Global Government Requests Report

Today we are releasing our Global Government Requests Report as part of a broader effort to reform government surveillance in countries around the world by providing more transparency.

This report, which covers the first half of 2015, provides information about the number of government requests we receive for data, as well as the number of pieces of content restricted for violating local law in countries around the world where we provide service. The report also includes updated information about the national security requests we received from US authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and through National Security Letters.

Overall, we continue to see an increase in content restrictions and government requests for data globally. The amount of content restricted for violating local law increased by 112% over the second half of 2014, to 20,568 pieces of content, up from 9,707. Government requests for account data increased across all countries by 18% over the same period, from 35,051 requests to 41,214. For more details, including a country-by-country breakdown of the data, please read the full report.

As we have emphasized before, Facebook does not provide any government with “back doors” or direct access to people’s data. We scrutinize each request we receive for legal sufficiency, whether from an authority in the U.S., Europe, or elsewhere. If a request appears to be deficient or overly broad, we push back hard and will fight in court, if necessary.

Over the last two years, we’ve regularly published information about the nature and extent of the requests we receive. To protect people’s information, we will continue to apply a rigorous approach to every government request we receive. We’ll also keep working with partners in industry and civil society to push governments around the world to reform surveillance in a way that protects their citizens’ safety and security while respecting their rights and freedoms.

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Facebook saves face by approaching Gujarat HC

AHMEDABAD: Social media giant Facebook is facing a lawsuit over objectionable comments posted on the platform against a credit co-operative society's alleged malfunctioning.

Gujarat high court had to step in to stay criminal proceedings initiated against Facebook by the complainant who felt the social media platform was in the wrong as it had neglected to remove objectionable posts harming the complainant.

Facebook has now removed the posts objected to, and obtained stay on the criminal proceedings by knocking on the doors of Gujarat High Court.

Some members of Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd had made apparently defaming and objectionable comments in 2014 against the society on various social platforms.

They made several allegations against its office bearers, which the latter found highly objectionable.

The credit co-operative requested social media platforms to remove the comments. Various websites and social media platforms obliged the society's office bearers, but Facebook did not respond.

This led the co-op society to file a complaint with the metropolitan court requesting it to direct Facebook to delete the concerned posts and punish responsible officials of the company for letting the objectionable comments stay on the platform.

The court took cognizance of the complaint, began criminal proceedings, and issued summons to Facebook official Jack Charles Gilbert asking him to explain the issue.

Facebook subsequently removed the comments, but it was required to rush to the high court to get the criminal proceedings quashed.

For the social media company, senior counsel Nirupam Nanavati argued that Facebook is not a publisher, but only a platform where people can put their comments.

The company is not responsible for what its users post on the platform, and it is practically impossible to monitor and edit crores of comments posted daily on Facebook across the world.

The senior lawyer also submitted that the posts were removed by Facebook subsequently, and it should not be held liable for any damages caused to any of the parties participating on the platform.

On his submission, the HC stayed the proceedings against the company and admitted the case.

The complainant's lawyer said that the issue that is in the centre of the controversy is, in absence of any checks and balances, what should be the liability of the intermediary when any post hurts sentiments of any person.

The end users' license agreement puts certain restrictions on users and fixes certain liabilities on participants, but to what extent could such liability be fixed on social media has to be determined.

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Facebook congratulates users on 46 years of friendship

NEW YORK: Some Facebook users were left confused when the social networking site congratulated them on 46 years of friendship with other users.

This happened due to a strange yet interesting bug. Facebook is not even 15 years old and some users, who saw this message, are far younger than 46 years of age, The Verge reported on Friday.

The report said Facebook has not disclosed the culprit, but said that it is aware of the issue.

"We have identified this bug and the team is fixing it now so everyone can ring in 2016 feeling young again," a company spokesperson said.

The report said that the bug might be due to Unix epoch. Facebook did not confirm it.

Many of the world's servers run on Unix -- an operating system (OS) that keeps time by counting up from zero at one-second intervals.

The date on which clock began happens to be on January 1, 1970, at midnight Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or 46 years ago. This is known as the epoch.

