Facebook Removes Decapitation Video after Backlash

After the largest social network was criticized by David Cameron for lifting the ban on violent films, Facebook decided to change its approach. Prime Minister David Cameron had dubbed the social media giant as ‘irresponsible’ because it had posted videos that depicted beheadings. The issue had been ‘reexamined’ by Facebook, after which it had concluded that video showing beheading and decapitation glorified violence in an improper and irresponsible manner. Moreover, the social network also asserted that it would strengthen the enforcement of policies that were concerned with the removal of posts, which celebrated violence and also to check if graphic content and similar videos were shared in a responsible manner or not.

This includes giving warnings to users about their content or prohibiting underage viewers to access such content. The move was greatly welcomed by Mr. Cameron, but he also added that he would be waiting to see if this tactic was good enough to ensure that children were being protected against exposure to such gory movies and videos. He had conveyed this message via Twitter. A storm had been sparked by social network Facebook when it had temporarily decided to lift a ban that had been imposed on videos of beheading in May. The social media giant had used the excuse that its website was used by people worldwide for sharing events that happened in different areas.

A video that had shown the beheading of a video by a Mexican drug cartel had sparked such response from the people. But, it had been removed now. The company also mentioned that it would be removing all posts and images concerned with beheading, but has been advised by the critics to rethink their decision. Mr. Cameron said that it was irresponsible on the part of the social network to post such content without giving any warning or assuring parents. Now, Facebook has clarified its policy. It said that content was shared by people for the purpose of raising awareness amongst others.

It asserted that this awareness involved sharing images and videos about different acts of violence and terrorism and the primary purpose is to condemn these acts. The social network doesn’t allow people to post such content for the purpose of celebrating it or for getting sadistic pleasure. Therefore, in order to combat this rising glorification of such contemptible and violent content, Facebook is attempting to strengthen its policies. The social network outlined that it reviews content when it’s reported and takes a very close look at the context that surrounds an image or video. If it has a negative impact, the said content is removed.

The network also said that they also checked that whether the person sharing such content was being responsible or not. This refers to the fact if warnings are being provided with the content and an age-appropriate audience is mentioned. Based on these standards, reports of graphic content have been reexamined and concluded that it is celebrating violence. This has led to its removal from the social network.

Pakistan Authorities Busted a Facebook Kidnap Gang

The authorities of Pakistan busted a gang today which used to lure young boys through telephone calls and Facebook with the help of a female member and then kidnap these boys for large ransom.

According to police, the gang operated in Gujranwala that is a province in Punjab included a lawyer and his wife, a police officer and two others.

Police used the help of Pakistan’s leading intelligence agency to track gang’s phone calls and finally busted this gang. A high-ranking police officer, Khurram Shoiab informed reporters that all accused members of the gang have been arrested. He further added that these kidnappers were using the social network Facebook as a tool for luring the teenage boys and later kidnap them.

He also said that a sum of PKR 1.7 million ransom amount was recovered from the arrested. Also, the female member had a Facebook account that she was using to trap boys and later abduct them. After chatting with the boys for some time or a few days, the women used to call boys or have them called her to plan a meeting in the real world and from there, the gang’s plan proceeded to the next step.

The woman made her claim that all she used to do was making a single phone call. As per her, she was totally unaware of what was happening afterwards.

Facebook Gives Reward For Bug Identification

Facebook is now accessible to people worldwide and has in fact become a public company as well. However, Facebook has to take numerous safety precautions to ensure that the information of its users remain confidential and secure. Therefore, the company introduced a policy of giving rewards to those individuals and researchers who can identify any new security flaws or issues in the system.

Arul Kumar is a young and only 21 year old Indian engineering graduate who managed to identify an important bug in the Facebook security system through which it was possible for individuals to delete any photo that is saved on the social networking website. Facebook rewarded him with cash about $12, 500 or 8 lac Indian Rupees. Bounty programs are operated by a number of companies because they can actually prove to be immensely useful. However, it is Facebook and Google that are known for having the largest bounty programs. When Arul was awarded the critical bounty, he stated that he would use it to make his family comfortable.

Apart from that, he also mentioned that he wishes to learn more about programming and discover new security practices in regard to the computer. He mentioned that he is only a beginner and doesn’t possess much skills related to ethical hacking etc. He will be getting this bounty in this month only. However, this is not the first time that Arul has actually identified a bug for Facebook. A month ago, he had found another bug on the system and had informed the social network. He was promised a bounty of $1500 for that identification. But this reward hasn’t been given to him as yet.

He stated that he had learned the existence of the bounty bug program of Facebook earlier this year, which stated that any individual identifying flaws in the system of the social network would be given a bounty. Arul said that he had used networking and programming tutorials on the web to train himself for getting his hands on some bounty. He added that it did not take any technical wizardry on his part to identify the photo deleting bug on the social network. He clearly stated that the only reason he had managed to identify that flaw is that he kept his eyes open.

At first, his claim had been rejected by the security of the social network. They said that when they had taken the steps, they hadn’t been able to delete any photograph. Facebook had recently rejected the claim of a Palestinian researcher as well, who had then hacked into the account of Facebook’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg to prove his point. Arul convinced the security team by making a video that depicted the steps of deleting a photo and got a positive response from the social network.

Facebook to Introduce a New Policy that Turns Users’ Data into Advertising

Facebook is about to draw fire from the privacy activists by unveiling a latest policy which could turn the data and pictures of users into advertising. The new plan is dramatically going to expand use of people’s personal information for the advertising purposes, as per letter to US Federal Trade Commission by 6 privacy organizations.

