Posts tagged facebook
Obama Rewards Facebook’s Campaign Support With Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Break
Feb 16th
Where is the “don’t like” button?
You have to constantly remind yourself that in Obama’s rush to put the whole country under Obamacare and to make “everyone pay their fair share of taxes”, he never ever means to apply these things to himself, his friends or Liberals in general. In typical dictator style, it is only the honest, hard-working middle class folks like you and I that must pay for the bulk of everything.
From Business Week: It hasn’t drawn much attention, but Facebook’s first annual earnings report contains an accounting gem: a multi-billion-dollar tax deduction for the cost of executive stock options and share awards.
Is it just me, or is Obama one of the creepiest people you have ever seen?
Even though Facebook (FB) reported $1.1 billion in pre-tax profits from U.S. operations in 2012, it will probably pay zero federal and state taxes—and even receive a federal tax refund of about $429 million—according to a Feb. 14 statement from Citizens for Tax Justice.
The tax-research and -lobbying organization says companies such as Facebook should treat stock options the same in their reports to shareholders as they do in their tax filings. Citizens for Tax Justice calls the tax footnotes in Facebook’s Jan. 30 financial statement “an amazing admission,” but there’s nothing illegal about the breaks the company is claiming. Companies like Facebook are allowed to treat the cost of non-cash compensation, such as stock options, as an expense that reduces profits, essentially the way they treat cash compensation such as salaries.
The difference is that Facebook—unlike, say, General Motors (GM)—relies heavily on stock options and restricted stock units as a form of compensation. It paid out a lot during its years as a private company that it must now recognize on its income statement and balance sheet.
You won’t find any $429 million tax refund in Facebook’s financial statements. Indeed, the company says it had a $559 million federal tax liability in 2012. But that liability isn’t an actual payment. In a footnote, the company also said that it had a $1.03 billion “excess tax benefit” last year related to “stock option exercises and other equity awards.” That benefit is what flips the federal tax liability into a refund. (A small portion is applied against state taxes.)
Facebook says that it anticipates reducing its tax liability in the future by an additional $2.17 billion by using further net operating loss carry-forwards that it has banked.
Facebook spokeswoman Ashley Zandy declined to discuss the tax break but pointed to the transcript of Facebook executives’ conference call with analysts. On the call, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman cited the accumulated tax benefits and noted that the company ended the fiscal year with nearly $10 billion in cash and investments, “giving us great flexibility and risk protection.” source – Business Week
Major Defense Company Develops Software For Gov’t To Track ‘Trillions Of Entities’
Feb 13th
Rapid Information Overlay Technology
A top government defense contractor revealed it created software that can sift through social media sites to collect information from “trillions of entities” in order to reasonably predict a person’s next move.
The spokesperson for the Massachusetts-based company Raytheon, Jared Adams, told The Guardian in an email that it developed RIOT (Rapid Information Overlay Technology), which is “a big data analytics system design we are working on with industry, national labs and commercial partners to help turn massive amounts of data into usable information to help meet our nation’s rapidly changing security needs.”
The Guardian obtained a video showing Raytheon’s Brian Urch explaining the RIOT software and how it uses photographs that are embedded with location data (generally they’re taken by smartphones) to conduct analysis about where the person was and where they might be going next.
This image shows where a Raytheon employee had checked in with his smartphone. (Image: The Guardian video screenshot)
Urch explains in the video that the software uses Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. He tracks one of Raytheon’s own employees as an example. He shows all the places the employee — Nick — checked in with his smartphone. Then Urch goes to look for photos.
Now they can see what Nick looks like. (Image: The Guardian video screenshot)
“One of the things we’ve noticed is that when people take pictures and post them on the Internet using their smartphones that the phone will actually embed the latitude and longitude using the exif header data,” Urch said. “Now we know where Nick’s going, what he looks like, now we want to predict where he may be in the future.”
By using a “very basic analytic” called “get top places,” Urch shows a pie chart that breaks down the top 10 places where Nick checks in. He is able to analyze check ins at a specific place by month and day. For example, Nick checks in the most at the gym. June was found to hold his highest gym attendance, and he seems to go more frequently on Mondays and Wednesdays. And the “most interesting” bit of info is that Urch is able to show the time when Nick most likely would be there — 6 a.m.
A look into the specifics of Nick’s daily schedule based on check-in trends. (Image: The Guardian video screenshot)
“If you ever did want to try to get a hold of Nick or maybe get a hold of his laptop, you might want to visit the gym at 6 a.m. on Monday,” Urch said. The software also shows the people with whom Nick has some sort of connection, whether they be tagged in checkins or shout outs on Twitter.
A web of Nick’s connections with other people. Some phone numbers were included too. (Image: The Guardian video screenshot)
The Guardian reports that this software has not been sold, but it was shared with the U.S. government as it was part of a join research effort that took place in 2010 to develop a system that could analyze “trillions of entities” on the Web.
The Guardian dubs the software a “Google for spies” given that it has a similar look and search function. The company filed for a patent for RIOT in December and is expected to feature the program at an industry conference in April, according to The Guardian.