Every second from that point on is known as epoch time, and this is why some gadgets mysteriously switch to December 31, 1969.

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Facebook activates Safety Check in Nigeria following market bombing

Facebook has activated Safety Check again, this time in the city of Yola, located in north-eastern Nigeria, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on his official account this morning.

The feature activation follows last night's bombing of a market in the city, which killed at least 32 people and injured dozens more, according to Al Jazeera. Zuckerberg had previously announced that Facebook would expand the use of Safety Check, after the social network received criticism over its decision to implement the service following last week's Paris terror attacks.

"After the Paris attacks last week, we made the decision to use Safety Check for more tragic events like this going forward. We're now working quickly to develop criteria for the new policy and determine when and how this service can be most useful," Zuckerberg said in his Facebook post.

"Unfortunately, these kinds of events are all too common, so I won't post about all of them. A loss of human life anywhere is a tragedy, and we're committed to doing our part to help people in more of these situations."

Safety Check is still in its early days, and was first rolled out in October last year. It allows Facebook users to ‘check in' as safe if they are in an area experiencing a disaster. Once someone has checked in as safe, their friends are given a notification saying that the user is safe. It has only been activated a handful of times since it was launched as, previously, it was reserved only for natural disasters.

In his post about activating Safety Check in Nigeria, Zuckerberg offered words of encouragement to his followers, explaining that while the frequency of these terror events is alarming, violence, on the whole, is declining.

"In times like this, it's important to remind ourselves that despite the alarming frequency of these terrible events, violence is actually at an all-time low in history and continues to decline," he said.

"Deaths from war are lower than ever, murder rates are generally dropping around the world, and - although it's hard to believe - even terrorist attacks are declining. Please don't let a small minority of extremists make you pessimistic about our future."

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Facebook Now Using Google App Indexing To Drive Visitors From Search Into Its App

Facebook Now Using Google App Indexing To Drive Visitors From Search Into Its App

Use of app indexing will send searchers from Google into the Facebook app, but only on Android and not for all Facebook content.

Facebook has long opened up some of its walled garden to Google, in order to gain Google traffic. Now Facebook is stepping up its search engine optimization game by implementing Google App Indexing to ensure it continues to get that traffic as the shift to mobile continues.

Facebook Loves Google Traffic

Facebook has allowed Google to index some of its content going back to at least 2007, when Facebook profile pages were opened up to Google and other search engines. “Indexing” means that Google can read all the content on these pages. In turn, when people search, these pages might appear in Google’s search results.

This indexing — known so well to search engine optimization (SEO)professionals — has benefits to both Google and Facebook. Google has more content that might satisfy what people are searching for. Facebook gets traffic from Google for free.

Over time, Facebook has opened up more of the content is has to Google,such as Facebook Comments in 2011. The news today about Google App Indexing support doesn’t add more content but is aimed to ensure that those finding existing content from Facebook within Google have a better mobile experience.

App Indexing Means Loading Facebook, Not The Browser

The Wall Street Journal broke the news on this today, saying that Facebook began allowing Google App Indexing as of Friday, according to Google. Facebook also confirmed the same directly to Search Engine Land.

With Google App Indexing, Google is able to jump people from a web page listing directly into a publisher’s app, where the same content loads.

In the case of Facebook, this means that when someone clicks on a Facebook listing in Google search, rather than load a web page with that content, in some cases Google instead understands how to open up the Facebook app and load the same content within that.

This only happens for that content that Facebook has already opened up to Google, such as public profiles, Facebook pages, groups and events (assuming they haven’t themselves been blocked by Facebook account holders, such as if they are private in nature).

One notable class of pages that haven’t gotten Google App Indexing are personal posts or status updates that are open to the public. Google is able to index these now. They’ll also show up when people do mobile searches on Google. But Facebook hasn’t implemented the Google App Indexing code for them, that I can see, which means they’ll still load in the browser rather than the Facebook app.

App Indexing Doesn’t Gather New Information

Facebook is not providing any new information through app indexing that Google doesn’t already get, Facebook confirmed to me directly. So when the WSJ wrote this, it wasn’t quite right:

Google’s search engine is dominant on the Web, but its computers can’t automatically “crawl” and categorize the information inside apps, where smartphone users spend the majority of their time. So it must persuade app developers to let it peer inside.

