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"Internet Economics is a Thing and we Need to Take Note"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 1, 2019

Feb. 1, 2019

Internet Economics is a Thing and we Need to Take Note Geoff Huston <https://labs.ripe.net/Members/gih> — 20 Dec 2018 / /// /In this article I talk about consolidation, the fact that more and more data traffic goes ‘dark’ and the importance of open measurement platforms and open data sets. We need public measurements that are impartial, accurate, comprehensive and of course unbiased as an essential precondition for the fair and effective operation of markets./ [...] continua qui: https://labs.ripe.net/Members/gih/internet-economics-is-a-thing-and-we-need…

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Re: [nexa] Valore legale della blockchain e smart contract: primo, via libera al Senato
by Giuseppe Attardi Feb. 1, 2019

Feb. 1, 2019

Sarà interessante capire come farà l'AgID a normare con degli standard un meccanismo che vuol essere per definizione incontrollabile: "l’Agenzia per l’Italia digitale (Agid) entro 90 giorni individuerà gli standard tecnici che i documenti informatici gestiti in questo modo devono rispettare affinché abbiano valore giuridico effettivo." Per esempio, come si garantisce che la blockchain esisterà tra cento/duecento anni? Se mi faccio una blockchain tra i miei amici, avrà valore giuridico? Come si garantisce che non ci sia una maggioranza di miners in grado di controllare la blockchain? Non basterebbe un servizio gestito da un'autorità pubblica, che si presume trusted in quanto sotto controllo pubblico, dove depositare i documenti firmati con firma elettronica? Non essendo un esperto, ne ho parlato con un professore che è considerato tra i maggiori esperti in Italia, ma la sua risposta non mi ha convinto. Mi parlava del caso di una banca che vorrebbe usare la blockchain per garantirsi rispetto ai clienti che impugnano i contratti dopo averli firmati. Ma del perché tra una banca e un cliente non ci debba essere fiducia, ha detto che "è così". Ci vuole pur sempre un notaio per verificare che i documenti firmati corrispondano alla volontà di chi li sottoscrive. "Blockchain technology helps to establish date, time and place of origin and prevents tampering with an electronic document during delivery from the source to destination. A notary public is not involved with document delivery. A notary verifies the ID of the document signer to prevent fraud, and checks for awareness and volition. A notary is also authorized to take the sworn statement of a witness under oath or affirmation. Blockchain software cannot issue or attach a government-approved notarial certificate to a document. Only a human notary can do that." Sono grato a chiunque mi aiuti a capire. Grazie -- Beppe On 1/30/2019 12:00, nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it wrote: > "Primo via libera alla norma – come emendamento al decreto > Semplificazioni, > ora al Senato – che inserisce per la prima volta nel nostro ordinamento le > “tecnologie basate su registri distribuiti come la Blockchain” e una > definizione di smart contract. Il primo aspetto è “la possibilità di dare > un valore giuridico a una transazione che sfrutti un registro elettronico > distribuito e informatizzato, senza passare da notai o enti certificatori > centrali”, spiega Fulvio Sarzana, avvocato e membro del team degli esperti > blockchain avviato dal ministero dello Sviluppo economico. > «La norma sullo smart contract invece dà a un contratto eseguito in > automatico da un programma informatico il valore giuridico di un contratto > normale, scritto e firmato», aggiunge Sarzana." > > https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/tecnologie/2019-01-23/valore-legale-blockch… > > > -- Guido Guido Noto La Diega, PhD FHEA Senior Lecturer / European > Research Partnerships Coordinator @ Northumbria Law School Director > @italiot | Fellow @nexacenter | Co-convenor @NINSOrig | Co-founder > @DPA2018 Northumbria Law School City Campus East, Newcastle upon Tyne > NE1 8ST noto.la.diega(a)gmail.com +44(0)191 349 5562 You can access my > papers on Academia.edu > <http://northumbria.academia.edu/GuidoNotoLaDiega> and on the Social > Science Research Network (SSRN > <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1794950>)

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WIRED: San Francisco Could Be First to Ban Facial Recognition Tech
by Alberto Cammozzo Feb. 1, 2019

