[kictanet] Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Share Data with Location-based Social Media Surveillance Startup

Thu Oct 13 14:41:42 EAT 2016

Geofeedia, as it is alleged, was using publicly available user information
to sell to law enforcement agents. We would certainly not know if Geofeedia
had a commercial agreement with these social media platform to share data,
including private data. We can only rely on the communiqué coming from the
social media platforms. I would swallow my head if they incriminate
themselves.

But the kink of the matter is how privacy and data protection has become a
big issue in our times. We the users have put ourselves in a position where
we share so much online, without considering the consequences. Apart from
privacy settings, and encryption, the social media platforms have no
control on the PUBLIC data we post on their platforms. Even without
Geofeedia, the security agents can still have bots, even human data entry
operators scoring publicly accessible data from the forums.

We are well advised.

______________________
Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
twitter.com/lordmwesh

On 13 October 2016 at 13:26, Harry Delano via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Hey Ebele,
>
> That sounds like another "sneaky"‎ case of getting caught with hands in
> the cookie jar. How long did this go on before you could flag it up..? Did
> it have to await feedback from a third party for Fb to realize this, or are
> there internal controls and checks to monitor what each of the API's are
> feeding into or collecting from the huge amount of data available..?
>
> Some clarity would suffice..
>
> Regards,
> Harry
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone
> *From: *Ebele Okobi via kictanet
> *Sent: *Wednesday, October 12, 2016 20:57
> *To: *Harry Delano
> *Reply To: *KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> *Cc: *Ebele Okobi
> *Subject: *Re: [kictanet] Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Share Data with
> Location-based Social Media Surveillance Startup
>
> Yes-this is a mess, and this article isn't an accurate report.
> Basically-this was a private company that set itself up as a developer-same
> as, say, Candy Crush makers or those quiz things about your friends on FB.
> As a developer, it got access to API (see here
> http://readwrite.com/2013/09/19/api-defined/ for definition) that allowed
> it to build programs into FB. This allowed it to write programs targeting
> publicly available information on FB platform. That means-no private chats,
> no private groups, no data that users haven't made publicly available. The
> point of APIs in this context is SUPPOSED to be so advertisers (from small
> business to nonprofits to Andela, etc.) can send ads to targeted users.
> This group completely violated our policies and used their API access to
> target publicly available info to send to police. FB has kicked them off
> our platform. As you can imagine, there are many conversations now about
> this. But key to know that FB did NOT and does not sell user data; that
> this was a completely unauthorized use of our developer platform, that  we
> rectified this as soon as we were notified, that the access was not to user
> data, but essentially a program that allowed them to target public info on
> Facebook. It's still unacceptable, and something we are taking extremely
> seriously.
>
> Ebele Okobi | Public Policy Director, Africa
>
> m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315 <+44%20(0)%20771%20156%201315>
>
> 10 Brock Street | London | NW1 3FG
>
> ebeleokobi at fb.com
>
> [image: 6F376569-CC77-422B-BAD3-794055B1E02B]
>
> On Oct 12, 2016, at 5:43 PM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> *The ACLU of California has obtained records showing that Twitter,
> Facebook, and Instagram provided user data access to Geofeedia, a developer
> of a social media monitoring product that we have seen marketed to law
> enforcement as a tool to monitor activists and protesters. We are pleased
> that after we reported our findings to the companies, Instagram cut off
> Geofeedia’s access to public user posts, and Facebook has cut its access to
> a topic-based feed of public user posts.*
>
> More here: https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/facebook-
> instagram-and-twitter-provided-data-access-surveillance-product-marketed
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.aclu.org_blog_free-2Dfuture_facebook-2Dinstagram-2Dand-2Dtwitter-2Dprovided-2Ddata-2Daccess-2Dsurveillance-2Dproduct-2Dmarketed&d=DQMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=GhVvdCFxDu4EVUb8ylng2LCvR_0IBt5-yhOx6fQy7Ss&s=G0SoSpLD_f-qRWCjjSMY5s9GRO2y2wlRmg_ch_J_Tms&e=>
>
> --
> *Ahmed Maawy*
> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
> Curator - Global Shapers Mombasa Hub
> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
> Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
> (KE) +254 714 960 627
> Skype: ultimateprogramer
>
> swahilibox.co.ke
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__swahilibox.co.ke&d=DQMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=GhVvdCFxDu4EVUb8ylng2LCvR_0IBt5-yhOx6fQy7Ss&s=xgEGgQpfX4YAzWFb01qZ9xpVfsYmcj-Thzm7LwBnOdA&e=>
> globalshapers.org
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__globalshapers.org&d=DQMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=GhVvdCFxDu4EVUb8ylng2LCvR_0IBt5-yhOx6fQy7Ss&s=AD4YSyg9ZAPmuqMQ2KT8U-TWAx0oZRabNuXs4OBBXvs&e=>
> www.okfn.org
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> startupgrind.com
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__startupgrind.com&d=DQMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=GhVvdCFxDu4EVUb8ylng2LCvR_0IBt5-yhOx6fQy7Ss&s=EBa6-yJCvfxdk_mFmI6H-ZXzXOb0rr17M0mEJpTofqs&e=>
> ajplus.net
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ajplus.net&d=DQMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=GhVvdCFxDu4EVUb8ylng2LCvR_0IBt5-yhOx6fQy7Ss&s=YWO9IHDsdCDx7uytBzeJF-NTjZhVZjk-dOXuBLS9j6w&e=>
> www.everylayer.com
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.everylayer.com_&d=DQMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=GhVvdCFxDu4EVUb8ylng2LCvR_0IBt5-yhOx6fQy7Ss&s=lNcgAS0-227nMM6fqAu163-v-PyiO5D4CTywdQL_1P8&e=>
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
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