Facebook Failed To Flag Lee Rigby's Killer Post

[ChillDoubt]

Just breaking on Sky that one of the killers said he would kill a soldier, no link yet. Doesn't sound very good....

[lady-janine]

just said he wanted to kill a soldier. perhaps if they had been locked up but otherwise "which soldier" did he mean?

[Gromit]

People say lots of daft things under the anonimity of the internet. There are hundreds of millions of FaceBook accounts. If the police reacted to every nut who made a threat, they would need a hundred times the officers they have now. I would not call missing a threat on FaceBook a failure.

[-Talbot-]

You can't watch all the lunatics 24/7

[agchristie]

Yes, Chill, your headline and sub-comment suggest two different scenarios.

If the soldier wasn't identified on FB then little could have been done.

[2sp_]

It's a really difficult one. Yes, we can all look back and wish that this horrific killing hadn't taken place but I don't think we can blame Facebook for it.

There are so many people on FB, posting all sorts of stuff 24/7. It would be an impossible task for anyone to monitor every single posting. I think they (FB) rely heavily on users reporting anything they think to be unsavoury, illegal or threatening to them and then they can act.

[ChillDoubt]

I don't write the headlines ag, just quoting it verbatim as it was reported on Sky.

[agchristie]

Chill, fair comment, my apologies.

[Jomlett]

Facebook Failed To Flag Up Rigby Killer's Message

http://news.sky.com/story/1380228/facebook-failed-to-flag-up-rigby-killers-message

[sandyRoe]

There must be millions of posts on Facebook every day. How could they have found the few from the would-be killer among all those?

[gness]

Will be interesting to see what happens here....it's not as if the murderers were unknown to the authorities....had they been under surveillance?

[Jomlett]

Timeline: intelligence relating to murder of Lee Rigby...

http://gu.com/p/43tjh/tw via @guardian

[gness]

A lot to digest there....thanks, Jom....

[ChillDoubt]

I'm obliged to you jomlett.

[ChillDoubt]

No need to apologise ag, no offence taken!

[sp1814]

Chilldoubt

Facebook are caught between a rock and a hard place here.

First of all, they would have to implement oversight scanning software and apply it using different protocos dependent on the local laws on privacy.

Then this software would have to be intelligent enough to differentiate between bravado and intent, e.g.:

I swear to God, the next time a Chugger stops me on Oxford Street, I'm going to kill him!

Then, if FaceBook identifies a pool of potential threats, they would have to contact the security services. Once this leaks out, FaceBook would have to hold it's hands up and say, "Not only do we sell your info to advertisers, but we are also in collusion with the state".

This would absolutely kill FB in places which have regimes which aren't as liberal as our own.

I suspect that FB will resist any attempts to make them accountable for this tragedy.

There are two people responsible for this - and happily the next time we see them is when their corpses are being transported from jail to unmarked graves.

[ChillDoubt]

Facebook are caught between a rock and a hard place here.

First of all, they would have to implement oversight scanning software and apply it using different protocos dependent on the local laws on privacy.
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Might be a bit of a scrape but I'm sure they could just about afford it.


Then this software would have to be intelligent enough to differentiate between bravado and intent
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Not really. I'm sure certain words would flag up like they do for GCHQ. Words like bomb, kill, soldier, plot etc.
Either way, it's something that needs to be addressed.
They ban photographs with the merest hint of breast or buttock but allow videos of a beheading to be viewed.
Ridiculous in the extreme.
I'm sure they could make a better effort.