In many cases, it’s not that apps contain information that Google can’t index — and most cases, if you’re talking apps from those with major web sites. Apps often pull information from the same source to power both their web sites and apps. Yelp, TripAdvisor and Facebook are examples of publishers like this, where Google knows very well what’s inside their apps because what’s inside their apps is also what’s inside their websites.

Rather, Google App Indexing today is much more about making a better experience for the searcher, jumping them directly into an app instead of a browser, rather than somehow magically finding information that’s only in the app.

Only For Android, Not Apple Or Bing

I can see Google App Indexing code live now, such as on our own Search Engine Land page at Facebook. However, my test searches when using an Android Nexus 6P are not jumping me from Google’s search results into the Facebook app that I have installed, as they should.

I’m checking with Google on this, but chances are Google simply hasn’t updated many of the new Facebook pages to see the new code. When those pages are reindexed over the coming days, this should work.

This only will work for Android. Facebook has not implemented similar mechanisms from Apple or Bing, so mobile searches on iOS (either in Safari or Chrome) or for those using Windows Mobile will not launch the Facebook app. Facebook said it had no comment on why these were omitted.

Why Do It?

Why was it Google confirmed the news of this to the WSJ, rather than Facebook. It’s not like there was any special agreement that needed to be put in place. As it turns out, Google told us it was part of a general discussion about how companies are making use of app indexing.

It is a big win, so to speak, for Google App Indexing. Facebook’s move may encourage more publishers to make use of it, which can mean a better experience for Google’s mobile users.

But it’s also right in line with SEO best practices. That is, this is exactly what you’d expect any organization to do if they care about SEO. Google has been rewarding apps over the browser within its search result to a degree that, at times, it’s arguably worse for users. But for publishers, it makes plenty of sense to ride the app indexing train, especially for potential ranking boosts.

As for Facebook, it told us that it implemented Google App Indexing as part of a desire to improve the experience for those who use its app.

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Facebook's Safety Check to be expanded following Paris attacks

Facebook will enable its Safety Check feature more regularly in response to emergency situations around the world, the company announced this week.

The move comes in response to criticism that the social network received in the wake of last week's Paris terror attacks, which killed more than 130 people. Facebook enabled Safety Check for that situation, but was lambasted for not enabling it in response to the bombings that took place a day before in Beirut, Lebanon, which saw more than 40 people killed.

And while the criticism was heaviest from those affected by the Beirut crisis, many others also pointed out that terror attacks and natural disasters happen regularly, and that Facebook has a responsibility to enable Safety Check for those events, too.

"Many people have rightfully asked why we turned on Safety Check for Paris but not for bombings in Beirut and other places," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on his official Facebook account on Saturday.

"Until yesterday, our policy was only to activate Safety Check for natural disasters. We just changed this and now plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward as well."

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Soon, You Could Receive a Facebook Message That Disappears Before You Read It

Soon, You Could Receive a Facebook Message That Disappears Before You Read It

Facebook is testing a new feature on Facebook Messenger in France that allows users to create messages that self-destruct an hour after they're sent. (Yes, you read that right: they disappear an hour after they're sent, not read.)

It's the first time a disappearing messaging feature has been available on the platform, and it's a clear indication that the company will continue to compete with Snapchat, the app that brought disappearing messages to the forefront. (Facebook tried, unsuccessfully, to acquire the company in 2013.)

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Related: Facebook Is Working on a New Ad-Type Called 'Click to Message'

This is not, however, the first time Facebook has experimented with an ephemeral messaging. In 2012, it launched Poke, which had a nearly identical setup as Snapchat and was soon killed. In its place, Facebook launched Slingshot in 2014, in which users most respond to an ephemeral message before they can open it. The app is still available for download, but has yet to gain a fraction of Snapchat's 100 million-plus user base.

This latest attempt is different, primarily because it adds ephemerality as a feature to an existing app instead of requiring users to download a new one. But in practical terms, it seems pretty messy. Say you send someone an ephemeral message through Facebook Messenger, but they don't see it for a few hours. Does this mean your message will self-destruct before it's ever opened?

