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Cyrus Farivar @cfarivar
, 43 tweets, 21 min read Read on Twitter
I’m reading the nearly 500 page set of written answers that Facebook submitted yesterday to two Senate committees. There’s a lot here to unpack. Story TK.

Commerce report: documentcloud.org/documents/4503…

Judiciary report:
documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
So far, the questions from and answer to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are the most entertaining.
Are you a professor, privacy advocate or otherwise that has worked with Facebook in a roundtable or advisory role to build this forthcoming “Clear History” feature? Please get in touch (DMs open).

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Cruz: "Yes or no: Has Facebook made any alterations, modifications, or changes to the encryption security of WhatsApp in response to or as a result of the PRC government or any of its agencies or in order to comply with PRC law?"

Facebook: “No."

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Cruz formats nearly all of his questions in with a “Yes or no” preamble, but this is the first instance I’ve seen (on page 107) where Facebook answers flatly, without a multi-sentence explanation.
Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT): Can Facebook users opt out of allowing outside researchers to access user data?

Facebook: Nope.

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Facebook: We’ll probably never know “conclusively” what data was shared with Cambridge Analytica. (!)

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Facebook: we’re “generally open to the idea of breach notification.”

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM): Does Facebook collect data on non-Facebook users?

Facebook: Yes, we collect user agent/analytics data (who doesn’t?), but we don’t make shadow profiles.

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Facebook: Oh BTW, the Senate Commerce Committee’s own website shares info with Google and Webtrends.

"This means that, when a person visits
the Committee’s website, it sends browser information about their visit to each one of those third
parties."

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Cortez Masto (D-NV): What’s up with Facebook’s eye-tracking patents?

Facebook: NBD, might be a future security tool for Oculus login. If we do use it later on, we’ll do so with everyone’s “privacy in mind.”

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Masto: Facebook's “emotion detection” patent might be used in the future to deliver more hateful messages. Will it?

Facebook: “See Response to Question 1.” (Which does not really answer this question at all.)

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Masto: "Has Facebook ever launched a feature that had to be turned off because of the privacy implications?"

Facebook: “…we put products
through rigorous data security testing.” (Doesn’t answer the question.)

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Masto: Why did Facebook hire Joseph Chancellor? (Kogan, who created the inciting app for CA, says he “did everything” with Chancellor.)

Facebook: We're investigating him.

Sen. Masto: Why is he still employed?

Facebook: See previous.

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Masto: How much has Facebook lost as a result of this CA brouhaha?

Facebook: "protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits.”

(Let the record show that Facebook’s stock price has MORE than recovered.)

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Masto: What of Zuck’s data is “exploitable” on Facebook right now?

FB: Zuck’s data “was among the data that was shared with Kogan’s app.”

Sen. Masto: Isn't it better to handle this proactively?

FB: See previous.

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Masto: How widespread is data sharing with federal law enforcement?

FB: See our Transparency Report.

Sen. Masto: Have such requests increased under Trump?

FB: See previous answer.

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH): Should there be financial penalties if Facebook breaches user privacy?

FB: We’re trying. 50 states makes universal notification hard. We’re “generally not opposed to regulation”…so long as it’s the “right regulation.”

documentcloud.org/documents/4503…
Phew. Ok. That’s the end of the Commerce Report. Time to dive into the Judiciary Report.

Follow along!

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE): Why did it take you until March 2018 to tell anyone that Kogan sold the data to CA?

FB: Sorry, we should've told them sooner.

(NOTE: Facebook still hasn’t said precisely what data was shared.)

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Coons: Why was this unauthorized data sharing, of users’ friends’ profile data, not a violation of the 2011 FTC consent decree?

FB: We told the FTC that we did this. FTC didn’t tell us to stop. But we did anyway in 2014.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Coons: Facebook made $40B in ad revenue last year. How much does it spend on data privacy, security, civil rights law?

FB: We have no idea.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Coons: Did you remove 1.5B users from EU jurisdiction to avoid GDPR?

FB: No way. We’re going to (soon?) let people sue us in their home countries if they want to, rather than in the US.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): Don’t mess with Texas. Give me a straight answer.

