I recently ran into a European counter-terrorism expert who complained that it was getting very difficult to build a fake profile on Facebook. Every time his team tried to set up a fake profile, it was shut down in less than 24 hours. Here's why he ran into problems.
- Facebook has an initiative to prevent the creation fake accounts (something Facebook strangely calls recidivism).
- This initiative is a small part of a larger overall effort being undertaken by Facebook, Google and others, to become what can best be described as fully functional global censorship and surveillance systems. I know that people have been concerned about this for a while, but it's not speculation anymore folks. It's here.
- The surprising thing to me? The US and nearly all of the governments of the world (outside of China and Russia) are pushing them to do it.
A global censorship and surveillance platform
Here are some of the aspects of these efforts:
- AIs that can identify violent imagery and extremist symbols in videos and pictures and rapidly delete them -- or better yet, block their upload or shut down a livestream as soon as they show up. For example: a live broadcast during a terrorist attack or murder (both happened).
- Routine censorship and surveillance. For example: Facebook has ~7,500 (largely low paid subcontractors) reading posts and (private) messages to find and delete content they deem objectionable and ban the people who post it. However, these folks are just temporary employees. The real goal is to build AIs that can read posts and messages to ID objectionable content to do what the human team (above) is already doing, but on a global scale.
- A complete social graph. A real-time census of every living person in the world (outside of China and Russia). One that knows all about you, whether or not you are on Facebook/Google/etc. These companies are already close to this goal in Europe and the US, and at 2 billion daily users (Facebook and Android), so it won't be long before they expand that to the rest of the world.
Where is this Headed?
The decline of the US security framework at home and abroad, growing political and economic instability and widespread distrust/illegitimacy will make an expansion of this platform inevitable. Let's look at this expansion from a couple of angles:
- Already, the social networks are replacing the media as the gatekeepers and the shapers of national and global public opinion. It's clear that the media can't play this role anymore, they are outgunned. To wit: millions watch TV news while billions get their news from Facebook. How will they replace the media? They will use AIs to subtly block, blur or bury fake or objectionable information and conversations while promoting those they approve of. This process will become extremely apparent during the next presidential campaign. It also suggests that we will see candidates from within these companies running for office in many countries, and given their edge in using these platforms: win.
- AI's built using real time and detailed social graph information could become better at detecting violent behavior far sooner and better than human analysts. Simply, it may not matter if the attackers were using Facebook or Google, the ripples from their actions on adjacent social networks might be more than enough to detect them. Pushing this forward even further, as the data flows and the depth of the information increases, how far down in the stack of violence could these AIs prove to be effective? Down to domestic murders, abuse, and rape?
- A global ID. Simply, Facebook is getting close to being able to create a global ID for everyone on the planet (sans China/Russia). It's not a bit of paper or something you put in your wallet. It'll be passive. It'll replace your passport and driver's license. If you can be seen by a camera, you will be known.
Sincerely,
John Robb