Facebook used the controversial surveillance tool it blocked

When it wasrevealed last week that police used a social media monitoring program to track protestors, it inspired outrage, and major tech companies immediately cut off API access for the tool. But at least one of those companies had prior opportunity to know what the tool, Geofeedia, was capable of. According to three former Geofeedia employees who spoke with The Verge, Facebook itself used the tool for corporate security. Facebook, according to two of the sources, even used Geofeedia to catch an intruder in Mark Zuckerberg’s office.

Social media companies like Facebook are weird – and incredibly pervasive. Someone I know – I’m not going to be too specific here – once proudly said he/she does not want Facebook to know where he/she lives, so he/she did not fill in that field in his/her Facebook account. I smiled internally and thought to myself “Facebook knows you are at a specific address between the hours of 18:00 and 8:30 every workday and during the weekend – I’m pretty sure Facebook knows where you live”.

Comfort levels with social media and technology companies usually come down to fooling ourselves.

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