Project Veritas undercover video: Twitter collects, keeps, reviews, shares all your DMs, private pictures, etc, with advertisers

[Delicieuxz]

Twitter employees reveal in Veritas' undercover videos that Twitter uses both algorithm-based data detection and sorting, and also uses teams of people to sift through Twitter users' personal DMs, view their private sexual pictures, etc, to create a unique personal virtual profile of each Twitter user, that Twitter then sells to advertisers.

 

https://www.projectveritas.com/2018/01/15/hidden-camera-hundreds-of-twitter-employees-paid-to-view-everything-you-post-online-including-private-sex-messages/

 

 

Twitter software engineer, Mihai Florea:

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"To actually charge advertisers for money, we have to prove that it was you."

 

"You're paying for the right to use our website with your data, basically. And it's the same with every free website."

 

Clay Haynes:

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“There’s teams dedicated to it. I mean, we’re talking, we’re talking three or four… at least, three or four hundred people… Yes, they’re paid to look at dick pics.”

 

 

The details provided in the video from Twitter employees also serve to give good warning and insight into what Microsoft does with the personal data it collects from Windows 10 owners. Just as the Dutch DPA investigation reported, all of the data that Microsoft collects through Windows 10 is personal, and none of it is anonymous, with all of it having multiple IDs to tie the data to the system, user, applications, device usage, location, Windows version, etc, that form a unique fingerprint for the person that the data came from. And that information is likewise used to create a virtual profile of each Windows 10 user, which is sold to advertisers, researchers, shared with government and law enforcement, etc

 

 And, of course, this is why Microsoft was offering a "free" update to Windows 10, why Microsoft left so many loopholes to continue accessing the "free" update to Windows 10 after the "free" period officially ended, and why Microsoft forced and tricked millions of people to get Windows 10 to install their PCs. The "free" offer was a sleight of hand move, not for Windows owners, but for Microsoft, who wants to be making as much perpetual data-based money as possible, from each person who hooks into Microsoft's massive data-theft farm.

 

 

 

What is the point of rights to privacy rules in society, which corporations, and anything they choose to share your personal data with, for their personal profit, consider themselves exempt from, and behave outside of personal rights to privacy, and privacy rules and policies?

 

 

Also, what do these people who look at personal information, whether at Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook, or Google, do, when they come across sensitive corporate information, or information or ideas that could make their own company a lot of money, if they were to pick them up?

 

It's obviously possible, and maybe very likely, that they just then steal those ideas. Facebook at least tries to figure out new ideas based on user usage of their devices (as Microsoft, and other big-data companies no doubt also do):

https://www.fastcompany.com/40451455/facebook-is-spying-on-your-phone-habits-to-figure-out-which-ideas-to-steal-next

 

I figure that it must be a risk for any major company to use software by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Google, etc.

[ItsMitch]

Thought this was already public knowledge? Do you really expect a multiple billion dollar company not to snoop into your DMS? That's just silly

[Mooshi]

This only justifies following lewd Japanese accounts even more to give the dick viewers something to stare at.

[andrew2165]

Can't we all just accept that there is really no privacy when it comes to large platform social media?

[manikyath]

how else would you expect a social media to make a profit without endless banner ads?

 

EDIT: also, how about this:

- dont put "spicy material" of yourself on social media, even if only in private groups

- dont put anything "incriminating" in DMs, DMs is the place where you discuss things that should remain away from public view, not for your darkest secrets.

- dont tweet every time you have done a basic life task, not only twitter and your followers know you take a 30 minute dump every day at 7.30AM, the guy thats about to steal your TV knows too.

- free doesnt exist, if you dont pay for it, you're the product.

[ARikozuM]

Isn't rule #1 "Don't post your dick online"?

[Delicieuxz]

5 minutes ago, andrew2165 said:

Can't we all just accept that there is really no privacy when it comes to large platform social media?

Also, don't forget the same applies to:

 

Your internet searches

Your email accounts

Your offline Windows OS activity

Your personal Microsoft service accounts

Your web cam activity with friends, family, and anyone else

Your activity when sitting in-front of a webcam, even while you're not using it

Your mobile phone activity

The things you say when you're close to a mobile phone, even when you aren't using the phone and its screen is turned off

Probably also your daily movement, if you carry your phone with you and have location data enabled.

 

Etc.

[Arika]

from Twitters ToS

 

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Advertising: Our Services are supported by advertising. We may use the information described in this Privacy Policy to help make our advertising more relevant to you, to measure its effectiveness, and to help recognize your devices to serve you ads on and off of Twitter. We do not use the content you share privately in Direct Messages to serve you ads.

well that's questionable now that this has come to light.

 

Remember kids. If you're not paying for a product. you are the product

[andrew2165]

2 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

Also, don't forget the same applies to:

 

Your internet searches

Your email accounts

Your offline Windows OS activity

Your personal Microsoft service accounts

Your web cam activity with friends, family, and anyone else

Your activity when sitting in-front of a webcam, even while you're not using it

Your mobile phone activity

The things you say when you're close to a mobile phone, even when you aren't using the phone and its screen is turned off

Probably also your daily movement, if you carry your phone with you and have location data enabled.

 

Etc.

Good Point. Hi NSA! Hope You're having a good day!

[Delicieuxz]

Quote

from Twitters ToS

Quote

Advertising: Our Services are supported by advertising. We may use the information described in this Privacy Policy to help make our advertising more relevant to you, to measure its effectiveness, and to help recognize your devices to serve you ads on and off of Twitter. We do not use the content you share privately in Direct Messages to serve you ads.

well that's questionable now that this has come to light.

