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Facebook today introduced new tools designed to help victims of so-called revenge porn.

Going forward, if you happen to come across an intimate image on Facebook that you believe was shared without permission, it will be easier to report it. To do so, just tap on the downward arrow or "" next to a post and click "Report."

Once you report it, "specially trained representatives" from Facebook's Community Operations team will review the image and, if it's found to be in violation of the social network's Community Standards, will take it down.

"In most cases, we will also disable the account for sharing intimate images without permission," Facebook's Head of Global Safety Antigone Davis wrote in a blog post. "We offer an appeals process if someone believes an image was taken down in error."

The company also plans to use "photo-matching technologies" to prevent any subsequent attempts to share the same image on not only Facebook but also Messenger and Instagram. If someone tries to share the image after it's been reported or removed, Facebook won't allow it and the person will get a notification stating that the image violates the social network's policies.

Finally, Facebook is partnering with safety organizations to offer revenge porn victims resources and support.

"These tools, developed in partnership with safety experts, are one example of the potential technology has to help keep people safe," Davis wrote. "We look forward to building on these tools and working with other companies to explore how they could be used across the industry."

According to a recent study from the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, 93 percent of US revenge porn victims suffer "significant emotional distress" as a result of the abuse, while 82 percent report "significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas" of their life.

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Facebook Introduces New Tools to Fight Revenge Porn - PCMag India

Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday to stop federal agencies from compelling the company to hand over information about an anti-Trump account.

The suit, which lists the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its secretary John Kelly among the defendants, claims that DHS is abusing its power by trying to unmask the identity of the person behind the @ALT_uscis account.

The account is one of many created after President Donald Trump took office, purporting to be owned by current or former employees of federal agencies who often send tweets to speak out anonymously against the Trump administration. Twitter received an administrative summons in March from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency requesting records that would reveal the identity of the @ALT_uscis account holder, according to the lawsuit.

Twitter's lawyers wrote that the company is refusing to give up that information because "permitting CBP to pierce the pseudonym of the @ALT_uscis account would have a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account in particular and on the many other 'alternative agency' accounts that have been created to voice dissent to government policies."

The CBP summons did not indicate that the any laws had been broken, nor did the agency obtain a court order to prevent Twitter from notifying the @ALT_uscis account holder about the request for information, according to the lawsuit. Twitter said that it informed the account holder on April 4, and told CBP that its request infringes on the First Amendment rights of the company and its users.

A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter, like other social media companies, frequently receives requests from law enforcement agencies to remove content or for more information about specific accounts. During the second half of last year, the company received 2,304 such requests from US law enforcement agencies, and offered up information for 82 percent of them, according to its latest transparency report.

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Feds, Seeking Twitter Account Data, Get Lawsuit Instead - PCMag India

The worlds most spam-prone website LinkedIn has had a sudden change of heart: It now wants you to beconcerned aboutCongress recent decision to allow broadband providers to sell your private browsing data to advertisers.

On Monday, LinkedIn sent out an email sponsoring an article written by Anurag Harsh, LinkedIns #1 Voice in Technology, titled Your Browser History Could Be for Sale Soon. Are You Concerned?

The article warns of the potential dangers of letting broadband providers sell your browsing data to others. What can someone with access to that kind of information do?Harshasked.

Your service provider could sell your personal information to the highest bidder; and not just your demographics, but also your user behavior. That very information is the bedrock of personalized advertising. Its why companies like Amazon are so successful, headded.

The people who wrote Public Service Announcementclearly missed the irony. LinkedIn has long been the king of spam, bogging down email inboxeswith irrelevantsuggestions and sponsoredrecommendations. In 2015, the company had to pay out $13 million because of its fondness for spamming users.

ViaTIME Magazine:

The suit originated in California in 2013, when LinkedIn users sued the company claiming its Add Connections feature hurt their professional reputation by relentlessly messaging their email contacts with requests to connect on LinkedIn, Fortune reports. In the complaint, users described being embarrassed by the emails and complained that it was very difficult to stop LinkedIn from sending more emails once the barrage had begun. The settlement affects users who signed up for LinkedIns Add Connections feature between September 2011 and October 2014.

The ironyfor LinkedIn doesntend here. Back in 2014, according to a lawsuit, the social media network was accused of secretly selling usersprofessional datathe exact thing LinkedIn is now ringing the alarm about.

Via The Recorder and Gawker:

According to the suit, LinkedIn can mine the information provided by users of its professional networking website to find potential references for job applicants without the applicants knowledge. Searches yield a list of the names and current job titles for potential references, along with the common employer they share with the applicant and time worked together.

The complaint claims that these reference lists amount to a consumer report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and that LinkedIn fails to abide by safeguards required under the law.