"If a question asks for a yes or no answer, please provide a yes or no answer first and then provide subsequent explanation.”

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Cruz: YES OR NO: is Facebook biased against conservatives?

FB: "The conversations that happen on Facebook reflect the diversity and free expression of a community of more than 2B people…”

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Changing venue, back in an hour ish.
FB: We’re not going to play your game, Senator.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
FB: No, Senator, we don’t think we’re biased.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Cruz: Is hate speech protected under 1A?

FB: Doesn’t matter. We don’t like it.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): Is it fair to force users into mandatory arbitration?

FB: Uh, we don’t.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA): When will Facebook’s post-CA investigation be complete?

FB: “many months.”

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Feinstein: Will you tell the public your results? Congress?

FB: "Where we find evidence that these or other apps did misuse data, we will ban them and let people know.”

(NOTE: Facebook is not committing to tell neither the public nor Congress!)

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Feinstein: So what’s up with this 1.5B and GDPR nonsense?

FB: Americans are unaffected, no worries! The “controls and settings” that we’re adding for GDPR are worldwide. All good!

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Feinstein: What was up with that medical research stuff you guys were doing?

FB: Oh yeah, sorry about that.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Feinstein: What did Kogan’s app collect for users & friends of friends?

FB: "The app asked consent for "Public profile data, including name and gender; Birthdate; 'Current city' in the ‘About’ section…if provided; and Facebook Pages liked.”

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA): Who are Facebook’s competitors?

FB: We have “numerous” competitors, including Snapchat, Flickr, Telegram, Skype, Vimeo, and more.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Harris: I have yes or no questions too. Does Facebook collect and permanently store usernames, gender, address, school, political affiliation…

FB: “Yes…”

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Harris: Does Facebook keep a record of everything users search for?

FB: Yes, but you can delete it, and we auto-delete after 6 months.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Harris: When we held a Nov 2017 hearing on social media influence, FB and other companies were evasive/nonresponsive. How much money do you make from foreign propaganda?

FB: “Immaterial.”

Sen Harris: How much from fake news?

FB: See prev answer.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): Why are we picking on you, when so many other companies have the EXACT SAME business model?

FB: IKNOWRIGHT.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI): Are you sure that you really only need an ad model to make money? Or is it just the best way to make “massive profits” ?

FB: “Advertising lets us keep Facebook free.”

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Sen. Hirono: How do you square your business model with your mission to “bring the world closer together” ?

FB: See previous answer.

documentcloud.org/documents/4504…
Ok, that’s a wrap. I’ve read all of the nearly 500 pages today. Tomorrow I’ll be digesting them into a story. Thanks for reading along with me. /end
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THREAD:

Some of my own fav @arstechnica stories from 2018:

1) Why cops won’t need a warrant to pull the data off your autonomous car

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…
@arstechnica 2) Here’s how to use Kalanickspeak at your next jam sesh, bro

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…
@arstechnica 3) Monkey-selfie lawsuit finally ends: Court affirms adorable macaque can’t sue

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Read 11 tweets
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Per a new report, Oakland has an equity score of 33.5. (Highly inequitable!)

Or, as the report puts it: “substantial room for improvement."

documentcloud.org/documents/4757…
"We found that for Prime construction and professional services contracts, 66.7% of African American contractors received contracts under $100,000, which was 3.42 times as often as White contractors (19.5%)."
"Citywide, one in ten youth were neither working nor in school (10.3%). African American youth were the most likely to be disconnected (14.8%), followed closely by Latino youth (13.2%)."
Read 28 tweets
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Hey friends! It’s #openingday! I’m taking the day off work to catch the @Athletics today!

Last year I did a story for @ebyesterday about baseball history in #Oakland! (m.soundcloud.com/user-736747354…)

Then I was invited to talk about it at @NerdNiteEB! Here’s the quick Twitter version.
The @Athletics and owner @DaveKaval have made a big push that the team is #RootedInOakland. After all, #Oakland is about to lose the @warriors and the @RAIDERS within a few years.
There’s more than just the @Athletics who play ball in #Oakland, however. If anyone is really in touch with local baseball roots, it’s the Oakland Colonels. They’re an amateur @BAVBB team playing under 1886 rules.
Read 27 tweets

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Hello from Day 25 of El Chapo's trial.

