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The In-House Decency Patrol At Facebook

Posted by timothy on from the keeping-the-milquetoast-lukewarm dept.

theodp writes "How'd you like a job where you get fired if you DON'T view porn at work? Newsweek reports on Facebook's internal police force of 150 staffers who are charged with regulating users' decorum, hunting spammers and working with actual law-enforcement agencies to help solve crimes. Part hall monitors, part vice cops, the $50,000-a-year 'porn cops' also keep Facebook safe for corporate advertisers."

24 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. so lest get this straight by ionix5891 · · Score: 5, Funny

    there are people who get PAID to view porn?!

    1. Re:so lest get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      yep. my first "job"ã(back in high school) was translating pirated movies for a small video shop somewhere in Eastern Europe.

      more than half of what i had to do was porn, and i liked it, because it was easier than normal films, and paid the same.

      and the hard ons were for free.

      good times ...

    2. Re:so lest get this straight by impaledsunset · · Score: 4, Funny

      Call me when they pay me to view porn _and_ read Slashdot.

    3. Re:so lest get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I work for a web hosting company that caters to the adult industry. Looking at porn is a job requirement.

      However, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Porn doesn't discriminate.

      I'll let you figure it out.

    4. Re:so lest get this straight by jo42 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Imagine that. I've also heard that there are people who get paid to MAKE porn!!

    5. Re:so lest get this straight by GF678 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      there are people who get PAID to view porn?!

      You know those porn sites on that there Interwebz? Well guess what... each and every single one needs someone to at the very least maintain and run the sites, if not to adjust/crop/re-size/airbrush the material.

      I remember reading the first-hand experiences of a guy hired to maintain such a site. The end result was that he found himself totally desensitized to the material, even the really hardcore stuff, to the point that porn had absolutely no thrill. So be aware of this if you every find the opportunity to check out porn on a daily basis. :)

    6. Re:so lest get this straight by 4D6963 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Call me when they pay me to view porn _and_ read Slashdot.

      Maybe CmdrTaco could use a helping hand with getting rid of the goatse links?

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    7. Re:so lest get this straight by DarkOx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You also have to consider that what you will be looking at is mostly homemade stuff that is probably not very exciting, maybe even a little off putting. Most people don't look to good shoot under poor light with a low res cell phone camera. I suspect this is going to be a good deal of what you find on facebook.

      Light does a lot, a photo of female with a shadow on her often makes it appear as if she has hair. Ever wonder why professional photographers almost always use direct light on girls in studio work? They don't do this as much with men which they may shoot under flood because a little darkness on parts of the face make him appear rugged and manly. Then you have all those dorm room fluorescents that are going to make people look pale or green. Finally most people are just not as good looking as models who are almost always air brushed themselves.

      Now when this is your girl friend or something your brain can sorta compensate for the unflattering camera effects, you can image what she really looks like and its possible very arousing. When its someone you don't know you are going to see what is on the page. So when you girl or guy friend sends you a titillating image its fun, when you are sifting though other peoples images I don't much of it is going to be a turn on. As to the models being air brushed and such, well again when its someone you have affection for you probably see what you want to see, when its someone you don't know well; her breasts are really uneven and her nose is sort big etc etc.

      Finally although our society is much more open about the female form than the male; I am sure Facebook has its share of flamers and men sending pictures to their girlfriends alike. Truly, I don't think many men are as disgusted at seeing other men nude as most of us pretend. Its not like we don't see dick when we look down in the shower every morning. Still this is probably going to be at least of fourth of the images or so; that is 25% of the time you are just classifying what to you are uninteresting images. If I was doing something as dull as identifying common images a quarter of the time I was at the office, I would get to hate work pretty fast.

      Frankly sifting though slightly off putting images for eight hours day, with only a handful of them making me go "Nice" sounds like a pretty terrible job.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    8. Re:so lest get this straight by Kokuyo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That would be a matter of taste, now wouldn't it? Personally, I'm just fed up with all those Paris Hilton wannabes wit porno pouts and oh so realistic 'acting'. I am fed up with silicone tits on top of malnourished torsos.

      I'd rather look at someone's chubby girlfriend really having fun than most of those 'professionals'.

