Facebook Aims to Muzzle NYU Research Into Its Political Ad Targeting:
Facebook's trying to muzzle a group of academic researchers working to shine a light on the company's notoriously opaque political-ad targeting practices. It's threatened the team with "enforcement action" if they don't pull the plug on the project and wipe all data gathered so far, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Researchers with New York University's engineering school launched the NYU Ad Observatory project in September, an initiative that uses a custom-built browser to gather data from more than 6,500 volunteers on what kind of political ads Facebook shows them. Facebook contends that this violates its terms of service banning automated data collection. Per the Journal, Facebook's director of privacy and data policy Allison Hendrix sent a letter on Oct. 16 warning the researchers that they "may be subject to additional enforcement action" if the university doesn't shut down the project immediately and delete any data it has collected.
"Scraping tools, no matter how well-intentioned, are not a permissible means of collecting information from us," she wrote.
Also at: CTV News.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @03:24PM (15 children)
It is official; Surveys now confirm: The Democratic Party is dying
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Democratic Party last week when the New York Post released emails implicating presidential nominee Joe Biden in widespread corruption. [nypost.com] While the father molests underage females in public, the younger Biden stores inappropriate messages and pornographic videos on his laptop. A pattern replicates from Weiner's weiner to Hunter's hand-crank. [gnews.org] The Democrats are collapsing in complete disarray.
You don't need to be Rasmussen to predict the Democrats future. The writing is on the wall: The Democrats face a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for the Democratic Party because the Democrats are dying. Things are looking very bad for the Democrats. With Trump support at 35% among hispanic voters, even rising star Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has started a Twitch streaming career out of sheer desperation. [nypost.com]
Let's stick to the facts and look at the numbers.
In PA the Democrats are down 2% in voter registrations since 2016 while Republicans have added 198,000 voters. In FL, Republicans added over 195,000 voter registrations while the dying Democratic Party failed to break 100,000. There are similar voter registration numbers in other key battleground states such as AZ and NC. A summer of Democrat supported rioting has also seen registered Democrats quitting the dying party in record numbers. Things are now so bad the Democrats have wheeled out Barack Obama to hold rallies. [bizpacreview.com]
All major surveys show that the Democrats are losing public support. The Democrats are very sick and their long term survival prospects are very dim. If the Democrats are to survive at all it will be as a third party. The Democrats continue to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save the Democrats from their fate at this point in time. For all practical purposes, the Democrats are dead.
Fact: The Democratic Party is dying
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @03:48PM (4 children)
I see writing fiction is your thing.
Trying to give McGrew [soylentnews.org] a run for his money?
https://www.270towin.com/2020-polls-biden-trump/pennsylvania/ [270towin.com]
https://projects.economist.com/us-2020-forecast/president/pennsylvania [economist.com]
https://time.com/5902557/hunter-biden-rudy-giuliani-ukraine/ [time.com]
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/20/nation/dozens-former-intelligence-officials-sign-letter-warning-hunter-biden-story-could-be-russian-disinformation/ [bostonglobe.com]
https://www.businessinsider.com/spies-hunter-biden-emails-trump-giuliani-vulnerable-russian-intelligence-2020-10 [businessinsider.com]
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:02PM (1 child)
https://www.baldingsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/KVBJHB.pdf [baldingsworld.com]
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by khallow on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:13PM
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 25 2020, @05:06PM (1 child)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1320116661790380037 [twitter.com]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @09:34PM
https://www.bitchute.com/video/14BSeYoS1PJ7 [bitchute.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Revek on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:11PM (6 children)
Whew! Trumps chumps really sound desperate these days. I'm soaking up the LULZ!
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:39PM (2 children)
https://www.bitchute.com/video/IP1kVSMLH76t [bitchute.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @06:04PM (1 child)
Around 17:23, Joe Biden's voice seems AWFULLY low for Joe Biden. Does not sound like him AT ALL.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @06:13PM
https://www.bitchute.com/video/jc2xly9mZWY8 [bitchute.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @07:45PM (2 children)
They are not wrong.
The democratic party is being split in two. The progressives and the 'old guard'. The old guard holds the money and connections. They let the progressive Marxists in thinking they were some oppressed group they could control. Instead the Marxists infiltrated all levels of their org. They schism is plain as day to anyone who wants to look. The 'old guard' is cheating is way along as they have for years. The Marxists are starting to realize it and realizing that they are the useful idiots.
You do not have to take my word for that they are cheating. Here is the current presidential candidate saying it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA8a2g6tTp0 [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @08:16PM
Conservatives are trolling idiots, got something new to share with the class?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @10:25PM
There are no Marxists in the Democratic Party.
Those folks have their own parties:
https://www.cpusa.org/ [cpusa.org]
https://www.socialistpartyusa.net/ [socialistpartyusa.net]
In fact, the "Left Wing" of the the US Democratic Party is center-left [wikipedia.org]. Kind of like these guys:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Labor_Party [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Party [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Labour [wikipedia.org]
The US Republican Party *used* to be center-right, but that's long gone [nytimes.com]. And more's the pity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @05:24PM (2 children)
OK Putin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @12:16AM (1 child)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-putin-idUSKBN27A0TA [reuters.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2020, @06:23AM
Trust in Putin!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:07PM (1 child)
FB may squawk, but I don't think they will take legal action. Too much chance that their EULA would be de-fanged if the case went against FB. Besides, one of the world's largest companies suing a university has "bad optics".
