Citing terms of service and "bad actors," Facebook locks out tools that catalog ads and ad targeting

[doctorow]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/29/quis-custodiet-zuckerberg.html

…

[Glaurung]

@doctorow

Facebook also claimed that allowing these third-party scrapers could open the door to “bad actors” who’d trick users into installing plugins that exposed their information to malicious uses.

Facebook is concerned that bad actors might expose their user’s information to malicious uses? Pot, kettle, black.

[Boundegar]

Transparency? Oh no, transparency isn’t for the little people. Let us handle that for you.

[gatto]

it’s really cool that the pro-publica article actually includes the javascript they used, and a detailed explanation of what facebook changed to stop the tools.

… browsers make a distinction between a click generated by the computer and one generated by your mouse. Clicks from your mouse are marked “isTrusted“ and those generated by computer code are not.

Facebook’s update blocks tools from clicking on the “Why Am I Seeing This” menu… [it] prevents clicks generated by computers — including browser extensions — on just that one button.

For example, it is still possible to automatically like a page, watch a video or click through on an ad — loopholes exploited by bots and misinformation campaigns attempting to gain credibility or turn a profit.

The same new section of code that blocks our tool also sends a “log event” to Facebook, noting when an ad transparency tool is detected.

[Raoul]

It’s almost as if they have something to hide and don’t want these ads to be logged or exposed.

Time for a legal investigation then, if they won’t play nicely with non-profits. Calling the Southern District of New York…

[gracchus]

Why am I not surprised that Zuckerberg would lump in Propublica and Mozilla with “bad actors”?

There need to be a new browser extension, one that acts like a hosts file and bans the browser from connecting to or phoning home to any FB-related address. An exception might be a wizard process that walks the user through deleting his Facebook account.

[Alfred_Packer1]

So Facebook is evil. Is that a surprise?

[Avyctes]

@doctorow

It’s a really good example of the difference between a democratic approach to technical regulation, and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.

Bit of an unfortunate metaphor, in the constitutional monarchies around here and the one I live in, the monarch is purely ceremonial. Doesn’t compare very well to facebook, which is an absolute monarchy if it’s anything.