
“I'm 10-15”: the secret CBP Facebook group - inflatableDodo
https://boingboing.net/2019/07/01/im-10-15.html
======
danso
FWIW, the investigation that sparked this BoingBoing post comes via
ProPublica, though submission of that link was apparently previously flagged
[0]. That said, I like the BB post for including Reveal's investigation 2
weeks ago into Facebook groups for police officer. It's also worth noting the
PP investigation has already spurred an internal CBP investigation:

[https://www.propublica.org/article/investigation-of-
secret-b...](https://www.propublica.org/article/investigation-of-secret-
border-patrol-group-launched-as-new-degrading-facebook-posts-surface)

> _The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has opened an investigation
> into vulgar and misogynistic social media posts made by members of a secret
> Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents._

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20327391](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20327391)

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spoiledtechie
It's curious to see a facebook group that has +9k members, they were only able
to grab 2 screenshots from all the news that it's a racist group. Only 2
screenshots certainly can't cast a shadow over the entire group.

I would like to wait a few more days before I see more from this group. I have
doubts that it was that bad.

~~~
danso
The original investigation refers to more than 2 examples:
[https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-border-patrol-
face...](https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-border-patrol-facebook-
group-agents-joke-about-migrant-deaths-post-sexist-memes)

------
notus
Unfortunately a lot of LEO's are part of groups like this on social media. It
functions as an echo chamber to reinforce the worst aspects of LEOs.

------
5trokerac3
> A particular target for their hostility is Congresswoman Alexandia Ocasio-
> Cortez, who was the first Member of Congress to __correctly identify __the
> CBP border detention facilities as "concentration camps."

This is an opinion piece masked as a news piece. There are many holocaust
survivors and decedents who take extreme offense to this characterization.

I am rightfully flagging this, because it's not at all about tech, but what
aggravates me the most is that the people who post this type of left wing
political propaganda here do so without penalty, while those on the other side
get shadowbanned.

~~~
danso
"Concentration camp" is not limited to the _death_ camps like Auschwitz, and
it is a label used by the U.S. for its own camps in past times:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_inte...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_internment_camps#United_States_of_America)

[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cave-markings-tell-
ch...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cave-markings-tell-cherokee-
life-years-indian-removal-180971928/)

~~~
stronglikedan
The difference is that people don't _willingly_ go to concentration camps.

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wheelerwj
as atrocious as this is, it doesn't seem to be related to technical news of
any kind...

~~~
perkee
too many of us work for companies willing to support this. We workers could
put pressure on our employers not to. In fact, maybe we have to.

~~~
ryanmercer
Just because there's a private Facebook group does not mean Facebook supports
it.

I imagine there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of private groups.
Should Facebook hire hundreds of thousands of employees to monitor every post
and every comment posted in every single group? That simply isn't practical
and the technology simply does not exist to do it via software.

A video appeared in my feed last week of a woman 'deep throating' a banana in
an extremely sexual fashion, the video lasted more than a minute. I reported
it and went to her page, there was also one of her doing the same with a
cucumber. I reported it. The next day I got the notification that facebook had
reviewed the posts, did not go against community standards, I could block her
if I wanted blah blah.

I reported them again. Three days later, I got a notification that the
cucumber post violated community standards and had been removed however the
far more sexual cucumber video was yet again found to fall within community
standards.. if they can't even reliably remove a video of a woman vigorously,
intentionally sexually, fellating produce in her car with very sexual
commentary in public posts with millions of views... how are they supposed to
police every single post in every single private group?

~~~
zelon88
There was an article posted on HN recently (no time to track it down) but the
thing that struck me about it was; the content moderators they _do_ have are
powerless.

One moderator spoke of watching animal cruelty to a lizard, deciding it went
against community standards, but being over-ruled by superiors who thought
"leaving the video up would lead to crimial punishment." As days went on, more
people shared the same video and more people kept reporting it. This one
moderator wound up seeing the same video come across his screen many multiple
times. It happened for days until enough people reported it and the post was
removed.

The people currently doing this work aren't really valued. That's why they're
contractors. They are simply fodder teaching a machine how to do this insanely
damaging job for the future. That's why Facebook doesn't employ them. They're
going to be damaged and replaced by technology soon. That's the roadmap.
Nobody wants to pay for their rehab, or their counseling, or even their wages.

In 10 years it might be more reliable, but then we'll be complaining that the
human element has been completely removed.

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qazpot
This looks like Thought Policing, are people not allowed to express their
views on private FB groups ?

What exactly is the crime here except may be Thought Crime.

~~~
dbingham
When we're talking about a law enforcement group that has near complete power
in the 100 mile border zone?

These are people who aren't restricted by the constitution in their exercise
of authority. They don't have to have probably cause to detain, don't have to
get warrants to search, can pretty much do whatever they want to you.

So when they turn out to be deeply biased, yea, that's news and it's scary.

