Tag Archives: Facebook

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Facebook Will End Facial Recognition Program

Facebook has seen no end of trouble lately and has been called before Congress multiple times over the past year to explain themselves and their policies. This is all happening as the US tries desperately to stem the unending tide of mis-information and dis-information and do more to protect children and teens. This is all on the heels of reports that Facebook choose profits over the safety of young people online.

The company has taken steps to improve its handling of misinformation and made a few tentative moves in the direction of improving teen and child safety online. Recently however they made a move with some genuine substance to it.

The company invested heavily in its proprietary facial recognition system. They used it to automatically “tag” users in some of the photos uploaded by their legions of users.

Originally it was intended to be a matter of convenience. This feature has caused the company no end of trouble and led to an endless stream of complaints by users and privacy groups around the world.

Although some would argue that it took the company far longer to respond than it should have the company has finally taken action. They have decided to not only shut down Facebook’s facial recognition system but also to delete the facial recognition templates of more than a billion people. That’s big.

Facebook’s VP Al Jerome Pesenti had this to say about the matter:

“The many specific instances where facial recognition can be helpful need to be weighed against growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole.

There are many concerns about the place of facial recognition technology in society, and regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing its use. This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology’s history”

The company has by no means given up on the idea of facial recognition. Based on the reception the technology has received to this point you can bet that when we see it again in the context of Facebook it will be implemented much more thoughtfully.

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Links In Stories Now Available For All Instagram Users

If you’re not an Instagram user you may not have heard of ‘Stories.’ They are vertical photos or videos with a duration of no more than fifteen seconds per clip. You can post multiple 15 second clips in a row as well.

The unique part is that they vanish after 24 hours of posting. Stories are not displayed in a user’s feed but rather at the top of a user’s app when they’re logged in. Users “tap through them” to view the set.

When Stories were first introduced the company limited their access making them available only to users with verified accounts who met a certain number of followers threshold. Instagram has now removed those restrictions by opening Stories up to all user accounts.

This is great news indeed if you’re an Instagram user or if you own a small business and you’re looking for a way to leverage the power of Instagram to expand your business. ‘Stories’ is a good tool to leverage.

Instagram has been pushing hard to innovate. Increased pressure from upstarts like TikTok prompted them to develop ‘Reels’ for Instagram which are short 15-second video clips that can be posted with other clips and introduced to your feed. And now Stories can include video clips created and shared as a Reel but they have a shorter lifespan.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg had this to say related to the change:

“Reels is already the primary driver of engagement growth on Instagram. It’s incredibly entertaining and I think there is a huge amount of potential ahead. We expect this to continue growing and I am optimistic that this will be as important for our products as Stories is. We also expect to make significant changes to Instagram and Facebook in the next year to further lean into video and make Reels a more central part of the experience.”

If you’re not currently leveraging the power of Instagram you might want to consider. Its certainly worth doing a demographics study of your customers to see if they’re present in significant number on the platform and if so taking advantage of that fact.

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

End to End Encryption Comes Facebook Messenger

Facebook has recently announced an important addition to its Facebook Messenger app. Most popular communications platforms utilize end-to-end encryption (E2EE). These include Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and even Facebook’s WhatsApp.

Until recently Facebook’s Messenger app was a notable holdout. Although popular it simply wasn’t as secure as the others mentioned above. Facebook has now changed that by finally adding E2EE to their offering.

Ruth Kricheli is the Director of Product Management for Messenger.

Kricheli had this to say about the recent addition:

“The content of your messages and calls in an end-to-end encrypted conversation is protected from the moment it leaves your device to the moment it reaches the receiver’s device. This means that nobody else, including Facebook, can see or listen to what’s sent or said. Keep in mind, you can report an end-to-end encrypted message to us if something’s wrong.”

The Covid-19 pandemic ultimately played a major role in the change. Since the pandemic began, Facebook Messenger users have been increasingly relying on it as their communications tool of choice. In recent months Messenger users have logged an average of one hundred and fifty million video calls a day using the app.

Given the huge surge in growth the company realized that they needed to upgrade and modernize their offering. They need to offer better security to their massive user base.

Adding E2EE to Messenger’s video calls is the change that has received the most attention. However it is not the only thing Facebook has done to bolster security. The company has also given users the flexibility to decide how long it takes for their text based messages to disappear.

The company has also been experimenting with a limited opt-in end to end encryption feature for Instagram’s Direct Messages (DMs).

These are excellent changes that serve as a clear indication that internet communications providers have embraced the notion of user security and privacy. They are taking meaningful steps to increase user safety and security. That is very good news indeed.

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

This Malware Can Take Control Of Facebook Accounts

Do you have a Facebook account? Even if it has been a while since you last logged on there is a new threat you should be aware of. A new strain of malware called FlyTrap was used recently to take control of thousands of Facebook accounts. Yours could be next if it hasn’t been compromised already.

FlyTrap is an Android based malware strain that works by stealing cookies. It relies on a few basic social engineering tricks to lure unsuspecting victims to using their Facebook credentials to log into a malicious app. The app harvests the login data allowing the hackers to reuse it later.

This malware strain so dangerous because of the fact that many people make regular use of their Facebook login credentials as a quick and convenient way to log into a variety of other sites. That is even if they haven’t actually been on Facebook in a very long time.

Essentially that means that those users are reusing the same password across a great many sites on the web and once the hackers have your Facebook credentials they can, of course, log into any site you’ve used them on.

According to security researchers, the hackers controlling FlyTrap have been running campaigns since at least March of this year (2021). They’re offering highly attractive incentives like Netflix coupons to lure unsuspecting victims to hand over their credentials.

If you see an offer that looks too good to be true (“Login here with Facebook to claim 3 free months of Netflix!” for example) then steer clear. It’s entirely possible to find legitimate and completely safe offers like that on the web. All too often it’s a trap with means to deny you control over your account. Don’t fall for it.

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Internet Browser Firefox Will Soon Get SmartBlock Feature

There’s good news for anyone who uses the Firefox web browser. Beginning with the release of Firefox 87 which was released in March of this year (2021) Mozilla has introduced a new SmartBlock feature.

The new feature helps ensure that when users enable ‘Strict Mode’ for their Tracking Protection that it will not break websites when blocking tracking scripts.

The company had this to say about the feature:

“SmartBlock 2.0 combines a great web browsing experience with robust privacy protection, by ensuring that you can still use third-party Facebook login buttons to sign in to websites, while providing strong defenses against cross-site tracking.

Third-party Facebook scripts are blocked to prevent you from being tracked, but are now automatically loaded ‘just in time’ if you decide to ‘Log in with Facebook’ on any website.”

It may seem like a small change but it’s incredibly significant. Legions of users rely on the easy access and convenience that Facebook, Google and other login buttons provide. Until now those users had to choose between convenience and greater protection. Now there’s no need to choose. Users get the best of both worlds.

It gets better. Mozilla also announced that Total Cookie Protection will be enabled by default in private browsing windows beginning with Firefox 89. On top of that Mozilla will be rolling out an advanced Site Isolation security feature which is meant to provide greater protection against attacks launched from malicious websites.

In all Mozilla has been incredibly busy in recent months introducing nearly a hundred new features and changes to their Firefox browser.

If you find yourself increasingly dissatisfied with your current browser and are looking for a capable alternative with a number of attractive features Firefox is certainly worth giving a try. Download the latest version today.

0
1 2 3 4 … 6