Feb. 1, 2019

<https://www.wired.com/story/san-francisco-could-be-first-ban-facial-recogni…> If a local tech industry critic has his way, San Francisco could become the first US city to ban its agencies from using facial recognition technology. Aaron Peskin, a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors, proposed the ban Tuesday as part of a suite of rules to enhance surveillance oversight. In addition to the ban on facial recognition technology, the ordinance would require city agencies to gain the board’s approval before buying new surveillance technology, putting the burden on city agencies to publicly explain why they want the tools as well as the potential harms. It would also require an audit of any existing surveillance tech—things like gunshot-detection systems, surveillance cameras, or automatic license plate readers—in use by the city; officials would have to report annually on how the technology was used, community complaints, and with whom they share the data. Those rules would follow similar ordinances passed in nearby Oakland and Santa Clara County. But with facial recognition, Peskin argues an outright ban makes more sense than regulating its use. “I have yet to be persuaded that there is any beneficial use of this technology that outweighs the potential for government actors to use it for coercive and oppressive ends,” he says. [...]

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Segnalazione articolo
by Cristina Iuli Jan. 31, 2019

Jan. 31, 2019

Buongiorno a tutti, segnalo un articolo sulla che mi pare d'interesse ai lettori di questa mailing list. Saluti cordiali, Cristina Iuli https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/walgreens-tests-new-… Maria Cristina Iuli Lingua e Letteratura Nordamericana Dipartimento Studi Umanistici Università del Piemonte Orientale Piazza S. Eusebio, 3 13100 Vercelli ITALY Tel 0039 0161 222 8304 Fax 0039 0161 269959

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per chi fosse interessato
by Aldo Pedico Jan. 31, 2019

Jan. 31, 2019

https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2019/01/nist-reveals-26-algorithms-ad… https://csrc.nist.gov/Topics/Security-and-Privacy/cryptography/post-quantum… https://csrc.nist.gov/news/2019/pqc-standardization-process-2nd-round-candi…

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How Technologists Can Help Counter Misinformation and Other Social Harms - Defusing Disinfo
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 31, 2019

Jan. 31, 2019

https://defusingdis.info/2019/01/24/how-technologists-can-help-counter-misi… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Humans in the Loop or Society in the Loop?
by Barbara Caci Jan. 31, 2019

Jan. 31, 2019

Dear all, I started to follow the mailing-list after knowing the NEXA group in the CINI website (https://www.consorzio-cini.it/) It's exciting for me to read discussions about interdisciplinary approaches to technologies. However, some of them are very technical for a psychologist like me! :) I want to share with you a pioneering paper about web-credibility we published some years ago. I apologize if it is dated, but I guess it offers some useful starting points for debate about the importance of the indicators for discriminate"credible" information on the web. Successive data presented on 2009 AIP Italian Congress give us some evidence that Social Validation is the most critical dimension, and this is the reason why I share it with you. Some recent models in IA are founded on the construct of Society-in the-loop (see attachment) and maybe we need to involve more “humans” also exploring their beliefs. Best wishes Barbara Caci *************************************** Barbara Caci, PhD; psychologist Assistant Professor at Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo Viale delle Scienze, Building 15, room 412 90128 - Palermo (ITALY) Phone +39 (0)91 23897739 barbara.caci(a)unipa.it http://www.unipa.it/persone/docenti/c/barbara.caci Skype: barbara.caci

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Fwd: New open access book: Digital Objects, Digital Subjects: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data
by Alberto Cammozzo Jan. 31, 2019

