Social networks scan for sexual predators, with uneven results

Crime Jul. 16, 2012 - 06:16AM JST ( 14 )

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14 Comments

3

LowlyJul. 16, 2012 - 09:57AM JST

At first I was thinking, great, this is probably really necessary, but the words "scans for pre-approved language" is scary on so many levels. Only a step from not only controlling political free speech, but also what we say and how we say it.

It's going to be hard to resist when it is brought in under the guise of protecting children from abuse, most ppl will applaud it, I was ready to, too. But the possible repercussions give one pause. Too paranoid?

I imagine nothing like this will be used in Japan though...
3

NeverSubmitJul. 16, 2012 - 01:07PM JST

So the private message function in facebook is not so private after all.

So if a person with a married status messages someone other than their spouse and mentions sex is it going to raise an adultery flag?

Why or why not?
3

JohhnyGlitterballJul. 16, 2012 - 01:25PM JST

So what next? If i am drunk and messaging a mate that my wife has annoyed me that day and i am seriously feeling like killing her i may have police smashing my door in and arresting me? Looks like eventually we have to be carefull of anything we type even privately and even then some will say "Youve nothing to fear if you havent done anything wrong".
-3

YubaruJul. 16, 2012 - 04:07PM JST

So if a person with a married status messages someone other than their spouse and mentions sex is it going to raise an adultery flag?

I find it hard to believe that anyone would think that adultery and stalking a 13 year old would be one and the same.
2

NeverSubmitJul. 16, 2012 - 05:04PM JST

Yubaru; So who decides which crimes will be subject to this message scanning function.

And actually in some countries adultery is considered extremely serious and punished severely. For example if I'm on business in the Middle East is facebook going to forward all my potentially adulterous messages to local enforcement?

This whole concept stinks from top to bottom. Isn't facebook restricted from forwarding messages to third parties?
0

lostrune2Jul. 16, 2012 - 05:34PM JST

So if a person with a married status messages someone other than their spouse and mentions sex is it going to raise an adultery flag?

Why or why not?

Not. Adultery is not (universally) a crime, and Facebook is mainly an American company, so it'll mainly follow American values and laws.

While almost everywhere child abuse is a crime, and that's much easier to filter and enforce compared to keeping track of who's married to whom. (Facebook always asks for the user birth date but never asks about the spouse - many users don't even bother, so it's futile logistics.)
0

lostrune2Jul. 16, 2012 - 05:39PM JST

Isn't facebook restricted from forwarding messages to third parties?

Similarly to doctor-patient / attorney-client / priest-confessor confidentiality privileges, if they believe a crime is about to be committed, they are allowed by law to break confidentiality and alert the proper authorities.
4

LowlyJul. 16, 2012 - 05:39PM JST

Yubaru,

You're kind of proving the point. The outrage and disgust so many feel toward ppl who abuse children is being used to leverage all kinds of, basically spying, that once in place won't go away or won7t go away easily. Then that will be the way the world is and we won't be able to do anything about it.

Like "terrorism" (a war) was used to completely gut US civil liberties and rights. "Well terrorists are out there, we're scared" and "If I'm not a terrorist then I have nothing to worry about" kind of simplistic, fear-based thinking, erodes something that's very valuable and was very hard to make and get in place in the first place.

Of course, the simplest thing is for parents to control and limit net use and access. And for average ppl to not use Facebook. I personally never trusted it. But, as with the criminalization of dnlding in Japan and ability of police to now monitor your net connection and what you look at, it probably doesn't matter if you use Facebook or not. You are being watched. The age of the Borg is coming...
2

NeverSubmitJul. 16, 2012 - 05:54PM JST

Yubaru, actually adultery is still on the books in most states and most Western countries.

The logistics of it are no different then the age factor. If a user flags themselves as married and the other party is flagged as something else then any sexual content in the message "could" constitute a crime.

So wouldn't facebook be obligated to report the situation to law enforcement? Who makes the judgment call in these cases? It seems that you're advocating that facebook staff become de facto state prosecutors, using their personal judgment after reading our personal messages to judge if we're serious criminals.
0

Frank VaughnJul. 16, 2012 - 07:20PM JST

About a year ago I saw a documentary on that Oprah Winfrey network about sex offenders. In the U.S. the registration laws started out being about just the horrible pedophiles but over time have been expanded to include just about any one convicted of any thing that can be considered a sex crime. It sounds like the same thing is starting on-line, first they catch this:

A man in his early 30s was chatting about sex with a 13-year-old South Florida girl and planned to meet her after middle-school classes the next day.

BTW, that was an excellent catch, they saved that young girl from who knows how much trauma. However I can see how this monitoring will be gradually expanded to cover anything that even hints at something sexual in nature, probably a lot of it will be mandated by those same sex offender laws, and that will be the end of free speech in any form of communication save perhaps face-to-face. Than as discussed above, there are as many different laws as there are states and countries, who decides which laws are to be enforced or does facebook end up having to enforce the most strict laws and those who live in a place with almost no laws suffer, or do the people in the strict country loose their access to facebook because their country blocks it?

Do not get me wrong, we have to protect our children, I guess it comes down to how much freedom are we willing to give up to do so?
0

Patrick HaggerJul. 16, 2012 - 11:48PM JST

Remember Facebook is a for profit business and it has to have protection mechanism to protect itself. How can complain about a service that is being provided for your comfort and easy access? If you are not participating in criminal activities then what are you worried about. If you get online to commit criminal activity, discuss or plan criminal activity or brag or post pictures of your criminal activity you desrve to go to jail. Remember everytime you get on Facebook you willingly, knowingly and intentionally logged in.
2

scoobydooJul. 17, 2012 - 08:09AM JST

and extend to using the records of convicted pedophiles

And what other information is Facebook privy to? IMHO Only fools post their lives on social networks for all to see
1

NeverSubmitJul. 17, 2012 - 11:19PM JST

Patrick the issue is that facebook promises in their privacy policy that they won't share your private messages with third parties.

The fact that they're ignoring their own privacy policy is the issue.
1

lostrune2Jul. 18, 2012 - 03:12PM JST

The logistics of it are no different then the age factor. If a user flags themselves as married and the other party is flagged as something else then any sexual content in the message "could" constitute a crime.

Logistics is not the same. Major-minor age-difference sexual solicitation is (almost) always a crime, so it's easier to just forward everything to the police without needing heavy investigations.

Adultery - somebody may just have forgotten to update their marital status, and other reasons like putting "married" status just to avoid getting hit on constantly, common-law spouses refer themselves as "married" even though they never registered their marriage (so now how is Facebook gonna know if they are truly married when there's no records), etc. Is Facebook gonna investigate each and every instance of that and send it to the police? No, logistics is not the same.

.

Patrick the issue is that facebook promises in their privacy policy that they won't share your private messages with third parties.

The fact that they're ignoring their own privacy policy is the issue.

Again, similarly to doctor-patient / attorney-client / priest-confessor confidentiality privileges, if they believe a crime is about to be committed, they are allowed by law to break confidentiality and alert the proper authorities. Remember that next time you talk to your doctor, lawyer, or priest. Those confidentiality policies you signed don't mean a thing if they think you're about to commit a crime.