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday October 25 2020, @08:19PM
Especially when Congress is dragging FAANG's CEOs in person to testify on random mid-level corporate policy decisions (and worse [theverge.com]) for ostensibly optics-primary purposes, I'm betting huge companies with the lack of motivation/desire to align themselves with, and the ability to challenge, the extant power structure won't get *that* much voluntary cooperation from at least the Federal government.
On the other hand, the company could close/temporarily block some Facebook accounts. Maybe that's what they mean by "enforcement actions".
(Score: 5, Insightful) by acid andy on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:12PM (5 children)
What a joke.
Automated data collection is pretty much Farcebook's raison d'etre. Anyway, when your browser downloads images and text from a URL (and optionally builds a history and cache), how is that not automated data collection? So the difference here is that 6,500 people are agreeing to cooperate so that data can be aggregated, but that cooperation is through human voluntary choice--it's not an automated web crawler.
Yes I'm sure I could split hairs in a similar way to try to justify nefarious deeds like Farcebook's but this is a question of what's in the public interest: the researchers seem to be the good guys here.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:29PM (1 child)
pretty much any random collection of people will be the good guys compared to facebook.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:33PM
Yeah, pretty much. I also forgot the other half of the raison d'etre which more or less amounts to mind control.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by corey on Sunday October 25 2020, @10:23PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by corey on Sunday October 25 2020, @10:28PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday October 26 2020, @05:41PM
lol ah that makes much more sense.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Sunday October 25 2020, @04:51PM (4 children)
Two stories of gross violations of rights in such quick succession? I mean, first there was the alleged violation of the EULA of McAfee security software, and now this.
There's a somewhat famed high point in central Australia named Ayers Rock by European settlers, and Uluru by the natives. I read a few weeks ago that you're not allowed to take pictures of it any more.
Schools are notorious for stupid rules. Frequently, they've banned Huckleberry Finn. More recently, but still quite a few years ago, I read of a student getting in trouble for excessive use of F5 on the school web site, overloading their feeble servers.
We now know, now having tons of video that proves it, that cops are frequently overzealous, and very selective in applying that zeal.
Medical providers love to blame lots on HIPAA. You can't have your own medical records, because HIPAA.
There is so much of this kind of lying and reaching, claiming that something is illegal when it is not, I really think there ought to be sanctions for it. At the least, if PAN follows through with their bull, they ought to pay the defendant's legal bills.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday October 25 2020, @06:23PM
There is so much of this kind of lying and reaching, claiming that something is illegal when it is not, I really think there ought to be sanctions for it.
Now this I heartily agree with. Anytime someone (esp. a company, most esp. a large corporation) threatens people with legal action (including calling the police) for some action they claim is "illegal", when in reality it's not, there should be **severe** penalties.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday October 25 2020, @08:22PM (2 children)
Well, you can [hhs.gov], but they can charge you a fee for reproducing them.
(Score: 3, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Monday October 26 2020, @01:32AM (1 child)
The one I ran into was the nursing home where my aunt is. It's an hour drive, I don't go often, and I like to know that she is able to see visitors before I go. First time I called, was no problem. When I called again a few months later, they not only wouldn't let "strangers" talk to residents, which is understandable, to shield them from scam artists who prey on the elderly, they wouldn't tell me anything at all over the phone, citing HIPAA. You can walk in and see her, no problem, but calling is a problem. I argued with them, telling them HIPAA says no such thing. Then they said they could only tell family. I reminded them that, as I was her nephew, I am family. They shifted again, handing me yet another line. I asked why they answered my questions when I called a few months ago, and they told me whoever did that should not have, and made a mistake. Uh, huh. I went up their chain of command until I was talking to the boss of the facility. No joy. I finally called the police and asked them to do a welfare check on my aunt.
I haven't been over there in months, thanks in part to the pandemic. It's nuts not being able to use the phone to talk to her.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @05:32PM
So buy a burner phone that you can add minutes to, and mail it to her. Include instructions so that an aide or nurse can help her call you (program your number(s) in to the phone in advance).
The nursing home where my mother was gave her an outside line, part of the monthly bill.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday October 25 2020, @06:26PM (2 children)
or filing antitrust charges? Facebook is a tech giant that really does abuse its monopoly power, and this is a prime example: trying to shut up academic research groups that conduct research on them. There's nothing illegal about automated data collection, and in fact this is something that Facebook depends on for its business. But I guess since Facebook is really a big haven for white supremacists and Qanon conspiracy theorists, the DOJ probably doesn't want to bother them.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @09:07PM (1 child)
The government ordered Facebook to be this censorious in the first place. It was a "national security" policy targeting "white supremacy" that was started up in response to the feds catching al-Shabaab operating in Minnesota in 2011. They were making America more "inclusive" by installing American-born members of known al-Qaeda front organizations into positions of power and influence and forcing Americans to take orders from them, in exchange for campaign funds from Qatar and Saudi Arabia paid directly to Obama's staff or laundered through British agents or Vneshnekombank. Everyone involved was following orders from the President, the National Security Council, the head of the CIA, the Secretary of State, the Pentagon, the Queen of England, and the Attorneys General of at least 19 states and DC. That's why there are no arrests. Everything was done legally through the proper channels except for the fact that everyone was committing treason.
You had better believe that people leaked this all over the place. No news agency considers it newsworthy. The EFF and ACLU turned out to be honeypots controlled by hostile forces.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @09:51PM
You go, Tom Clancy!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @04:31PM
It sounds like NYU's data collection isn't automated - they made a browser that a volunteer uses. Unless they're volunteers are automatons, its a mnual process - not automated.