[ PFIR ] Lauren's Blog: "Tragically, the YouTube Shooting Attack Is Not a Complete Surprise"
Tragically, the YouTube Shooting Attack Is Not a Complete Surprise https://lauren.vortex.com/2018/04/04/tragically-the-youtube-shooting-attack-is-not-a-complete-surprise I didn't get much sleep last night. For many years I've feared the kind of attack that occurred at YouTube headquarters yesterday. Employees severely injured -- the shooter dead by her own hand. I've spent time looking over the attacker's online materials -- her website and available videos. What's immediately clear is that she had smoldering grievances against Google's YouTube, that exploded yesterday in a rampage of innocent blood and her own self-destruction. Her father apparently knew that she "hated YouTube" -- and had warned police that she might be headed there. Google will no doubt bolster its physical security in the wake of this tragedy, but of course that merely pushes the zone of risk out to the perimeters of their secure areas. Haunting me regarding the shooter's online statements is that one way or another, I've seen or heard so much similar to them, so many times before. For many years, Google and YouTube users have come to me in desperation when they felt that their problems or grievances were being ignored by Google. If you've been reading my posts for any significant length of time, you've seen me discussing these matters on numerous occasions. The common thread in the stories that I hear from these users -- usually by email, sometimes by phone -- are feelings of frustration, of desperation, of an inability to communicate with Google -- to get what they consider to be at least a "fair shake" from the firm when they have Google-related problems. I've not infrequently pondered the possibility that one day, an upset, desperate Google user would become violent, potentially with deadly results especially given the flood of easily available firearms in this country. YouTube related issues have typically been a big chunk of these user concerns brought to me, as have been Google account access issues generally. I've tried to help these users when I could, e.g., please see: "The Google Account 'Please Help Me!' Flood" - https://lauren.vortex.com/2017/09/12/the-google-account-please-help-me-flood - and many other posts. For well over a decade (most recently late last month) -- both publicly and directly to Google -- I've repeatedly urged the creation of Google "ombudsman" or similar roles, to provide more empowered escalation and internal policy analysis paths, and to help provide an "escape valve" for better dealing with the more serious user issues that arise. Just a couple of my related posts include: "Why Big Tech Needs Big Ethics -- Right Now!" - https://lauren.vortex.com/2018/03/24/why-big-tech-needs-big-ethics-right-now "Google Needs an Ombudsman" Posts from 2009 -- Still Relevant Today" - https://lauren.vortex.com/2017/04/03/google-needs-an-ombudsman-posts-from-2009-still-relevant-today Google has always rejected such calls for ombudsmen or similar roles. Google has said that ombudsmen might have too much power (this definitely need not be the case -- these roles can be defined in a wide variety of ways). Google has insisted that ombudsman concepts couldn't scale adequately to their ecosystem (yet other firms with very large numbers of customers have managed to employ these concepts successfully for many decades). The reality is that Google -- filled to the brim with some of the smartest and most capable people on the planet -- COULD make this work if they were willing to devote sufficient time and resources to structuring such roles appropriately. Google's communications with their users -- along with related support and policy issues -- have always collectively been Google's Achilles' heel. While one would be reasonable to assume that the number of aggrieved Google users inclined to physically attack Google and Googlers is extremely limited, the fact remains that desperate people driven over the edge can be expected to sometimes take desperate actions. This is not by any means to excuse such horrific actions -- but these are the facts. Google and its services have become integral parts of people's lives -- in some cases more so than even their own families. Google turns 20 this year. It's time for Google to truly take responsibility for these issues and to grow up. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Google Issues Mailing List: https://vortex.com/google-issues Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 ___ pfir mailing list
[ PFIR ] Google Workers Urge C.E.O. to Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project
Google Workers Urge C.E.O. to Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html Thousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the company's involvement in a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes. The letter, which is circulating inside Google and has garnered more than 3,100 signatures, reflects a culture clash between Silicon Valley and the federal government that is likely to intensify as cutting-edge artificial intelligence is increasingly employed for military purposes. - - - My March post regarding this issue: "The Ethics of Google and the Pentagon Drones" - https://lauren.vortex.com/2018/03/06/the-ethics-of-google-and-the-pentagon-drones --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Google Issues Mailing List: https://vortex.com/google-issues Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 ___ pfir mailing list https://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
[ PFIR ] Facebook admits Cambridge Analytica hijacked data on up to 87M users
Facebook admits Cambridge Analytica hijacked data on up to 87M users https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/04/cambridge-analytica-87-million/ Facebook will warn 87 million users, mostly in the U.S, that their data "may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica by apps that they or their friends used", the company just announced. Facebook CTO Mike Schoepfer tells TechCrunch that Facebook will warn these users with a notice atop the News Feed with information about what data of theirs might have been attained, and what they should do now. It will also show its new bulk app permissions removal tool atop the feed. - - - --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Google Issues Mailing List: https://vortex.com/google-issues Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 ___ pfir mailing list https://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