Apparently, yes.

Related: LinkedIn Just Completely Revamped Its Messaging Tool

“Starting today, we’re conducting a small test in France of a feature that allows people to send messages that disappear an hour after they’re sent. Disappearing messages gives people another fun option to choose from when they communicate on Messenger. We look forward to hearing people’s feedback as they give it a try," Facebook said in a statement.

Users can turn on the disappearing messages feature in an individual chat, and anyone in that conversation can then turn it off (and then on again), the company confirmed. As TechCrunch notes, the function is probably less about sending sensitive material and more about mimicking "real-life conversation."

Except…real life conversation doesn't happen in text blocks. If you miss a point while talking to someone, you can just ask them to repeat themselves. Which, I guess, you can also do in Facebook Messenger, but the concept feels like an awkward fit for text-based exchanges.

The feature, which is available on iOS and Android, is only being tested in France, although it may be rolled out in more countries over time.

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Tech Q&A: Facebook, app-making tools, autocorrect and more

Tech Q&A: Facebook, app-making tools, autocorrect and more

Want to see only what you want on Facebook and know more about app-making tools and autocorrect? Then read this column.

See only what you want on Facebook

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Q. I use Facebook for two things: family and connecting with military friends. Is there a way to keep these separate so I can easily find one or the other?

A. Facebook has a list system that lets you create lists of friends and lists of interests. When you select a list, you'll see a News Feed with only the friends or pages you selected. To access your friend lists, load Facebook and look in the left-hand column. Facebook already has premade lists for family, but you can create your own by clicking on the "Friends" heading. Scroll down further and you'll see the Interests section. Click the "Interests" heading to create a new interest list. Click here for the steps to make lists and customize what you see on Facebook.

Tools to make your own app

Q. I had a great idea for an app, but I'm not sure how to get it made. Who should I talk to?

A. If the app is basic enough, you could try doing it yourself using a simple app-creation tool like Appy Pie or YoYo Games' GameMaker: Studio. These don't require any programming knowledge. Click here to get a bid on an app built by professional developers.

Do you really need a computer?

Q. I need to buy a new computer, but I'm wondering if a tablet will work instead?

A. Many people are turning to inexpensive portable tablets over bulky computers. Any modern tablet will work fine for streaming videos, reading email, checking Facebook, Internet browsing, video chatting, casual gaming, banking, shopping and even light photo editing and word processing. If you need to do heavier typing, you can always get a physical Bluetooth keyboard. Click here to learn what to do if you still need to run Windows programs.

Slash your heating bill

Q. It's getting colder and my energy bill is already through the roof. Any ideas to bring it down?

A. Your first step is to get a programmable thermostat, if you don't have one. This lets you heat your house only when you actually need to. If you go for a smart thermostat, it can learn your daily habits for even better control. Once that's done, learn four more things on my site that you can do to cut your heating bill.

Online jobs for retirees

Q. I retired from 34 years as an electrician. I'm going to need some little jobs to keep up with expenses. What would you suggest for a guy in my situation?

A. TaskRabbit is one of the most popular sites for this kind of short-term work. You sign up and go through the verification process. Then, when people request little jobs in your area, TaskRabbit notifies you so you can go help out and get paid. The site handles payments, so you don't have to waste time messing with invoices or chasing down clients who don't pay.

Another service to check out is Gigwalk. Click here for two more jobs that are perfect for retirees.

Bonus: Take control of autocorrect

Q. I sent my mom a text yesterday from my iPhone and autocorrect changed it to something I don't even want to repeat. How can I stop this from happening?

A. If you want to turn off autocorrect on an Apple gadget, tap Settings>>General>>Keyboard, then toggle Auto-Correction to Off. That will fix the problem, but you'll also spend more time re-typing words autocorrect would have fixed for you. Learn some tricks to make autocorrect work the way you want it to. Have an Android gadget? Here are some instructions for you as well.

 

On the Kim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today's digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com. Kim also posts breaking tech news 24/7 at News.Komando.com.

