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Facebook Created A Report That Described How Advertisers Could Target Insecure Teenagers

A leaked 23-page document created at Facebook describes how the social network could target teenagers as young as 14 with ads for when they felt “worthless” and “insecure”.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

The document, which was obtained by The Australian, states that Facebook can figure out when young people feel “defeated”, “anxious”, “nervous”, “silly”, “stupid”, “useless”, “stressed”, and a “failure” by using algorithms that analyze what they post and who they interact with. It then details how advertisers can target them at moments when they “need a confidence boost.”

Facebook didn’t immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment, but a Facebook spokesperson told The Australian that the company had opened an investigation into why this internal report was created. “We will undertake disciplinary and other processes as appropriate,” the spokesperson said.

One of the most interesting parts of the report is Facebook’s analysis of the kinds of emotions that young people express during a typical week — “Monday – Thursday is about building confidence; the weekend is for broadcasting achievements,” it says.

This isn’t the first time that Facebook’s methods of ad-targeting have created a controversy. A 2016 report published by ProPublica revealed that advertisers on Facebook were able to exclude blacks, Hispanics and people from other races from certain ad campaigns, something that Facebook disabled earlier this year.

Quelle: <a href="Facebook Created A Report That Described How Advertisers Could Target Insecure Teenagers“>BuzzFeed

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The breadth and reach of the OpenShift marketplace

In 2017, at a time when we are often drowning in data, we can still struggle to understand the dynamics of any given market. Sometimes this is because accounting guidelines prevent or discourage private or public companies from disclosing information. Other times the data is overly transparent, but it can also be meaningless without the […]
Quelle: OpenShift

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WatchOver’s app and GPS tracker watch help ensure child safety

Many parents use apps to keep tabs on their children starting the day those children get their first smartphones.
Working parents can see that their children got on the bus in the morning and check on them after school, without needing to call or text. Parents of new drivers can have peace of mind knowing their children arrived safely where they said they would go.
But what about younger children who don’t have a smartphone?
That’s where WatchOver comes in. It’s like a guardian angel for children between the ages of two and 10.
Safety insight
WatchOver is a GPS tracker in a watch that enables parents to locate children through a smartphone app. For example, if a child were to get lost at a zoo or amusement park, a parent would be able to find out quickly where that child is.
What sets WatchOver apart is its safety insight. It incorporates current, local news so parents know  what is going on in the vicinity of their children.
Software Productivity Strategists (SPS) developed WatchOver using IBM Bluemix, incorporating the Watson Alchemy Data News API. The back end is a node.js app hosted on the Bluemix cloud, using the IBM Bluemix Internet of Things (IoT) Foundation and the Geo-Spatial Analytics service.
When a boundary is crossed
The app shows the current location of the children on a Google Map, but it does not require constant monitoring. Parents create a boundary using geo-fences and receive a push notification when a child crosses a boundary.
WatchOver filters news from sources all over the world and notifies parents in real time if something occurs that might have an impact on their children.
Keeping parents informed
Every parent’s worst nightmare is a security incident at their child’s school. For example, imagine a bomb threat at an elementary school. Many parents wouldn’t even know something is amiss. The parent tracking their child’s whereabouts with a regular smartphone would see that the child left the school in the middle of the day, but have no idea why. It wouldn’t be long before panic set in. Phone lines could be tied up. If they’re lucky, parents would receive an automated message dispatched before everyone evacuated.
The parent whose child was wearing a WatchOver device would see that their child crossed the geofence boundary and have access to data parsed and identified by Watson explaining what is going on.
Furthermore, the GPS tracker watch has both call receiving and dialing capabilities, as well as an SOS feature. In case of emergency, when the child presses the SOS button, it launches a call and message to three primary numbers registered as emergency contacts.
Peace of mind
Parents using WatchOver’s GPS tracker watch can speak to their children and learn that they are being moved to a reunification site, which the parent can see on the map in their WatchOver app.
SPS originally created WatchOver as an entry in a global, Avnet-sponsored virtual hackathon. SPS sought a platform that would enable it to quickly build a system that includes an IoT device, a back-end app using cognitive algorithms to analyze unstructured data and a mobile app.
The essential foundation
It would not have been possible to build the GPS tracker watch over the 19-day hackathon without Bluemix. The Watson cognitive algorithms used are not available on any other platform, and the ability to analyze the local news and alert parents is one of WatchOver’s key differentiators.
SPS won the hackathon, beating 100 other contestants.
Learn more about WatchOver.
Both Paul Lebar and Sadia Ashraf, WatchOver’s lead developer, were named IBM Cloud Champions for 2017. The IBM Champion program recognizes innovative thought leaders in the technical community who influence and mentor others to help them make best use of IBM software, solutions, and services
The post WatchOver’s app and GPS tracker watch help ensure child safety appeared first on Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud