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

Ahmed Mohamed Maawy ultimateprogramer at gmail.com
Thu Oct 13 16:36:54 EAT 2016


I think this whole discussion opens up a new dimension to this whole issue:

Having a back-door is one thing. But then how sure are we that there are no
3rd parties who (with or without backdoors) are using this data to get it
to the 1st party?

Geofeedia may be a dot on the map..

On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 2:41 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> 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
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__okfn.org_&d=DQMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=GhVvdCFxDu4EVUb8ylng2LCvR_0IBt5-yhOx6fQy7Ss&s=0mJDrKTlVZmhtNIV_NCX7sDVspc8EvEbJ0yDBisHU8Y&e=>
>> 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=>
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>> <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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>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> 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
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
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>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> 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
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>



-- 
*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
globalshapers.org
www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
startupgrind.com
ajplus.net
www.everylayer.com
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