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Facebook
and other social platforms are watching users’ chats for criminal activity and
notifying police if any suspicious behaviour is detected, according to a
report.
The
screening process begins with scanning software that monitors chats for words
or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of
personal information or vulgar language.
The
software pays more attention to chats between users who don’t already have a
well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate
something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also
“smart” — it’s taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the
previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.
If
the scanning software flags a suspicious chat exchange, it notifies Facebook
security employees, who can then determine if police should be notified.
Keeping
most of the scanned chats out of the eyes of Facebook employees may help
Facebook deflect criticism from privacy advocates, but whether the scanned
chats are deleted or stored permanently is yet unknown.
The
new details about Facebook’s monitoring system came from an interview which the
company’s Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan gave to Reuters. At least one
alleged child predator has been brought to trial directly as a result of
Facebook’s chat scanning, according to Reuters’ report.
When
asked for a comment, Facebook only repeated the remarks given by Sullivan to
Reuters: “We’ve never wanted to set up an environment where we have employees
looking at private communications, so it’s really important that we use
technology that has a very low false-positive rate.”
Facebook
works with law enforcement “where appropriate and to the extent required by law
to ensure the safety of the people who use Facebook,” according to a page on
its site.
“We
may disclose information pursuant to subpoenas, court orders, or other requests
(including criminal and civil matters) if we have a good faith belief that the
response is required by law. This may include respecting requests from
jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief
that the response is required by law under the local laws in that jurisdiction,
apply to users from that jurisdiction, and are consistent with generally
accepted international standards.
“We
may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to
prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to
protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and
Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies,
lawyers, courts or other government entities.”
Indeed,
Facebook has cooperated with police investigations in the past. In April, it
complied with a police subpoena from the Boston Police Department by sending
printouts of wall posts, photos and login/IP data of a murder suspect.
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