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Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

nytimes.com

121–130 of 436 posts

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#121
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the "breaches" and "abuses" aren't breaches or abuses, it's Facebook's business model working as intended.

Exactly, and sites like Reddit make money on the same sort of thing. It wasn't controversial when Facebook and Google became arms of the Obama and then Clinton campaigns, but now more people are turning on Facebook after learning that their info was sold to the Trump campaign and companies and so on through companies like CA.

you really should not be downvoted, anecdotal but I have remarked on similar. I have a relative who is part of a few groups and they "managed" certain subreddits for a PAC.

its all well established, get enough people together and you can nuke any story you want and take over subs with time. Facebook's crime was getting caught helping the wrong people

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#122

Stamos had been actively engaging with security researchers on Twitter over the past few days about CA with heated discussions: > I have deleted my Tweets on Cambridge Analytica, not because they were factually incorrect but because I should have done a better job weighing in. https://twitter.com/alexstamos/status/975069709140877312 Archive of those deleted tweets: https://twitter.com/aprilaser/status/975078309930311…

Note that Stamos' clarification doesn't contradict the NYT, which says he effectively gave 8 months notice in December, a notice period he'd now be just 3 months into.

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#124

>"Mr. Stamos had been a strong advocate inside the company for investigating and disclosing Russian activity on Facebook, often to the consternation of other top executives, including Sheryl Sandberg, the social network’s chief operating officer..." This is quite a telling - advocating for transparency and disclosure put this individual at odds with the C0O Sheryl Sandberg. It's worth noting that Chapter 6 of Sandber…

Only when the truth is convenient.

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#125

I’m sorry but show me even 10 voters nationwide who were going to vote for Hillary, and then saw a Russian-created fake news post on Facebook and changed their vote to Trump. This Security Chief was clearly upset that his candidate lost, but blaming Facebook or the Russians is ludicrous. It seems that they attempted to influence the election, but there is zero evidence that they were successful in changing the outcom…

You don’t need to flip the voters, just get them to not show up, and get more republicans to show up. This isn’t about politics, this is about buisiness interests, and professional reputation. Some examples of ads using this technique: http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2016/11/03/text-vote-hillary-... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/us/politics/russia-2016-e...

Those ads read like parodies of a Russian attempting to write English. Nearly every one has a grammatical error or a factual inaccuracy that is obvious after 2 seconds of thought. I particularly like "dynastic succession of the Clinton family in American politics breaches the core democratic principles laid out by our founding fathers", especially given that the son of one of our presidential founding fathers himself became president, and the presidencies of George HW Bush / George W Bush occurred during the lifetime of nearly everyone eligible to vote.

If those ads truly had any influence whatsoever, it suggests that the problem of democracy is far deeper than Russian interference.

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#126
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, and sites like Reddit make money on the same sort of thing. It wasn't controversial when Facebook and Google became arms of the Obama and then Clinton campaigns, but now more people are turning on Facebook after learning that their info was sold to the Trump campaign and companies and so on through companies like CA.

Who remembers how the Obama campaign's social media analytics and strategy were breathlessly praised ?

Sure do. This kind of double speak is rampant. One that bubbles to the top of my head is that when some people were targeted for anti-HRC messages(I think specifically it was Haitian Americans on the gulf coast), then that was labeled as "voter suppression", but targeting likely voters for Trump and spreading negative information about him, say the access Hollywood tapes, is "informing the voters"

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course he did - C-level officer close to hugely controversial issue, leaving the company in 6 months. It'll be predicated on an NDA, some sort of success metrics for the transition process, and a monster golden parachute.

Worth noting that CSO / CISO isn’t really a C-Level position. They usually report to the CIO or CTO and are leveled at VP or whatever one one or two levels below what the “real” execs are. You’ll notice he isn’t listed as an exec in their SEC filings, which include their CEO, COO, CFO, Chief Product Officer, VP Business and Marketing Partnerships, CTO, and VP General Counsel. That tells you a bit about how important…

That's a good and useful clarification - thanks.

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#128
post #17

There's breaking reporting that Facebook just had personnel in the Cambridge Analytica offices before the UK authorities could get there with warrants. https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/975844154361221121 > BREAKING: Facebook WAS inside Cambridge Analytica's office but have now "stood down" following dramatic intervention by UK Information Commissioner's Office.. https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/9758…

I'm no fan of Facebook, but if they have some sort of contract with CA, isn't it within their right to audit them? And if one company wanted to invite another for whatever collaboration, they should be allowed to. And if the collaboration is doing something illegal, obviously personnel from both companies should be charged. And FB can do whatever investigation it wants (as long it's legal) and the authorities are fre…

From what I've read, CA wasn't Facebook's customer. CA bought the data from a researcher who was authorized to slurp the data.

Re: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

#129

I’m sorry but show me even 10 voters nationwide who were going to vote for Hillary, and then saw a Russian-created fake news post on Facebook and changed their vote to Trump. This Security Chief was clearly upset that his candidate lost, but blaming Facebook or the Russians is ludicrous. It seems that they attempted to influence the election, but there is zero evidence that they were successful in changing the outcom…

This is the elephant in the room. U.S. based interests spent billions to influence public opinion here and abroad. But less than $1 million spent by a Russia media organization (to maybe attract viewers?) and some trolls tossed the election? I’m more than skeptical. This is a distraction campaign if here ever was one.

The underreported fact is that the vast majority of activity traced to the Internet Research Agency (Russian Federation) was in the free portion of Facebook and Twitter with automated and manually-curated accounts, not through ad spending.

There is a situation where enterprising researchers planned a protest via Facebook Events and also the counter-protest for an event in Texas. Altogether an impressive feat.

Facebook underplays this fact in Congress, in the hopes of evading regulation.

None of this should invalidate a lawfully-conducted election. There is no evidence ballots were tampered with whatsoever. Democratic leaders should do their best to allow Republicans to save face to their constituents by emphasizing the election is final and that all Americans are victims in this matter.

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