[liberationtech] Can anyone help me get my account unblocked on Facebook?!

[Inna Malina]

In Canada we can go public and can have protection from the authorities
(though I can guarantee opponents can be rather nasty here too) , in
countries with the record of human rights abuse, activists will likely
face immediate persecution. Therefore, they will keep those cases
private and try open new accounts etc. I will see how it goes and what
resources and support I might have available for challenging Facebook
legally. I think it would help improve Facebook policies and procedures
and help activists around the world who don't have the luxury of
protection we might have in Canada. 

The guy who wrote here saying he is from Facebook is the only real
person (if it is Facebook in fact) that came forward. I don't have any
other contacts in FB. 

When I signed in 2007 the rules were different and they have changed
over the years. I personally had no idea about such policies and ID
requirements until being blocked on request of opponents. 

Facebook obviously does not have any real HelpDesk with available
customer support to deal with those cases and automatically favours the
accuser whether it is a legitimate report or not. Then it requires IDs
from those targeted and I question legality of these procedures. They
need to invest into HelpDesk and real people to deal with the reports. I
think it is pretty obvious that if an account opened in last month with
2 friends, no timeline activity reports other accounts, which have been
for years, with tons of friends and photos, there is something wrong
with penalizing the real accounts/people. There should be other ways to
prove that it is someone's account without mining government or other
photo/birth-date IDs. 

If people have been writing and creating petitions with many thousands
signed urging Facebook to stop political blocking and discriminatory
practices, there is something to it. 

 I am sorry I am not an expert on online social software and won't be
useful there, but will definitely support others who are capable. 

Thank you for everyone's insights and help. It is much appreciated. 

So far no media inquiries and my account is still blocked. I tried
alternative account it was blocked as well asking my ID. 

Will keep you posted if there are developments, 

Inna 

On 2015-07-05 10:29 am, hellekin wrote: 

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA512
> 
> On 07/04/2015 03:30 PM, Heather Akers-Healy wrote:
> 
>> Facebook has 1.19 billion monthly active users, making it the largest community on Earth. Activists will need to use it
> 
> *** I'm sorry but I think the opposite: first Facebook is not a
> community but a large collection of people, unless you consider a
> community as a dead society: one that cannot evolve on its own;
> 
> second, matching online persona with govern-mental ID is Facebook's
> business: this is how they're "valued" so much--and that's an
> anti-privacy feature;
> 
> third, if activists would be serious about preserving their privacy,
> they would support the activists making privacy-by-design online social
> software instead of begging a private surveillance company to help them.
> When activists prefer accepting "privacy policies" that denies them
> their privacy, to supporting decentralized and distributed alternatives
> to Facebook, they should be conscious of the consequences of their
> choice: unfortunately this seems to be happening in tragic circumstances
> .
> 
> Now that your network has been compromised, Inna, you can only trust
> that your ID won't fall into the hands of your opponents when you
> transmit it to Facebook, or that Facebook will make an exception for
> you, which would jeopardize their future claim for "Real Names".
> 
> By accepting their conditions, you accepted to relinquish your privacy,
> and the privacy of all the people in contact with you. No matter what
> privacy activists do, people prefer easy to prudent. That's what happens
> .
> 
> Steve Weis' response, if he's really working at Facebook, demonstrates
> the inanity of Facebook to support activism: the mail should have come
> from a Facebook domain, be signed with a PGP key, and not ask for "a
> membership card". This person, besides its alleged good intention, has
> no clue what he's talking about.
> 
> In your situation Inna, I would send a private message to known Facebook
> employees working in the security department using encrypted messages.
> If you can prove to them that you own the account, it should work,
> bypassing the stupid company policy: that would be an acceptable way for
> Facebook to "have it" without making official statements about
> contradicting their own reason of being.
> 
> Whatever lawsuit you're thinking about (please be my guest), it won't
> solve your current issue fast enough for your immediate need.
> 
> ==
> hk
> 
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v2
> 
> iQJ8BAEBCgBmBQJVmVtVXxSAAAAAAC4AKGlzc3Vlci1mcHJAbm90YXRpb25zLm9w
> ZW5wZ3AuZmlmdGhob3JzZW1hbi5uZXRFQ0IyNkIyRTNDNzEyMTc2OUEzNEM4ODU0
> ODA2QzM2M0ZDMTg5ODNEAAoJEEgGw2P8GJg9KL4QALV90EVCHdKJ2d8o/hndFHCM
> NxwiJgA3G4dUtCuLGJ0RZcXwGlnkqo9BSNjuuLN9jaq09XaVS8YLXBJ9GQBCqs+i
> gDphg39Y+75orl2dTtWjBJJwabQ1ZHoWadOCbewsFfT+vfJ1/IW6CxlE6WMTqlGR
> WbhpkVAQOBtyBac5aV1Ig0cVHZy9Gr4f1axrLrEdEYI7xGupWdg/0gbr6svAJV0X
> LqnDiHytPvsblWDLknWSzxYtrzS0exSB5hWcKTav5VLLqt7ie0JH3wzRv+92wWvb
> yZOL4hXP6jbzMoloPeGK76mvskuwdhU3+9qEjginWu4Fk/JMefIqutGYyLPXV/rg
> 94mNX2iIfJ2kzdKVgY2g2iXwnaljVkeWJfVDn9prt4o0ztI2HmhGi8SktYicqw7q
> S4o8NOvtKSlFDC7hqfMptNjH6YBS6bdTOBk+aG+NmfW46S46fhhkOFVa2+5w2sxb
> 88zUJDzNllaO+8LSK5CUSTrNJELWWatU48VOijB01SZqH7MEZkBLAnztr8QHt9B0
> 3xccJnqXqCyAOgH4FHV5xL+C8/Mg9nzRfP5Sy9ZHt8QSvB+6iSGCA2PtxU7NBOsG
> j+LP20xs+Sros0Xirh91ZnECcjnBkKQFxqxILPPhrWsLYn2kEhy9YLyHRMMFNWWP
> IAIWSS72uFYq4CfkZwhR
> =PdZ4
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/attachments/20150705/f1e19c97/attachment.html>