Facebook Messenger to run its video calling, so it collects all the same stuff Messenger does. The company will record data on how frequently you log on and who you talk to, and that sort of information will help sort what Facebook shows you on its other properties. For example, if you talk frequently to certain people, they will show up more highly ranked in Messenger and in the Facebook news feed. Frequency of that activity might help advertisers in some way, Bosworth said.

“If there’s an ad-targeting cluster on Facebook for people interested in video calling, that might be a cluster that now I’m going to be a part of,” he said.

Also, if the device crashes, it will send data to Facebook about what happened, which will not be used for advertising purposes.

What about my other activity, like voice commands and apps?

If you say "Hey, Portal!" and give it a voice command, those commands will be sent to a server and then the device will do what you asked, but it’s not used for advertising, Facebook said. Voice command history can also be deleted.

If you’re doing anything beyond video calling, like listening to Spotify radio or watching a video on Facebook Watch, it will have the data-gathering consequences that the same activity would on your mobile phone.... Read More

Business Standard

Facebook cracks the whip, to remove bogus posts that could spark violence

Hate speech and threats deemed credible are violations of Facebook rules.

Facebook Policy : Facebook has built on its campaign to prevent the platform from being used to spread dangerous misinformation, saying it will remove bogus posts likely to spark violence.

The new tactic being spread through the global social network was tested in Sri Lanka, which was recently rocked by inter-religious over false information posted on the world's leading online social network.

"There are certain forms of misinformation that have contributed to physical harm, and we are making a policy change which will enable us to take that type of content down," a Facebook spokesman said after a briefing on the policy at the company's campus in Silicon Valley.

"We will begin implementing the policy during the coming months." For example, Facebook may remove inaccurate or misleading content, such as doctored photos, created or shared to stir up volatile situations in the real world.

The social network said it is partnering with local organisations and authorities adept at identifying when posts are false and likely to prompt violence. Misinformation removed in Sri Lanka under the new policy included content falsely contending that Muslims were poisoning food given or sold to Buddhists, according to Facebook.

Hate speech and threats deemed credible are violations of Facebook rules, and are removed.

The new policy takes another step back, eliminating content that may not be explicitly violent but which seems likely to encourage such behaviour.

Facebook has been lambasted for allowing rumours or blatantly false information to circulate that may have contributed to violence.

Many see Facebook as being used as a vehicle for spreading false information in recent years.

Facebook has implemented a series of changes aimed at fighting use of the social network to spread misinformation, from fabrications that incite violence to untruths that sway elections.

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