[ PFIR ] 'Absolutely No Link' Between YouTube Attacker And People She Shot, Police Say
'Absolutely No Link' Between YouTube Attacker And People She Shot, Police Say https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/04/599415999/absolutely-no-link-between-youtube-attacker-and-people-she-shot-police-say?utm_medium=RSS_campaign=news The woman who opened fire on YouTube headquarters Tuesday, wounding three people before apparently killing herself, had "absolutely no link or relationship" with anyone on the scene of the shooting, police said Wednesday. Rather, law enforcement noted that "she was upset with YouTube." "We've determined that right now, that's the motivation that we've identified," San Bruno, Calif., Police Chief Ed Barberini said at a news conference Wednesday. "Whether that rises to the level of terrorism hopefully will be determined in the next couple of weeks." Barberini added that the shooter, whom police have identified as 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam, had registered the semi-automatic handgun recovered from the scene. Investigators have also learned she stopped in at a gun range Tuesday morning. - - - --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Google Issues Mailing List: https://vortex.com/google-issues Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 ___ pfir mailing list https://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
[ PFIR ] [Glad you never used FB, right???] Facebook said the personal data of most its 2 billion users has been collected and shared with outsiders
[Glad you never used FB, right???] Facebook said the personal data of most its 2 billion users has been collected and shared with outsiders https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/04/facebook-said-the-personal-data-of-most-its-2-billion-users-has-been-collected-and-shared-with-outsiders/ Facebook said Wednesday that most of its 2 billion users likely have had their personal information scraped by outsiders without the users' explicit permission, dramatically raising the stakes in a privacy controversy that has dogged the company for weeks, spurred investigations in the United States and Europe, and sent the company's stock price tumbling. The acknowledgment was part of a broader disclosure by Facebook on Wednesday about the ways in which various levels of user data have been taken by everyone from malicious actors to ordinary app developers. As part of the disclosure, Facebook for the first time detailed the scale of the improper data collection for Cambridge Analytica, a political data consultancy hired by President Trump and other Republican candidates in the last two federal election cycles. The political consultancy gained access to Facebook information on up to 87 million users, most of them Americans, Facebook said. - - - And now you know one reason why I've never been a Facebook user. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Google Issues Mailing List: https://vortex.com/google-issues Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 ___ pfir mailing list https://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
[ PFIR ] Police Say YouTube Policies Motivated Shooter
Police Say YouTube Policies Motivated Shooter https://www.wired.com/story/police-say-youtube-policies-motivated-shooter/ In a press conference on Wednesday, Ed Barberini, San Bruno's police chief, said police suspect Aghdam's primary motive was her frustration with "the policies and practices of YouTube." Police are attempting to gain access to Aghdam's social media accounts in order to further understand her exact motives. "We know that she was upset with YouTube," Barberini said. He also explained that police have no reason to believe that she was selecting specific individuals to fire at. There is still no confirmation that all three shooting victims were employed by YouTube. The video platform did not immediately return a request for comment. Aghdam's father Ismail told the The Mercury News that she had been reported missing, and said he told police that she might be going to YouTube headquarters because she "hated" and was "angry" at the company. "She was always complaining that YouTube ruined her life," Aghdam's brother Shahran told the paper. Ismail says that police notified him late Tuesday night that everything was "under control." He also said he was unaware that his daughter owned a weapon. - - - --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Google Issues Mailing List: https://vortex.com/google-issues Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 ___ pfir mailing list https://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
[ PFIR ] Tragic YouTube shooting casts new light on creators' "adpocalypse" complaints
Tragic YouTube shooting casts new light on creators' "adpocalypse" complaints https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/04/how-youtubes-adpocalypse-may-have-figured-in-its-tuesday-campus-shooting/ The shooting has put a massive spotlight on this topic, which, up until now, has been more likely to appear in angry YouTube videos than on major newspaper headlines. But well before this shooting, Aghdam was just one of many voices on the site to cry foul about YouTube's policies. - - - Google absolutely needs to control the content on their platforms, including YouTube. Obviously, I have strongly urged that they exercise suitable controls. The dilemma occurs when such new enforcement regimes and other changes are put in place in the absence of suitably transparent and fair appeal and escalation procedures -- a situation that can enormously enhance aggrieved users' sense that they have not gotten a fair shake. I'll be back on my usual venue on "Coast to Coast AM" radio tonight around 10:06PM PDT or so to discuss this for a few minutes. Also please see: "Tragically, the YouTube Shooting Attack Is Not a Complete Surprise" - https://lauren.vortex.com/2018/04/04/tragically-the-youtube-shooting-attack-is-not-a-complete-surprise --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com Google Issues Mailing List: https://vortex.com/google-issues Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 ___ pfir mailing list https://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