If you haven’t come up with your own concerns over the use of such technology, here is what The Guardian reported the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s attorney Ginger McCall saying:
“Social networking sites are often not transparent about what information is shared and how it is shared,” McCall said. “Users may be posting information that they believe will be viewed only by their friends, but instead, it is being viewed by government officials or pulled in by data collection services like the Riot search.”
While some have called it “stalking software,” ZDNet’s Steven Vaughan-Nichols pointed out it’s “business as usual”:
Here’s the simple truth: If you put your personal details on the Internet, especially on the social networks, it doesn’t require any fancy defense contractor software to track your every move. The social networks themselves can do it. Advertisers can do it. Anyone with a lick of computer sense can do it.
If you want to keep your private life private, you have to keep it off the Internet. It’s really that easy.
This also isn’t the first time that the government has had an interest in monitoring social media for national security measures. For several years the government has been monitoring Twitter and even has a media monitoring component that can tracks journalists who post publicly on traditional and social media. source – The Blaze
Facebook To Begin Charging $100 To Send Messages To Strangers
Jan 12th
A little digging by Mashable has turned up a strange new initiative from Facebook. While you can already send a message for free to a friend — or a friend of a friend — the ubiquitous social network is now giving you the option to pay a hefty $100 to send a message directly to a total stranger’s inbox.
Does Mark Zuckerberg really want to kill off Facebook? One or two moves like this should do the trick nicely.
Without ponying up the cash, your message goes to the dreaded “other folder,” aka“Facebook’s dumping ground for all messages it guesses you won’t want to read urgently,” where it will likely be completely overlooked. (By the way, have you checked your “other” folder recently? Do so with caution.)
In December, Facebook announced it would be testing this pay-to-message feature, but for a much lower fee of just $1. Even that was met with mixed reviews. But bloggers discovered the new fee when testing a message to the founder himself, Mark Zuckerberg. And the fee prompt can be replicated with other popular accounts. The fee seems to jump from $1 to $100 when the person you’re messaging has a whole bunch of followers, or is a well-known public figure.
In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson says, “We are testing some extreme price points to see what works to filter spam.” In other words, the fee is an attempt to discourage people from sending annoying messages to people they don’t know. “But, it could also be seen as Facebook letting people pay to spam your inbox,” notes Josh Wolford at Web Pro News.
It will be interesting to see how long these fees stay in place, and who, if anyone, actually pays them. source – The Week
Facebook Censors Navy SEALs To Protect Obama On Benghazi-Gate
Oct 31st
RELATED STORY: Obama Admin 3 Times Refused Request To Send Military Backup In Benghazi Massacre
Over the weekend, Facebook took down a message by the Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) which highlighted the fact that Obama denied backup to the forces being overrun in Benghazi.
Facebook banned the page that originally posted this meme, a page run by Navy SEALs, to protect and shield Obama from being exposed.
The message was contained in a meme which demonstrated how Obama had relied on the SEALS when he was ready to let them get Osama bin Laden, and how he had turned around and denied them when they called for backup on Sept 11.
I spoke with Larry Ward, president of Political Media, Inc — the media company that handles SOS postings and media production. Ward was the one who personally put the Navy SEAL meme up, and the one who received the warning from Facebook and an eventual 24 hour suspension from Facebook because Ward put the meme back up after Facebook told him to take it down.
Here’s what Ward told me:
We created and posted this meme on Saturday after news broke that Obama had known and denied SEALS the backup they requested.
Once the meme was up it garnered 30,000 shares, approx. 24,000 likes, and was read by hundreds of thousands of people — all within 24 hrs. On Sunday, I went into the SOS Facebook page to post something else and found a warning from Facebook that we had violated Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities with our meme. So I copied the warning, put it on the meme as as caption, and re-posted the meme to the Facebook page.
Along with the re-posted meme, Ward put a link to the Facebook “feedback comment” inbox so visitors to the SOS page could send a message to Facebook if they were as outraged over the meme being jerked down as he was.
Ward said Facebook pulled the re-posted meme down within 7 or 8 hours and suspended the SOS account for 24 hours.
In other words, Facebook put the Navy SEALS in timeout in order to shield Obama.
How low can you go? source – Breitbart
United Nations Planning To Pass Global Internet Tax
Oct 13th
U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer warned on Friday that a proposal to give a United Nations agency more control over the Internet is gaining momentum in other countries. Proposals to expand the U.N.’s International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) authority over the Internet could come up at a treaty conference in Dubai in December. European telecommunications companies are pushing a plan that would create new rules that would allow them to charge more to carry international traffic.
The proposal by the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association could force websites like Google, Facebook and Netflix to pay fees to network operators around the world.
Kramer said the idea of an international Internet fee is “gaining more interest in the African states and also in the Arab states.”
He said the United States delegation to the conference will have to redouble its efforts to convince other countries that the proposal would only stifle innovation and economic growth.
“We support efforts to grow broadband markets—not just divvying a static pie of revenue between operators and governments,” Kramer said in a speech in Washington hosted by the Telecommunications Industry Association.