Jan. 31, 2019

-------- Original Message -------- From: Christian Fuchs <christian.fuchs(a)UTI.AT> Sent: January 31, 2019 7:13:31 AM UTC To: SURVEILLANCE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: New open access book: Digital Objects, Digital Subjects: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data New open access book: David Chandler and Christian Fuchs, eds. 2019. Digital Objects, Digital Subjects: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data. London: University of Westminster Press. ISBN 978-1-912656-20-2. https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/10.16997/book29/ This volume explores activism, research and critique in the age of big data capitalism. Published by University of Westminster Press. Available as affordable paperback and free open access book. The book has a conversational nature so that each contribution is followed by a response/reflection. With contributions by Joanna Boehnert, Elisabetta Brighi, David Chandler, Robert Cowley, Jodi Dean, Christian Fuchs, Paolo Gerbaudo, Peter Goodwin, Kylie Jarrett, Anastasia Kavada, Phoebe V. Moore, Toni Negri, Jack L. Qiu, Paul Rekret, Paulina Tambakaki. Table of Contents Introduction: Big Data Capitalism – Politics, Activism, and Theory 1-20 Christian Fuchs and David Chandler Section I: Digital Capitalism and Big Data Capitalism Digital Governance in the Anthropocene: The Rise of the Correlational Machine 23-42 David Chandler Beyond Big Data Capitalism, Towards Dialectical Digital Modernity: Reflections on David Chandler’s Chapter 43-51 Christian Fuchs Karl Marx in the Age of Big Data Capitalism 53-71 Christian Fuchs What is at Stake in the Critique of Big Data? Reflections on Christian Fuchs’s Chapter 73-79 David Chandler Seeing Like a Cyborg? The Innocence of Posthuman Knowledge 81-94 Paul Rekret Posthumanism as a Spectrum: Reflections on Paul Rekret’s Chapter 95-100 Robert Cowley Section II: Digital Labour Through the Reproductive Lens: Labour and Struggle at the Intersection of Culture and Economy 103-116 Kylie Jarrett Contradictions in the Twitter Social Factory: Reflections on Kylie Jarrett’s Chapter 117-123 Joanna Boehnert E(a)ffective Precarity, Control and Resistance in the Digitalised Workplace 125-144 Phoebe V. Moore Beyond Repression: Reflections on Phoebe Moore’s Chapter 145-150 Elisabetta Brighi Goodbye iSlave: Making Alternative Subjects Through Digital Objects 151-164 Jack Linchuan Qiu Wage-Workers, Not Slaves: Reflections on Jack Qiu’s Chapter 165-167 Peter Goodwin Section III: Digital Politics Critique or Collectivity? Communicative Capitalism and the Subject of Politics 171-182 Jodi Dean Subjects, Contexts and Modes of Critique: Reflections on Jodi Dean’s Chapter 183-186 Paulina Tambakaki The Platform Party: The Transformation of Political Organisation in the Era of Big Data 187-198 Paolo Gerbaudo The Movement Party – Winning Elections and Transforming Democracy in a Digital Era: Reflections on Paolo Gerbaudo’s Chapter 199-204 Anastasia Kavada The Appropriation of Fixed Capital: A Metaphor? 205-214 Antonio Negri Appropriation of Digital Machines and Appropriation of Fixed Capital as the Real Appropriation of Social Being: Reflections on Toni Negri’s Chapter 215-221 Christian Fuchs **************************************************** This is a message from the SURVEILLANCE listserv for research and teaching in surveillance studies. To unsubscribe, please send the following message to <LISTSERV(a)jiscmail.ac.uk>: UNSUBSCRIBE SURVEILLANCE For further help, please visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help ****************************************************

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Computers Were Supposed to Be Good | The Nation
by Alberto Cammozzo Jan. 30, 2019

Jan. 30, 2019

<https://www.thenation.com/article/peoples-history-of-personal-computing-joy…> Computers Were Supposed to Be Good Joy Lisi Rankin’s book on the history of personal computing looks at the technology’s forgotten democratic promise. Rankin contends that the myth of a “digital America dependent on the work of a handful of male tech geniuses” detracts from computing’s initial democratic promise: a project made by civilians for civilians. Society’s optimism about technology has waned, but some can’t help but valorize self-made men. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a case in point: He’s still celebrated by some as a visionary and self-made billionaire (never mind that he is said to have roamed the streets of New York with emeralds from his father’s mine in his pocket), even as his boorishness has damaged his business. Tesla’s price has tanked as Musk’s Twitter conniptions have led to SEC fines, and a recent, bewildering appearance on the libertarian-leaning podcast The Joe Rogan Experience left some people questioning his judgment. [] Rankin’s book is a powerful and densely detailed account of how digital culture in the 1960s and ’70s shaped our contemporary experiences of technology as a tool for social connection. As the hat tip to Howard Zinn in the title indicates, Rankin’s book locates the forgotten heroes of the personal- and social-computing movement in school classrooms and the academy, as well as the industry’s darker side. Rankin observes that computing’s social and personal origins can be traced back to 1964, when the first large-scale computer time-sharing network was developed at Dartmouth. []

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FW: Facebook Project Atlas: Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them | TechCrunch
by gabriele elia Jan. 30, 2019

