James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Instagram joins Facebook’s latest Community Standards Enforcement Report
Facebook Inc. released its Community Standards Enforcement Report Wednesday, revealing that the company is improving at proactively removing disturbing content from both Facebook and Instagram. Among the wide variety of content were child nudity, child sexual exploitation and terrorist propaganda, as well as illicit firearms, drug sales, suicide and self-injury. The issue of misinformation circulating on Instagram ...
Court rules border agents can’t search devices without ‘reasonable suspicion’
A federal judge ruled today that U.S. officials at borders and airports should have “reasonable suspicion” before they search electronic devices, although a warrant is not needed. U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston ruled that such searches without good reason violate the Fourth Amendment, and officials should have specific facts before they search people’s ...
Google has been gathering health data on millions of US citizens in hospital partnership
Google LLC has been busily collecting health data on millions of Americans across 21 states, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The initiative, which Google seemed to have kept secret from the public, is codenamed “Project Nightingale.” Documents obtained by the Journal reveal that the heath data has been shared in partnership with St. Louis-based chain ...
Facebook allegedly shut down access to its user data to thwart competitors
Court documents have revealed that in 2012 Facebook Inc. started cutting off access for developers to its user data, only it’s alleged that the company sold this as a way to strengthen privacy when it was in fact a move to stifle competition. According to those documents, obtained by Reuters Wednesday, Facebook called this technological ...
Justice Department charges former Twitter employees with spying on users for Saudi Arabia
Two former employees at Twitter Inc. have been charged for spying on users for the Saudi government, prosecutors revealed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco today. According to the Justice Department, the two are named Ahmad Abouammo, a citizen of the U.S., and Ali Alzabarah, a Saudi citizen. A third man, a Saudi ...
Facebook’s political ads policy comes under more scrutiny
Since Facebook Inc. announced that it will allow politicians to run ads and will not fact-check those ads, the company has been hit with a wave of internal and external criticism. This week Facebook faced even more flak. On Monday, Yaël Eisenstat, a former CIA officer and White House adviser who once became Facebook’s head of Global ...
ACLU sues government over facial recognition technology
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigations for their secrecy in using face recognition surveillance technology. The organization accused the agencies of having “no accountability” and “no transparency” when it comes to using the software, and has now asked ...
Facebook suspends accounts linked to Russia that targeted African nations
Facebook Inc. reported today that it has removed a number of Russian-backed accounts it said were targeting countries in Africa with misinformation. In a blog post, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said there was coordinated “inauthentic” behavior spreading misinformation in Madagascar, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, ...
Man runs for California governor to post false ads on Facebook, which says: No, you aren’t
A California resident on Monday registered as a candidate for the governor of the state with the intent of exploiting Facebook Inc.’s controversial ad policy for politicians, but Facebook has apparently stopped him in his tracks. The man in question, Adriel Hampton, has no intention of actually becoming governor, but it seems he is concerned ...
Facebook employees sign joint letter against political advertising policy
In an open letter sent to Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and other top executives, hundreds of Facebook employees said they were unhappy with the company’s decision to allow politicians to say anything they want, true or not, in their ads. Facebook has taken steps to prevent the spread of disinformation on the run-up ...