How Facebook could get you arrested

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by Pinga, Mar 9, 2013.

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  1. Pinga

    Pinga Registered Member

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  2. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    That is insane.How can you possibly "predict" someone is going to commit a crime.May as well arrest everyone on the "supposition" that they will commit a crime.
    Reminds me of the film "minority report."
     
  3. DrBenGolfing

    DrBenGolfing Registered Member

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    Yeah, does sounds like a bad Tom Cruise movie.
     
  4. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Maybe posting your plans on Facebook is a bad idea?

    Unless you're fairly anonymous, of course ;)
     
  5. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

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    A felon will write on FB, the he could use some money right now. He will ask on a forum, when do they open a bank. He will say to friends on FB, he has something on Friday.
    It a simple psychology. People are not that complicated, especially those kind of people. Many people just do not realize, that public comments are in fact public.
     
  6. TheWindBringeth

    TheWindBringeth Registered Member

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    I don't doubt that there would be some cases where analysis of uploaded pictures, comments posted to social networking sites, etc could identify some criminals. However, I think the same could be said about analysis of other types of uploaded/downloaded files, emails, telephone records and conversations, TV viewing behaviors, geolocation data, credit card and other purchase records, other financial records, etc. We might even want to add unannounced, no probable cause, inspections of homes, vehicles, and personal belongings because those too would probably help identify criminals and prevent crimes. One day there will probably be robotic devices that could do the later type of inspections so someone could use the "this is being done in an automated fashion so there are no privacy issues" excuse. Who knows, one day Internet enabled, camera equipped, eyewear might be very common and all the information collected from those could be fed into the great surveillance machine.

    Even overlooking the staggering privacy issues, there is the question of whether the positives would outweigh the negatives. In many (developed, at least) places around the world, including the USA I would say, the harm done to society by ordinary criminals and organized crime pales in comparison to the harm done by corporations, government, and various other powerful individuals and organizations. The recent financial crisis should have made that clear to everyone. Giving those in the later category more information and more power... even if they use some of it to go after those in the first category... will probably makes things worse.

    I think we need to be very careful when it comes to labeling things "public". Uploading pictures to Facebook, uploading files to cloud storage, sending emails, etc isn't by definition making something public. You have to assess intent. If I were to upload files to a cloud storage provider and not mark those as publicly accessible to everyone, my intent is to keep those files private. If I were to email person X something, my intent is for only person X to have that. If I were to use a social networking site to share comments or files with those I've marked as friends, my intent is for only those friends to see/have that. We here recognize that service providers and intermediaries are involved. That they will be exposed to the information. So we don't think of such activities as being truly private. It is good that we recognize such technical aspects, but it is bad if we accept/endorse the idea that those other than the intended recipients are free to do anything they want with the information they are exposed to.

    This article, along with some other one's I've seen, suggests that Microsoft, Facebook, and some other providers are routinely analyzing uploaded pictures and other information without regard for intent. It sounds as though they are doing that even in cases where the material *isn't* going to be publicly accessible. Which is crossing a hugely important line that everyone would be wise to do their best to hold.
     
  7. Dark Shadow

    Dark Shadow Registered Member

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    A while back in my Home town a couple teenagers had threatened another teen on Facebook and what they where going to do to the other teen and they where quickly arrested.Duh.

    I am Happy that police are monitoring things going on it could prevent more tragedy as we have a enough death and bullying going on,it makes me sick to think about it. What happen to values and morality any more is beyond me.Perhaps Sometimes its upbringing and other times it may be mental Illness that goes unrecognized.
     
  8. PaulyDefran

    PaulyDefran Registered Member

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    There have been bullies since the dawn of human-kind, it's not new. What is new, is it's use as an excuse to limit speech.

    PD
     
  9. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    "Given enough data and the right algorithms, all of us are bound to look suspicious." ~ op cit

    Kind of says it all ... :doubt:
     
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