  2. Waste of money by Norsefire · · Score: 4, Funny

    They pay 150 people $50k a year to do this when if they promised people a few hundred Texas Hold 'Em chips per report they could have millions doing it for free.

  3. I'm sure it gets real old by mc1138 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As exciting as this seems at first, I'm sure it gets real old real fast, and isn't nearly as cool as it seems.

    --
    The musings of just another geek and his junk.
  4. 50k$ is not enough by Bearhouse · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For such a boring job.

    1. Re:50k$ is not enough by Flere+Imsaho · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just be thankful you're not being paid to watch necrophilia-based porn - that's dead boring. In contrast, the incest related stuff is only relatively boring.

      --
      It gripped her hand gently. 'Regret is for humans,' it said.
  5. Rampant Sexism by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hate how incredibly sexist the filtering is. Both sexes (generally) have a pair of nipples that appear very similar, so for one pair to be fine for prime-time television, and another pair to be fined for a fleeting appearance on TV seems very silly.

    It isn't the shape of the female breast that is the issue, as a picture of a model wearing a skimpy swimming suit would pass. Male nipples? Also just fine.

    Female Nipples? WHOAH, STOP THE PRESSES!
    (Even if the nipple is currently feeding a child)

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    1. Re:Rampant Sexism by Swizec · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unlike the average slashdotter I'm exposed to breasts at least every day and to be quite honest, they never stop being the single best toy in the world. Breasts are fun. End of story.

    2. Re:Rampant Sexism by oliderid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are protests around the world where women basically go topless and get arrested for it

      Not in most european countries IMHO (Techno parades, beaches,etc).

      I didn't think that the restrictive Facebook policy could be that conservative. Topless "forbidden!", mothers breast feeding children "forbidden!"...I'm quite surprised.

      American media companies have no problem to show a crime scene with blood everywhere and a victim lying on the ground. but a healthy female body is considered more obscene than that. I find it so absurd in a way.

    3. Re:Rampant Sexism by orange47 · · Score: 5, Funny

      aww, how cute, baby learned to type already..

  6. Their advertizers are scum anyway by sam_handelman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm aware that the advertizing is targeted, but all I ever see are ads for dating sites or russian mail-order brides.

      Oh, and those "free" credit report companies, who make the russian mailorder bride people look reputable.

      Also, isn't facebook losing money hand over fist anyway? They'd probably do better if they moved to a subscription model that let you look at other user's porn.

    --
    The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
  7. No thanks by runlevelfour · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Familiarity breeds contempt. Not only would the questionable perk of viewing porn and other amusing things become boring after constant exposure, you get to wade through the eyesore garbage people post on their page as well. Sounds like an easy gig, but one can imagine that there is a constant mountain of paperwork and reports to fill out. If you ask me it smacks of a highly paid glorified clerk job.

  8. lolwut by sqrt(2) · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are ads on facebook?

    --
    If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
  9. Being spied upon by ickleberry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fact that these guys actually exist make me glad i'm not on facebook. Ya know facebook pretends to care about privacy all that but how can they keep that up when they have 150 paid staff who'se job it is to snoop through your stuffs?

  10. Facebook might be in for a surprise! by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait till they find pictures of their mothers on my page!

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
  11. Re:Internal Corruption by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you've been following what the LAPD has been up to in the last few months, you'd know that cops get cycled through the vice unit after only 18 months so that the next guy can get a turn.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  12. You wouldn't like it at all by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I had the job ages ago of invesitgating complaints about a large dutch ISP's servers and user accounts content. If you send a mail that on our network there was inappropriate content, then I investigated and took appropriate action.

    Do not think this inappropriate content is restricted to some David Hamilton pics ("this content is legal with in the jurisdiction of the account it is hosted from")or even the early ancestors of "two girls and a cup" ("No laws are broken").

    Times might have changed a bit. The internet is a bit less of a wild west zone and facebook might not attract the very worsed of content as it is by its nature linked to your indentity but then, so was your IP to your account in my time.

    I quit after a few months despite a fairly high salary because there is only so much child porn, dead bodies or both you can look at.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.