In essence, LinkedIn has created a marketplace in consumer employment information, where it sells employment information, that may or may not be accurate, and that it has obtained in part from unwitting members, and without complying with the FCRA, write the plaintiffs lawyers at Greenwald Davidson in Boca Raton, Fla., and the Law Offices Todd M. Friedman in Beverly Hills. Plaintiffs are asking for statutory damages for willful violation of the FCRA, which run from $100 to $1,000 per violation.

But thanks, LinkedIn, for taking some time out from spamming us to give us a heads-up on Internet privacy.

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World's Most Annoying Social Network Wants You to Worry About Other Companies Selling Your Data - Heat Street

The Hillsdale Daily News

LANSING Because internet use is a daily part of most of our lives, the Michigan State Police (MSP) Michigan Cyber Command Center (MC3) is reminding Michiganders to be safe and smart when using social networking applications (apps).

By design, social networking apps allow users to communicate and share information. They can be accessed using a variety of devices and are often free of charge. Some examples are Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Kik Messenger. Using social networking apps can be positive. However, there are dangers. Unintended use of these apps has resulted in children finding themselves in unsafe situations.

Kik, for instance, allows users to chat anonymously and does not validate user information. This is designed to protect privacy but it also means that users dont truly know who they are talking to. Predators have utilized this app to convince teenagers to do things which resulted in exploitation or harm.

In a recent Michigan incident, a teenager traveled to another state to meet with someone she befriended on this app without telling her parents. She was found unharmed. However, this has not always been the case. Kik is only one of the hundreds of free social networking apps available to kids and teens. The prevalence and impact of these apps is too great to ignore.

Tips for parents:

Understand what your kids are saying when they are talking to others. Some acronyms include:

PAW or PRW Parents are watching

PIR Parents in room

POS Parent over shoulder

P911 Parent emergency

(L) MIRL (Lets) meet in real life

9 Parent watching

99 Parent gone

Talk with your kids and dont sugar coat reality. Share news stories with them, even if they include uncomfortable details.

Talk with your children about sexual victimization and potential online dangers.

Spend time with your kids online and have them teach you about their favorite apps, networks, and web sites.

Monitor your childs phone. Keep laptops and computers in common rooms. Consider making your childrens rooms and the bathrooms technology free zones.

Utilize parent controls and randomly check his or her online accounts.

Teach your children responsible online activities and approve their apps.

There are many resources available to parents to assist in keeping children safe online. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) provides a comprehensive list of resources on their website athttp://www.missingkids.org.

If you have information regarding possible child sexual exploitation, report it to the Cyber Tip Line athttp://www.missingkids.org/cybertipline.

Link:
Be safe and smart on social networking apps - The Hillsdale Daily News

Sahil Bhagat, founder and CEO, Vebbler

Re-launches mobile- and camera-first mobile app

Kolkata, March 29:

As times change, so do business models; more so in the tech world.

When Sahil Bhagat founded home-grown social network Vebbler in 2013, the idea was to have a personal forum allowing people to interact with each other through groups, while maintaining privacy.

But Bhagat, also Vebblers CEO, realised social-network users were more inclined to photo-sharing than just on interactions, with photos clicked using mobilephones dominating the segment.

The desi social network was re-launched in the later half of 2016 with focus on mobile and camera first and photo-sharing.

Social networking relies more on sharing images now-a-days. And people end up creating multiple groups on chat forums to get those select pictures. Vebbler makes it easier by creating Clubs where users of a group can send photos. These photos can then be uploaded across multiple social networking sites, he told BusinessLine.

This apart, the mobile app has a host of photo filters and other effects that can be used to enhance the images, and various visual reactions responding to photos using selfies, emojis, captions and quirky GIFs.

Vebbler currently has 5,00,000 users across 118 countries. The top countries include India, the US, Iran and Argentina.

Bhagat knows he is targeting a young audience preferably between ages 18 and 24 who want results fast, and are willing to experiment with the new. Accordingly, the Bengaluru-headquartered company is working on new features to ensure customer retention.

It is also in talks with social-media influencers for promoted profiles.

Various programmes are also being carried out across campuses (mostly educational institutions) to popularise the platform.

In the initial days, customer acquisition and retention is important. Once we have done that, scaling up will be looked into.

Monetisation of the platform and integrating m-commerce are not under Bhagats immediate goals. Maybe around 2018-19, we could look at monetisation options or open up the platform for advertisements. As of now, we are working towards content.

Interestingly, Vebbler is still not into the funding game.

Initially, it was a boot-strapped company. Later it secured very early funding to the tune of $500,000 from a host of investors in India and abroad.

As of now, there are no immediate fund-raising plans, Bhagat adds.

(This article was published on March 29, 2017)

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Desi social network Vebbler focusses on photo-sharing in its second avatar - Hindu Business Line