Jan. 30, 2019

ormai senza limiti?? peraltro credo sia compliant GDPR se hanno chiesto il consenso ... gabriele https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/29/facebook-project-atlas/ [https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/facebook-research-vpn-pro…]<https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/29/facebook-project-atlas/> Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them – TechCrunch<https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/29/facebook-project-atlas/> Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity ... techcrunch.com Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them Josh Constine@joshconstine / 12 hours ago Comment Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity, similar to Facebook’s Onavo Protect app that Apple banned in June and that was removed in August. Facebook sidesteps the App Store and rewards teenagers and adults to download the Research app and give it root access to network traffic in what may be a violation of Apple policy so the social network can decrypt and analyze their phone activity, a TechCrunch investigation confirms. Facebook admitted to TechCrunch it was running the Research program to gather data on usage habits. Since 2016, Facebook has been paying users ages 13 to 35 up to $20 per month plus referral fees to sell their privacy by installing the iOS or Android “Facebook Research” app. Facebook even asked users to screenshot their Amazon order history page. The program is administered through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest to cloak Facebook’s involvement, and is referred to in some documentation as “Project Atlas” — a fitting name for Facebook’s effort to map new trends and rivals around the globe. [Update 11:20pm PT: Facebook now tells TechCrunch it will shut down the iOS version of its Research app in the wake of our report. The rest of this article has been updated to reflect this development.] Facebook’s Research program will continue to run on Android. We’re still awaiting comment from Apple on whether Facebook officially violated its policy and if it asked Facebook to stop the program. As was the case with Facebook removing Onavo Protect from the App Store last year, Facebook may have been privately told by Apple to voluntarily remove it. Facebook’s Research app requires users to ‘Trust’ it with extensive access to their data We asked Guardian Mobile Firewall’s security expert Will Strafach to dig into the Facebook Research app, and he told us that “If Facebook makes full use of the level of access they are given by asking users to install the Certificate, they will have the ability to continuously collect the following types of data: private messages in social media apps, chats from in instant messaging apps – including photos/videos sent to others, emails, web searches, web browsing activity, and even ongoing location information by tapping into the feeds of any location tracking apps you may have installed.” It’s unclear exactly what data Facebook is concerned with, but it gets nearly limitless access to a user’s device once they install the app. The strategy shows how far Facebook is willing to go and how much it’s willing to pay to protect its dominance — even at the risk of breaking the rules of Apple’s iOS platform on which it depends. Apple may have asked Facebook to discontinue distributing its Research app. A more stringent punishment would be to revoke Facebook’s permission to offer employee-only apps. The situation could further chill relations between the tech giants. Apple’s Tim Cook has repeatedly criticized Facebook’s data collection practices. Facebook disobeying iOS policies to slurp up more information could become a new talking point. TechCrunch has spoken to Apple and it’s aware of the issue, but the company did not provide a statement before press time. Facebook’s Research program is referred to as Project Atlas on sign-up sites that don’t mention Facebook’s involvement “The fairly technical sounding ‘install our Root Certificate’ step is appalling,” Strafach tells us. “This hands Facebook continuous access to the most sensitive data about you, and most users are going to be unable to reasonably consent to this regardless of any agreement they sign, because there is no good way to articulate just how much power is handed to Facebook when you do this.” Facebook’s surveillance app Facebook first got into the data-sniffing business when it acquired Onavo for around $120 million in 2014. The VPN app helped users track and minimize their mobile data plan usage, but also gave Facebook deep analytics about what other apps they were using. Internal documents acquired by Charlie Warzel and Ryan Mac of BuzzFeed News reveal that Facebook was able to leverage Onavo to learn that WhatsApp was sending more than twice as many messages per day as Facebook Messenger. Onavo allowed Facebook to spot WhatsApp’s meteoric rise and justify paying $19 billion to buy the chat startup in 2014. WhatsApp has since tripled its user base, demonstrating the power of Onavo’s foresight. Over the years since, Onavo clued Facebook in to what apps to copy, features to build and flops to avoid. By 2018, Facebook was promoting the Onavo app in a Protect bookmark of the main Facebook app in hopes of scoring more users to snoop on. Facebook also launched the Onavo Bolt app that let you lock apps behind a passcode or fingerprint while it surveils you, but Facebook shut down the app the day it was discovered following privacy criticism. Onavo’s main app remains available on Google Play and has been installed more than 10 million times. The backlash heated up after security expert Strafach detailed in March how Onavo Protect was reporting to Facebook when a user’s screen was on or off, and its Wi-Fi and cellular data usage in bytes even when the VPN was turned off. In June, Apple updated its developer policies to ban collecting data about usage of other apps or data that’s not necessary for an app to function. Apple proceeded