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Zuckerberg defends Facebook's 'Safety Check' activation for Paris attack

 Zuckerberg defends Facebook in "safety check" Activate attack Paris

Paris also suffered several terrorist acts on Friday night in which 129 people were killed, at least, take Facebook's decision to activate a "safety check" feature, a tool launched last year to help people caught in crisis let others know they are safe.

With more than four million members Facebook using the tool over the weekend to celebrate themselves and safe, and some 360 ​​million notifications sent automatically to let others know their loved ones were unharmed in the incident, terrorism, and clearly showed a safety check its worth in the hours following the attack.

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However, some have questioned why the social networking giant also has not activated the following check the safety of two suicide bombings in a busy shopping street in Beirut the day before that killed at least 43 people.

Related: social media and how the world's response to the tragedy in Paris

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has addressed the concerns in a letter published at the weekend.

Chief Executive Officer, said many people had "the right to request" Why do you want to run check the safety of the attacks Paris, but not from the Beirut bombing, pointing out that even in the incident in France, the company's policy was to activate it only to natural disasters.

He wrote: "You are right that there are many other important conflicts in the world and we care about all people equally, and we will work hard to help people who are suffering in many of these cases what we can."

Zuckerberg said that after reviewing the situation, and the company has now changed the policy and will activate the safety verification of the existence of "more human disasters" from hereon in.

"Safety check is a relatively new feature."

In another job expansion in a letter Zuckerberg, Executive Facebook Alex Schultz and company "to make learning tools and policies behind it better said as we go - and because the safety check is a relatively new feature for us, and we still understand how it could have been the best use of what cases."

Commission said the company decided to activate the feature during the attack Paris "We noticed a lot of activity on Facebook as events were unfolding. In the middle of the complex, unstable situation affecting many people, Facebook has become a place where people were exchanging information and looking to understand the status of their loved ones."

The site also faced accusations of selective solidarity that was launched after the French flag candidate footage Profile, which one user pay with the background graphic design to provide a solution.

+ Follow-up Technology benlatri on Facebook

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Introducing Notify, a Notifications App from Facebook

By Julian Gutman, Product Manager

Notifications are becoming one of the primary ways people first learn about things wherever they are. Today we are introducing Notify, a new app from Facebook that delivers timely notifications about the things that matter to you, from the sources you love, all in one place.

Everyone has different interests, so whether you’re into sports, celebrities, news, movies, music or shopping, Notify makes it easy to find notifications you’re into with a broad selection of great “stations” across a variety of categories. Some examples of stations include:

• The Final Scores station from FOX Sports provides end-of-game summaries for your favorite teams.
• The Daily AM Forecast station from The Weather Channel sends a local weather forecast at the start of your day.
• Hot New Trailers from Fandango gets you the newest trailers for the hottest movies as they drop.
• Breaking News from CNN and Top Stories from Fox News deliver the day’s news headlines.
• The 10 Best Dressed station from Vogue is your weekly digest of the best-dressed celebs.
• Daily Meditation from Headspace brings bite-sized guided meditation exercises into your day.
• The Flashback station from Getty Images delivers iconic imagery from this day in history.

To create your personal mix of notifications you select the stations from which you want to receive updates. Sources like the ones above will publish notifications through these stations when there are relevant updates. Notify also provides station suggestions based on your Facebook profile, and it’s easy to discover and add new stations any time.

You’ll receive notifications, delivered right to your lock screen, and a quick glance will keep you connected to the things that you care about throughout the day. If you want to see more, just swipe or tap through any Notify notification to open the link in the app’s browser where you can read the full article, watch the video, or view the site.

It’s easy to share your favorite notifications with friends via text, email, Facebook or other social networks, right from your lock screen. If a notification catches your eye when you’re busy or distracted, just swipe to add it to your Saved Notifications list. You can discover all the notifications you’ve received from Notify in the last 24 hours via a convenient in-app feed so you can easily stay up to date.

Notify launches with a great list of sources powering multiple stations to meet a wide variety of interests, and we plan to add more sources in the near future.

Notify from Facebook is available today in the US for iPhone and we’re excited to explore this evolving medium with participating sources. You can download Notify from the App Store. Learn more at notify.co.

Downloads:

• Screenshots
• Video

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