Tag: Facebook

It looks like someone was trying to be too clever on Facebook:

The U.N. Command is reviewing its social media policies after a short, sexually suggestive post was published recently on the organization’s official Facebook page.

The post — “Make love to me …” — appeared around midnight March 24. By mid-morning the message had disappeared.

The post “was made unrelated to the mission and goals of our command,” Army Col. Isaac Taylor, who also serves as spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea, said in a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

“We are reviewing and updating our current practices and security protocols to ensure it does not happen again,” he wrote. 

Taylor’s email did not answer questions about who was responsible for the post and whether any disciplinary actions were taken. Speaking by phone Monday, he said the investigation into the incident is ongoing. 

The U.N. Command’s Facebook account has around 13,000 followers and posts news and information about its activities and history. (…..)

The message was posted on Facebook as U.S. and South Korean troops carried out the large-scale Ssangyong maritime exercise in South Korea between March 20 and April 3. The allies also conducted large, joint training that included live-fire artillery drills and tabletop simulations throughout March.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Could you imagine the precedent this would set for the tech companies if they have to pay taxes to every country where citizens use its services?  Users are already paying a fee to the Internet provider in the country that is being taxed:

South Korea is considering launching probes into global tech companies that have come under suspicion for not paying their dues, the government here said Wednesday.

The move comes amid growing criticism that global tech giants, including Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., have not properly paid their taxes to local authorities while generating profits every year.

“The government is aware that it is a problem that needs to be more actively addressed,” ICT Minister Yoo Young-min said during an annual audit with lawmakers. “The ministry is mulling over the launch of a joint investigation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Financial Services Commission and the Fair Trade Commission.”

The lawmakers at the gathering argued that the government should come up with countermeasures to properly deal with alleged wrongdoings by the multinationals if they do not follow local regulations.

“It is vital that an organization should be set up to come up with joint countermeasures against global companies that may not be paying their taxes here,” said Rep. Kim Kyung-jin, adding that it’s important to find out how much foreign companies make.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think Dr. Tara O may be on to why the ROK government is looking at going after the tech companies:

Park Kwang-on, Deoburreo Minju Party, “asked” Google to remove 104 YouTube cases. When Google didn’t, he called Google Korea head for questioning re alleged tax evasion& alleged fake YouTube. High pressure tactics to suppress voices for freedom, rule of law, pro-ROK-US alliance https://t.co/QKZcsRkRaY

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) November 6, 2018

You can read more about the Moon administrations’ attempt to suppress conservative critics in South Korea at the below link.

https://www.rokdrop.net/2018/10/gordon-change-gives-address-to-the-national-press-club-on-south-korean-governments-attacks-on-freedom-of-speech/

I don’t think these protesters are going to find too many objections from men in regards to their demands towards Facebook:

A group of female protesters went topless in a rally against Facebook, Saturday, protesting its “discrimination,” based on a policy that bans posts showing women’s breasts but allows men’s naked torsos. Ten women wearing masks and sunglasses carried signs that read, “Why do you delete posts in which I willingly showed my breasts?” and “Set me free from what is virtually a modern corset,” near company headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul.

Soon after photographers and police arrived, the protesters lined up and took off their T-shirts to show a Korean character drawn on their chests to deliver the message “My body is not pornographic material.”

Police forcibly covered the women with blankets despite fierce protests, with some women shouting, “Why are police officers covering us? Why do they keep suppressing us?”

The highly “liberal” move came about a week after Facebook unilaterally deleted an account that posted a message with a photo of a topless woman, slapping the account holder with a one-month suspension. Facebook said the post violated company policy on uploading photos containing naked body parts and sexual acts. “Facebook is used by all age groups, which is why we need to create an environment where a majority of people feel safe,” the company was quoted as saying. “We understand the women’s group and where they are coming from. We must delete the topless photos for now.”  [Korea Times]

You can read and see more pictures at the link, but this is actually not the first time there has been a topless protest in Seoul.

This tactic by the Russians is really nothing new since misinformation on the Internet is something long used in South Korea for political purposes:

Posing as American activists, Russian government-linked trolls created 129 Facebook events between 2015 and 2017.

On multiple occasions, the events prompted real Americans to take to the streets.

In a written statement Facebook gave to the Senate Intelligence Committee released on Thursday, the social media network said that the events created by one Kremlin-linked troll group were seen by more than 300,000 Facebook users. About 62,500 users marked that they would attend the event, and an additional 25,800 expressed an interest in attending.

Facebook told Congress it does “not have data about the realization of these events,” but CNN has previously found evidence that the Russian group successfully convinced Americans to attend the demonstrations.

The events were organized on a range of divisive issues and were designed to pit Americans against each other.

In one case, the troll group organized and promoted two opposing events on the same day at the same location in Houston, Texas.

“Heart of Texas,” a page that posed as a pro-Texas secession organization, promoted a “Stop Islamization of Texas” protest at the opening of a library at an Islamic Center on May 21, 2016. The same troll group used another page, “United Muslims of America,” to promote a “Save Islamic Knowledge” event at the same time.