Democrats and Republicans in the United States are united against proposals to increase international control of the Internet. Congress passed a non-binding resolution earlier this year urging the United States delegation to “promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multi-stakeholder model that governs the Internet today.”
But Kramer warned that the United States is gaining a reputation of stubbornly opposing any changes to the ITU treaty. He said the United States will have to engage in negotiations with other countries to address their concerns.
He acknowledged that many countries are struggling to secure their networks from hackers and cybercriminals. He said the United States opposes international cybersecurity regulation but supports efforts to help poorer countries expand their ability to combat cyberthreats.
“The U.S. is open to dialogue in ways to make such cooperation more comprehensive, building on work by existing institutions,” he said.
Kramer explained that the United States will not have to sign on to any treaty that it objects to, but he warned that if a majority of countries at the Dubai conference adopt an overly regulatory treaty, it could reshape the open, international nature of the Internet. source – The Hill
Facebook Reaches One Billion Users Milestone
Oct 5th
NEW YORK (CNN Money) — It’s finally happened: Facebook exceeded 1 billion users.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that his social media site had hit the milestone.
Topping the 1 billion mark means that Facebook now reaches one out of every 7 people on the planet.
“This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month,” he said. “Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life.”
Topping the 1 billion mark means that Facebook now reaches one out of every 7 people on the planet.
The ubiquitous social media giant that was famously created in a Harvard dorm room hasn’t had much trouble attracting new members.
While its growth in North America and Europe has leveled off, Facebook continues sucking in new users throughout Asia and the developing world. It has a presence in more than 200 sovereign territories, according to stats tracked by All Facebook, which draws on data Facebook provides to advertisers, and an empire that stretches from a mere 20 users in Vatican City to more than 166 million in the United States.
It took Facebook six years to hit the 500 million user mark and barely two to double it. Facebook’s total membership grew nearly 30% over the past year, but in hot regions like Brazil, its membership doubled. (Sorry, Orkut.)
From a money-making standpoint, not all of those users are created equal.
Less than 20% of Facebook’s users live in the U.S. and Canada, but those users account for 48% of the $992 million in advertising revenue that Facebook took in last quarter. Facebook makes an average of $3.20 each quarter in revenue off its North American users, versus just 55 cents from those in Asia. source – CNN Money
This Is How Facebook Is Tracking Your Internet Activity
Sep 10th
RELATED STORY: The Mark of the Beast
In testing out a new diagnostic tool called Abine DNT+, we noticed that Facebook has more than 200 “trackers” watching our internet activity.
Just by logging in, I could see that Facebook had 228 trackers watching my web activity.
Abine defines trackers as “a request that a webpage tries to make your browser perform that will share information intended to record, profile, or share your online activity.” The trackers come in the shape of cookies, Javascript, 1-pixel beacons, and Iframes.
Cookies are tiny bits of software that web pages drop onto your device that identify you anonymously but nonetheless signal useful behavior about your background interests to advertisers who might want to target you.
Critics call this spying. Advertisers call it targeting.
In an email to Business Insider, Abine privacy analyst Sarah Downey explained why users should pay more attention to trackers, and block them:
In addition to invading your privacy, these tracking requests can consume large amounts of data. And transferring lots of data takes time. Generally, the more tracking requests on a website, the slower that website loads. That’s why DNT+ gets you surfing at 125% of the normal speed and with 90% of the bandwidth, compared to a browser without DNT+ running.
Equipped with this insight, an inquisitive Facebook user might be wondering why they wouldn’t block all trackers and cookies alike.
With a slightly harsh tone, the Facebook page cautions:
Technologies like cookies, pixel tags (“pixels”), and local storage are used to deliver, secure, and understand products, services, and ads, on and off Facebook. Your browser or device may allow you to block these technologies, but you may not be able to use some features on Facebook if you block them.
There is certainly truth to this statement, not all cookies are used for tracking. Many are simply placed in order to store information for later use. But it is the broader scope of “requests” that present the larger issue. In simple terms, Downey explained that when you navigate to a website, your browser constructs that site by communicating back and forth with the server where the site information is stored. These communications are the “requests.”
But it isn’t just the website you are visiting that makes requests for information: online trackers from other companies hidden on the site do it, too. They act as third parties on your computer: you can’t see them without privacy software, you probably wouldn’t expect them to be present, and you probably don’t intend to share your information with them.
They request information like your geographic location, which other sites you’ve visited, what you click, and your Facebook username.
In terms of what the “requests” represent, Facebook declined to comment because, in their opinion, the requests do not mean much unless you can see exactly what they are and how they are used. Facebook’s entire site is run off of JavaScript and other such tags that have an array of purposes.
So, we set out to see just how much Facebook is watching our internet browsing activity. Using the Abine software, we tracked to what extent Facebook trackers increased for each new click. We started by cleaning out the browser cache and search history, and then went about using the browser like it was the start of a typical work day …
To see all DNT+ Do Not Track test results, click here…