Expecting more testimony this morning from an FBI agent about Chapo's encrypted phone network. He'll be followed by another cooperating witness, perhaps the informant who set up the phone network for Chapo.

Stay tuned for updates.
Chapo's lawyers want ask an upcoming witness, believed to be Alex Cifuentes, about bribes his brother Pacho paid to a suspected DEA agent in Colombia. Alex also had reason to believe Pacho was working with the CIA.
documentcloud.org/documents/5680…
Here's why prosecutors say questions about suspected DEA corruption and alleged CIA involvement in the drug trade should be off limits. documentcloud.org/documents/5680…
Read 44 tweets
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"THE ALT-RIGHT TWITTER CENSUS: DEFINING AND DESCRIBING THE
AUDIENCE FOR ALT-RIGHT CONTENT ON TWITTER" voxpol.eu/download/vox-p…
"This study was commissioned by the Center for American Progress"

so. Soros. Good to know. (here's proof establishing his Democracy Alliance organization has a vested interest in them.) assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1202…
It's rather interesting. I thumbed through to try and find a list of specific accounts by name. But there isn't anything like that. At least, not as you'd anticipate.
Read 66 tweets
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**KAVANAUGH DOCUMENT DUMP**
Part Deux

Numbers stay consecutive - this begins at 269.

I'll use #OpKavanaugh as much as possible

Original Document Dump thread contains ~ 200,000 pages of KAVANAUGH documents from a variety of sources & can be found here:

269/ Updated Democratic Coalition v Brett Kavanaugh complaint 24pgs

-perjury
-receipt of stolen information

{Refs in orig doc dump to: Leahy’s disclosures, Grassley knew & Barbara Ledeen (Grassley’s assistant) passed on hacked documents}

#OpKavanaugh

assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4840…
270/ Sept 22, 2018 Letter from Christine Ford to Grassley 2pgs

Regarding KAVANAUGH sexual assault of Christine Ford

#OpKavanaugh

assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4936…
Read 110 tweets
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Here's the latest status report in the Ms. L case (family separation class action): As of 9/10, the govt had reunited 8 more kids with parents and discharged 24 kids (to sponsors, for instance) assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4878…
This week's report (left pic) organizes the numbers differently from last week's (right pic). The govt has characterized a large number of parents, in the US and outside of the US, as no longer part of the covered class, b/c the ACLU has confirmed they don't wish to be reunified
So basically, per this latest chart from the govt, there are 211 kids in ORR care who the govt is working to reunify with a parent or discharge to a sponsor, or
who the govt and the ACLU are still trying to figure out if they're eligible for reunification
Read 10 tweets
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Little late night scooplet here: Cambridge Analytica just filed for US bankruptcy and we have the documents. buzzfeed.com/ryanmac/cambri…
Alright the story now has the full CA filing in there so you can all take a look. Some interesting stuff in there:

-Legal bills are being footed by Emerdata
-Interesting details on shareholding relationships
-SCL USA lists creditors including: Facebook, Google, Twitter
Here is the Cambridge Analytica LLC bankruptcy petition: documentcloud.org/documents/4466…
Read 7 tweets
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Accessible introductory information (as it sticks closely to the #PrimarySource, the #Senate's #CIA #TortureReport):
bostonglobe.com/news/nation/20…
" Read the Senate’s executive summary of the CIA torture report
The report found that the methods used by the CIA were more brutal than the agency acknowledged either to Bush administration officials or to the public. "
bostonglobe.com/news/nation/20…
"the CIA itself determined from its own experience with coercive interrogations,that such techniques'do not produce intelligence,"will probably result in false answers,'& had historically proven to be ineffective…[🤔]#futurepresident #withthestrokeofapen" assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1377…
Read 9 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Obama #Blackstone #Presidents #Cables #Dolt45 #RDI #USA #Congress #Russian #SCOTUS #QATAR #evidence #Cayman #Mnuchin #Ross #UnitedStates #StopTheSteal #Putin #lies #GinaHaspel #OpRoar #SecureTheVote #FLRECOUNT2018 #s #MerrillLynch

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