to inform Facebook in August that Onavo Protect violated those data collection policies and that the social network needed to remove it from the App Store, which it did, Deepa Seetharaman of the WSJ reported. But that didn’t stop Facebook’s data collection. Project Atlas TechCrunch recently received a tip that despite Onavo Protect being banished by Apple, Facebook was paying users to sideload a similar VPN app under the Facebook Research moniker from outside of the App Store. We investigated, and learned Facebook was working with three app beta testing services to distribute the Facebook Research app: BetaBound, uTest and Applause. Facebook began distributing the Research VPN app in 2016. It has been referred to as Project Atlas since at least mid-2018, around when backlash to Onavo Protect magnified and Apple instituted its new rules that prohibited Onavo. Previously, a similar program was called Project Kodiak. Facebook didn’t want to stop collecting data on people’s phone usage and so the Research program continued, in disregard for Apple banning Onavo Protect. Facebook’s Research App on iOS Ads (shown below) for the program run by uTest on Instagram and Snapchat sought teens 13-17 years old for a “paid social media research study.” The sign-up page for the Facebook Research program administered by Applause doesn’t mention Facebook, but seeks users “Age: 13-35 (parental consent required for ages 13-17).” If minors try to sign-up, they’re asked to get their parents’ permission with a form that reveal’s Facebook’s involvement and says “There are no known risks associated with the project, however you acknowledge that the inherent nature of the project involves the tracking of personal information via your child’s use of apps. You will be compensated by Applause for your child’s participation.” For kids short on cash, the payments could coerce them to sell their privacy to Facebook. The Applause site explains what data could be collected by the Facebook Research app (emphasis mine): “By installing the software, you’re giving our client permission to collect data from your phone that will help them understand how you browse the internet, and how you use the features in the apps you’ve installed . . . This means you’re letting our client collect information such as which apps are on your phone, how and when you use them, data about your activities and content within those apps, as well as how other people interact with you or your content within those apps. You are also letting our client collect information about your internet browsing activity (including the websites you visit and data that is exchanged between your device and those websites) and your use of other online services. There are some instances when our client will collect this information even where the app uses encryption, or from within secure browser sessions.” Meanwhile, the BetaBound sign-up page with a URL ending in “Atlas” explains that “For $20 per month (via e-gift cards), you will install an app on your phone and let it run in the background.” It also offers $20 per friend you refer. That site also doesn’t initially mention Facebook, but the instruction manual for installing Facebook Research reveals the company’s involvement. Facebook’s intermediary uTest ran ads on Snapchat and Instagram, luring teens to the Research program with the promise of money Facebook seems to have purposefully avoided TestFlight, Apple’s official beta testing system, which requires apps to be reviewed by Apple and is limited to 10,000 participants. Instead, the instruction manual reveals that users download the app from r.facebook-program.com and are told to install an Enterprise Developer Certificate and VPN and “Trust” Facebook with root access to the data their phone transmits. Apple requires that developers agree to only use this certificate system for distributing internal corporate apps to their own employees. Randomly recruiting testers and paying them a monthly fee appears to violate the spirit of that rule. Security expert Will Strafach found Facebook’s Research app contains lots of code from Onavo Protect, the Facebook-owned app Apple banned last year Once installed, users just had to keep the VPN running and sending data to Facebook to get paid. The Applause-administered program requested that users screenshot their Amazon orders page. This data could potentially help Facebook tie browsing habits and usage of other apps with purchase preferences and behavior. That information could be harnessed to pinpoint ad targeting and understand which types of users buy what. TechCrunch commissioned Strafach to analyze the Facebook Research app and find out where it was sending data. He confirmed that data is routed to “vpn-sjc1.v.facebook-program.com” that is associated with Onavo’s IP address, and that the facebook-program.com domain is registered to Facebook, according to MarkMonitor. The app can update itself without interacting with the App Store, and is linked to the email address PeopleJourney(a)fb.com. He also discovered that the Enterprise Certificate first acquired in 2016 indicates Facebook renewed it on June 27th, 2018 — weeks after Apple announced its new rules that prohibited the similar Onavo Protect app. “It is tricky to know what data Facebook is actually saving (without access to their servers). The only information that is knowable here is what access Facebook is capable of based on the code in the app. And it paints a very worrisome picture,” Strafach explains. “They might respond and claim to only actually retain/save very specific limited data, and that could be true, it really boils down to how much you trust Facebook’s word on it. The most charitable narrative of this situation would be that Facebook did not think too hard about the level of access they were granting to themselves . . . which is a startling level of carelessness in itself if that is the case.” “Flagrant defiance of Apple’s rules” In response to TechCrunch’s inquiry, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed it’s running the program to learn how people use their phones and other services. The spokesperson told us “Like many companies, we invite people to participate in research that helps us identify things we can be doing better. Since this research is aimed at helping Facebook understand how people use their mobile devices, we’ve provided extensive information about the type of data we collect and how they can participate. We don’t share this information with others and people can stop participating at any time.” Facebook’s Research app requires Root Certificate access, which Facebook gather almost any piece of data transmitted by your phone Facebook’s spokesperson claimed that the Facebook Research app was in line with Apple’s Enterprise Certificate program, but didn’t explain how in the face of evidence to the contrary. They said Facebook first launched its Research app program in 2016. They tried to liken the program to a focus group and said Nielsen and comScore run similar programs, yet neither of those ask people to install a VPN or provide root access to the network. The spokesperson confirmed the Facebook Research program does recruit teens but also other age groups from around the world. They claimed that Onavo and Facebook Research are separate programs, but admitted the same team supports both as an explanation for why their code was so similar. Facebook’s Research program requested users screenshot their Amazon order history to provide it with purchase data However, Facebook’s claim that it doesn’t violate Apple’s Enterprise Certificate policy is directly contradicted by the terms of that policy. Those include that developers “Distribute Provisioning Profiles only to Your Employees and only in conjunction with Your Internal Use Applications for the purpose of developing and testing”. The policy also states that “You may not use, distribute or otherwise make Your Internal Use Applications available to Your Customers” unless under direct supervision of employees or on company premises. Given Facebook’s customers are using the Enterprise Certificate-powered app without supervision, it appears Facebook is in violation. Seven hours after this report was first published, Facebook updated its position and told TechCrunch that it would shut down the iOS Research app. Facebook noted that the Research app was started in 2016 and was therefore not a replacement for Onavo Protect. However, they do share similar code and could be seen as twins running in parallel. A Facebook spokesperson also provided this additional statement: “Key facts about this market research program are being ignored. Despite early reports, there was nothing ‘secret’ about this; it was literally called the Facebook Research App. It wasn’t ‘spying’ as all of the people who signed up to participate went through a clear on-boarding process asking for their permission and were paid to participate. Finally, less than 5 percent of the people who chose to participate in this market research program were teens. All of them with signed parental consent forms.” Facebook did not publicly promote the Research VPN itself and used intermediaries that often didn’t disclose Facebook’s involvement until users had begun the signup process. While users were given clear instructions and warnings, the program never stresses nor mentions the full extent of the data Facebook can collect through the VPN. A small fraction of the users paid may have been teens, but we stand by the newsworthiness of its choice not to exclude minors from this data collection initiative. Facebook disobeying Apple so directly and then pulling the app could hurt their relationship. “The code in this iOS app strongly indicates that it is simply a poorly re-branded build of the banned Onavo app, now using an Enterprise Certificate owned by Facebook in direct violation of Apple’s rules, allowing Facebook to distribute this app without Apple review to as many users as they want,” Strafach tells us. ONV prefixes and mentions of graph.onavo.com, “onavoApp://” and “onavoProtect://” custom URL schemes litter the app. “This is an egregious violation on many fronts, and I hope that Apple will act expeditiously in revoking the signing certificate to render the app inoperable.” Facebook is particularly interested in what teens do on their phones as the demographic has increasingly abandoned the social network in favor of Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook’s acquisition Instagram. Insights into how popular with teens is Chinese video music app TikTok and meme sharing led Facebook to launch a clone called Lasso and begin developing a meme-browsing feature called LOL, TechCrunch first reported. But Facebook’s desire for data about teens riles critics at a time when the company has been battered in the press. Analysts on tomorrow’s Facebook earnings call should inquire about what other ways the company has to collect competitive intelligence now that it’s ceased to run the Research program on iOS. Last year when Tim Cook was asked what he’d do in Mark Zuckerberg’s position in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, he said “I wouldn’t be in this situation . . . The truth is we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer, if our customer was our product. We’ve elected not to do that.” Zuckerberg told Ezra Klein that he felt Cook’s comment was “extremely glib.” Now it’s clear that even after Apple’s warnings and the removal of Onavo Protect, Facebook was still aggressively collecting data on its competitors via Apple’s iOS platform. “I have never seen such open and flagrant defiance of Apple’s rules by an App Store developer,” Strafach concluded. Now that Facebook has ceased the program on iOS and its Android future is uncertain, it may either have to invent new ways to surveil our behavior amidst a climate of privacy scrutiny, or be left in the dark. Additional reporting by Zack Whittaker. Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

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