The letter read that the changes will violate a year 2011 consent order with a watchdog agency in US and also urged FTC to act for the enforcement of this order. As per the letter, if these changes are in place, Facebook users who think that their content and images will never be used commercially without their approval will now see their images on their friends’ pages validating the products from Facebook's paying advertisers.

Facebook users’ images may even be utilized by Facebook for the endorsement of products that the user dislikes or does not even use, according to the letter from CDD (Center for Digital Democracy), EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center), Consumer Watchdog and 3 other groups. Facebook revealed these updates as part of a class action suit on the usage of images and user names in their so-called 'sponsored stories.'

As per the letter, the existing policy of Facebook lets its users limit how their profile pictures and names can be linked with advertisements. Under the latest policy, Facebook states, 'You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content.'

The activists say that this policy will let Facebook turn virtually all the user data into the advertising. The privacy director at Consumer Watchdog, John Simpson said that Facebook has long played loose and fast with the data of users relying on complicated privacy settings in order to confuse the users, but these new changes go even beyond that.

Facebook Considers Expanding Facial Recognition Database with Profile Photo

 

One of the largest social networks of the world today is Facebook. It has around 1.15 billion users that are spread all over the globe. Since its launch in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, the social network has expanded greatly and has become a public limited company today. However, because of its size, the social network often finds itself involved in numerous controversies that continue to increase on a daily basis. In the latest debatable issue, it has come to light that the social networking giant is thinking of adding profile photos of users to the facial recognition database as they are of the opinion that this will give users better control over their sensitive and private information.

As it has more than a billion members, the social network is thinking of adding profile photos to the growing facial recognition database and thus expanding this controversial technology of the social network. The data use policy of the social network was updated recently and that’s when the company revealed this possible move. As per the indication, this move will boost the performance of the ‘tag suggest’ feature of the social network. In this feature, facial recognition technology is utilized for speeding up the process of tagging or labeling friends and acquaintances that are part of the photographs that are uploaded on the network.

Currently, the technology is automatically identifying the faces that are seen in the newly posted photos and comparing them with old snapshots in which the users were tagged. It is up to the Facebook users to remove the tag that was posted by others for the purpose of identifying them. These changes would come into effect at a time when internet companies including Facebook are being scrutinized regarding their privacy practices because of the revelations of a surveillance program that had been authorized by the US government.

Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other internet companies have insisted that they haven’t been part of any program and neither have they given the government direct access to their computer servers. They have said that they only provide information in response to special requests that are made and only when they are required by the law. Erin Egan, the chief privacy officer of Facebook stated that users would be able to control their personal information in a better way if their public profile photos were added because they would be able to identify the photos in which they appear.

Egan added that the whole point was to facilitate tagging to let people know what photos of them were present in the system. She also asserted that all those users that were uncomfortable with this technology of facial recognition would have the option of avoiding the tag-suggest feature. In this case, the facial recognition database would not include the profile photo of the said individual. For technology companies, this particular technology has remained a sensitive issue and has also had some privacy concerns amongst government officials and privacy advocates. Because of the doubt so regulators in Europe, the tag-suggest feature is not offered in Europe.

Changes Expected in Facebook’s Redesigned News Feed

Facebook Inc. is a public company, which is the owner of the most popular social media network of the world. Today, the largest social network that exists is Facebook, which is said to have more than one billion registered users spread out in all parts of the globe. This social network was launched in February of 2004 by a bunch of college students, Mark Zuckerberg and his friends. Initially, it was restricted to Harvard students only, but it greater expanded to various other colleges and then eventually to the public. Last year, the company finally went public. The social network has changed considerably since it was launched.

Enhancements and improvements have been made to its layout and overall design. It can now be accessed via mobile application as well. Recently, the company announced that the design and layout of the news feed would be changing. News feed is one of the most important pillars of the social networking website. The news feed will be revamped by the company and posts will be filtered into various strands. Instead of the single feed that exists now, there will be multiple feeds that divide the content users see such as music and photos. The feed has mostly remained unchanged since 2009.

Now, however, according to reports, larger images will be an integral part of the change. At present, only a thumbnail picture of the business, group or individual who posted is available in the news feed features update. Separate feeds are also offered, but the problem is that they are not very easy to locate. For instance, in the apps section in the side bar, it is possible to find the music feed. However, it is mostly filled with music that friends are listening to. Insiders have revealed that users will be able to alternate between feeds by tabs below the search box, which are being incorporated in the new design.

The purpose of the revamping of the news feed is to satisfy the insatiable desire that people all over the globe seem to have for the largest social network. People will devote even more hours to logging onto Facebook if there are more lists for them to sort through. Another benefit of the redesign is that the bigger pictures will also be more of a lure to advertisers. Moreover, with multiple feeds, it would mean that the sponsored stories will have more room to spread out.

The newsfeed has come at a very crucial and testing time for the social network. It recently announced that teenagers were gradually getting bored with Facebook. The company feels that its long term business could be affected because its facing competition from ‘cooler’ apps like Instagram and Snapchat. As the social network is approaching its 10^th anniversary, it revealed its annual report in which it was highlighted that teenagers and youngsters are giving up on the multi-billion dollar business. The revamping is just part of the strategy of the social network to draw youngsters again towards the social network by satisfying their interests more efficiently.