The Russian group spent $200 promoting the events on Facebook, the company told Congress last fall.

Executive director of the American-Islamic Relations in Texas, Mustafaa Carroll, told CNN that his organization had contacted the FBI about comments posted on the “Heart of Texas” page before the protest. One of them read: “Need to blow this place up. We don’t need this shit in Texas.”  [CNN]

You can read more at the link, but using trolls to create fake news and events is why the prior ROK government under President Lee Myung-bak implemented a real-name verification system for commenters to avoid false information influencing elections.  President Lee had first hand experience with this when the 2008 US Mad Cow Crisis nearly toppled his Presidency shortly after being inaugurated.  Afterwards the whole thing was proven to be fake news spread over the Internet and promoted by major media outlets to topple the President.

Kevin Martin (R), vice president for mobile and global access policy at Facebook, arrives at the government complex in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, on Jan. 10, 2018, to meet with Korea Communications Commission chief Lee Hyo-seong. (Yonhap)

Facebook should stay out of any deal with Beijing, or risk exposing non-Chinese users to Chinese surveillance.https://t.co/ssOOj8li76 pic.twitter.com/3Y95VMBd8f

— FP's Tea Leaf Nation (@TeaLeafNation) November 29, 2016

Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan say they plan to donate 99% of their $FB shares to charity https://t.co/MCFsqY8Sff pic.twitter.com/KQOcHssIkH

— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) December 1, 2015

This seems a pretty bold and sweeping statement from someone who has never served in the military.  Until one of these critics advocates for equal physical fitness standards between male and female soldiers their criticism of bias against females has little creditability.  I don’t think there is a more fair organization for women and minorities than the US military:

Corporate America and the military are sexist and show racial bias, a leading businesswoman told cadets Friday at the Air Force Academy.

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook and author of the book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” told a crowd of nearly 3,000 cadets that society tells women they are less competent and capable. She described the military as one of “the worst” organizations for bias during a 30-minute speech.

“Women and minorities face barriers white men don’t face,” she said.

Sandberg has become a leading figure of modern feminism with arguments that women should fill half of corporate boardroom seats and men should do half the stay-at-home child rearing. Detractors have said that Sandberg’s Lean In pitch shatters traditional gender roles driven by biology and that her perspective is one borne of privilege, as a wealthy technology entrepreneur.  [The Gazette]

You can read the rest at the link.

I have for many years advocated for fighting an information war within North Korea since the early days of financing defector radio stations to broadcast into North Korea.  Challenging the Kim regime’s domestic propaganda should be a primary part of any strategy to counter North Korea.  Challenging the propaganda directly challenges the Kim regime’s legitimacy.  That is why the Kim regime has been so violently outspoken against the activities of defector groups that have launched balloons into North Korea to include even trying to assassinate the group’s primary leader, Park Sang-hak.  Recently when I read about Facebook’s new effort to use drones to give Internet access to remote areas of the world the first thing I thought of was North Korea:

Facebook started teasing its internet-beaming planes last year, but now we’re seeing one that it actually built. Pictured above is Aquila, a solar-powered, 140-foot unmanned plane that’s designed to deliver internet connectivity from altitudes of 60,000 to 90,000 feet. The UAV, which has the wingspan of a Boeing 737 and weighs roughly 880 pounds, will be able to circle a specific area for up to 90 days when deployed — a feat possible thanks to its dependence on nothing but solar energy.

The Kim regime has been very active in doing everything possible to stem the tide of outside information entering North Korea.  Excluding the border areas where most of the defectors come from, the Kim regime has been very effective with controlling information entering North Korea while expanding access to technology.  The Kim regime has expanded computer and smartphone use while simultaneously creating an its own cell phone network and Intranet to control the flow of information.  The fact that border areas can use cell phone towers in China contributes to the fact more defectors come from these areas.

Imagine if everyone in North Korea was able to access an outside information network like the border areas can do using Chinese cell phone towers?  That is what Facebook’s drones may be able to do. Facebook is not the only ones pursuing this technology; Google has their own program to provide Internet to remote areas using balloons. The drones and balloons fly at altitudes greater than any aircraft North Korea has can intercept, however right now it is unclear whether they can fly at a standoff distance greater than North Korea’s anti-aircraft missiles can target the drone or balloon with.  If the technology advances to where a drone or balloon could hover over the center of the Sea of Japan and beam Internet access into North Korea, the Kim regime would not be able to target it.  What effect over the long term would that have in North Korea if citizens could secretly access the Internet without the Kim regime knowing?

It looks like Samsung and Facebook may be trying to come up with some kind of partnership to take on their business rivals:

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Samsung Electronics Co. headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday, Samsung officials said, in an apparent bid to discuss new business models for the two firms.

A Samsung spokesman said Zuckerberg had visited the headquarters, without revealing other details including people he met with and the purpose of the visit. He is believed to have met with Samsung’s heir-apparent Lee Jay-yong, who was spotted entering the building shortly ahead of the spokesman’s remarks.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if Samsung is trying to better integrate Facebook services into other Samsung products like their TVs or appliances? Anyone have any other ideas on what partnership they could be forging?