 

Remember kids. If you're not paying for a product. you are the product

 

Lawsuit incoming.

[ItsMitch]

Just going to add that Project Veritas is a fucking awful publication known for misleading people (ref: Washington Post Vs Project Veritas)

[Delicieuxz]

5 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

Just going to add that Project Veritas is a fucking awful publication known for misleading people (ref: Washington Post Vs Project Veritas)

Then it looks like that's something Veritas shares in common with Twitter, NYT, CNN, the DNC etc.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/19/two-democratic-operatives-lose-jobs-after-james-okeefe-sting/?utm_term=.60d694bd2a9c

[Shreyas1]

Is " company x  collects your data " really even news anymore? At this point, we should just assume that all companies do

[2FA]

4 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

Just going to add that Project Veritas is a fucking awful publication known for misleading people (ref: Washington Post Vs Project Veritas)

Veritas didn't disclose that they were journalists or that they were recording audio when talking to employees when doing this either.

[ItsMitch]

3 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

Veritas didn't disclose that they were journalists or that they were recording audio when talking to employees when doing this either.

Wonder where that has happened before, oh wait the hit peace they tried on the WP

[2FA]

2 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

Wonder where that has happened before, oh wait the hit peace they tried on the WP

I'm aware

[AresKrieger]

Still don't know why people use that trash site,  twitter isn't useful for anything so why is it so popular?

 

4 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

Wonder where that has happened before, oh wait the hit peace they tried on the WP

So what, its unethical but adds more legitimacy to the material as they did not know to filter what they were saying and thus spoke candidly. So long as the full audio is released no issue from me.

[Damascus]

2 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

why is it so popular?

It's not actually, afaik it's got tens of millions of spam bot accounts.

[Delicieuxz]

20 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

Is " company x  collects your data " really even news anymore? At this point, we should just assume that all companies do

It not being surprising doesn't make it OK, or acceptable.

 

Also, you'd be surprised how many people don't understand that this is what's going on - even on the LTT forums. Just a half-year ago there were lots of LTT members denying that these things were happening, who simply believed the impression of privacy and data-anonymity that big corporation PR was trying to trick people into assuming existed. The Dutch DPA report on Microsoft made it clear that people buying into corporate PR were wrong.

 

There are surely many, many people who haven't seen or followed the Dutch DPA findings, and who still think that this stuff is not happening, and even think of the idea that this stuff is happening as tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories - when it's all actual.

 

18 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

Veritas didn't disclose that they were journalists or that they were recording audio when talking to employees when doing this either.

That's the nature of undercover journalism - which, yes, is underhanded. But there is some difference between doing it to expose what's going on (in the case of Veritas, they're also exposing their own undercover activity), and doing it while trying to keep it secret and to profit off of all the personal data of those who don't know this is being done.

 

14 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

Wonder where that has happened before, oh wait the hit peace they tried on the WP

And the NYT, and CNN, the DNC...

 

Typically, those undercover efforts yield solid confessions from the organizations targeted.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/19/two-democratic-operatives-lose-jobs-after-james-okeefe-sting/?utm_term=.60d694bd2a9c

 

 

 

 

 

[2FA]

3 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

Typically, those undercover efforts yield solid confessions from the organizations targeted.

"Solid"

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/activist-says-twitter-shadow-bans-conservatives-dont-believe-it/

[Delicieuxz]

4 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

"Solid"

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/activist-says-twitter-shadow-bans-conservatives-dont-believe-it/

I haven't read the Ars article (and Ars have a history of being shoddy / highly prone to confirmation-bias whenever they report on political / geopolitical affairs), but you omitted the qualifier word, "Typically".

[2FA]

5 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

 you omitted the qualifier word, "Typically".

So I guess it's not the typical.

 

5 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

and Ars have a history of being heavily biased / confirmation-biased whenever it reports on political / geopolitical affairs

As is Veritas

[Delicieuxz]

5 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

So I guess it's not the typical.

It looks more like you aren't understanding that 'typical' doesn't mean 'always', but 'more commonly'.

 

Quote

As is Veritas

That's obvious, and I'm not debating that. But the recordings of Twitter, CNN, NYT, DNC employees speak for themselves - or, more precisely, the staff of those organizations speak for themselves.

[2FA]

1 minute ago, Delicieuxz said:

It looks more like you aren't familiar with what "typical" means.

Are you really arguing a semantic?

2 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

I'm not debating that. The recording of Twitter, CNN, NYT, DNC employees speak for themselves - or, more precisely, the staffs of those organizations speak for themselves.

I would like to see raw, unedited footage before forming a conclusion. O'Keefe likes to remove context in his videos.

[Delicieuxz]

12 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

Are you really arguing a semantic?

It's unequivocally not semantic. "Typical" is a word, and words have meanings, and by the meaning of the word 'typical, Veritas undercover publications typically yield solid confessions from the targeted organizations and people.

 

You made a comment "So I guess it's not the typical", in contradiction of the word 'typical''s meaning, I guess to cynically try to encourage the dismissal of the valid aspects of Veritas' publications. If anyone was trying to play with semantics, it was yourself, when you challenged the claim that Veritas' videos typically yield solid confessions - even if they're mixed in among a bunch of Veritas bluster, and edited-for-analysis portions of those full conversations.

 

Quote

I would like to see raw, unedited footage before forming a conclusion. O'Keefe likes to remove context in his videos.

There is much raw, unedited footage available from the CNN, NYT, DNC undercover efforts. And also from this Twitter undercover effort, as shown in the OP video. Full conversations, where the premise, the context, and the response are all included, without breaks between, are unedited content.