Google, Facebook quietly move toward automatic blocking of extremist videos
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-internet-extremism-video-exclusive-idUSKCN0ZB00M Some of the web's biggest destinations for watching videos have quietly started using automation to remove extremist content from their sites, according to two people familiar with the process. The move is a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States. YouTube and Facebook are among the sites deploying systems to block or rapidly take down Islamic State videos and other similar material, the sources said. - - - A couple of comments on this. First, leveraging these content control systems for this purpose is completely reasonable, so long as the usual mechanisms for appealing false positives are available. In the case of YouTube, these appeal/counterclaim processes have been significantly improved over time, but still need considerable work to give ordinary users more say when faced with mistaken and/or false claims. Also, it must be remembered that these automated systems can be "leaky" in various ways. In the case of YouTube's Content ID (as I've discussed in some depth over on G+ at various timeis) crooked uploaders have a wide variety of techniques at hand to evade the system, depending on how much they are willing to manipulate the video (and sometimes also the audio) in order to fall under the radar (these can involve manipulation of the entire video frame, placing the active video in a smaller box within the frame, contrast/brightness spot alterations, and many more). Various of these are quite successful, given that it's fairly straightforward to find obviously unauthorized videos en masse that have bypassed Content ID for long periods. Perhaps an even bigger problem is that the sheer volume of automated crooked uploads can overwhelm the system, as evidenced by the enormous number of "today" or "this hour" crooked uploads that can easily be located. If you're just talking about an illicitly monetized copy of a Mr. Ed episode it's crooked but isn't gonna kill anybody. On the other hand, extremist videos can ultimately be lethal. A lot of technical and policy work is still needed in this area. I'll also reference again my "Proposal for Dealing with Terrorist Videos on the Internet": http://lauren.vortex.com/2016/06/a-proposal-for-dealing-with-terrorist-videos-on-the-internet --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone. _______________________________________________ pfir mailing list http://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
