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Egypt Blocked Facebook Free Basics For Not Letting It Spy On Users (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the affinity-for-snooping dept.

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Joseph Menn, reporting for Reuters: Facebook wouldn't let the government circumvent the service's security to conduct surveillance. Egypt blocked Facebook's Free Basics Internet service at the end of last year after the U.S. company refused to give the Egyptian government the ability to spy on users, two people familiar with the matter said. Two sources with direct knowledge of discussions between Facebook and the Egyptian government said Free Basics was blocked because the company would not allow the government to circumvent the service's security to conduct surveillance.

34 comments

  1. OMG PONIES! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can't stump the Trump!

  2. Will they block apple for not giveing the backdoor by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Will they block apple for not giving the backdoor to the IOS lock screen?

  3. Reuters' fools! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait, does Reuters do April Fools, too?

    1. Re:Reuters' fools! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Due to budget cuts, April fools has been canceled this year.

  4. Sorry Alanis Morissette, but this is truly... by RJFerret · · Score: 1

    Ironic.

    1. Re:Sorry Alanis Morissette, but this is truly... by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      It's like rain on your wedding day

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
  5. One Two Three by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    Facebook wouldn't let the government circumvent the service's security to conduct surveillance.

    The summary consists of three sentences that say this same thing three slightly different ways.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:One Two Three by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      Darn, and you only used the word "three" to only describe their sentences twice.

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    2. Re:One Two Three by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1

      Count the subject line for the third time

  6. Re:Will they block apple for not giveing the backd by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

    In Egypt - well, considering the amount of extremists there it's not surprising.

    Unfortunately there are also a lot of other people that just have a different opinion also stuck in the surveillance and some of them suffers by the actions of the authorities.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  7. Creepily spying on users is only for Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All they would have to do is buy ad space, is that so hard?

  8. Of course by Shadow+IT+Ninja · · Score: 1

    Facebook is an ideal tool for a repressive regime. You crack down on dissidents through their friends and family. Iran is especially famous for this. Back in 1979, my family hosted an Iranian college student who suddenly became a refugee because her uncle was opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini . Had she returned to Iran, they probably would have taken her hostage in order to get at her uncle. Facebook is perfect for identifying and tracking such targets.

    1. Re:Of course by DocHoncho · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's why FaceBook is working with the US security apparatus to push this shit in all these countries. It will give them prime and easy access to all that juicy foreign data. Obviously they wouldn't want the local governments to get at the data, it's not for them, it's for the US espionage industrial complex.

      --
      Celebrity worship is a poor substitute for Deity worship and costs more to boot.
  9. Yeah by Ryanrule · · Score: 0

    Fuck you guys. Remove the trump ad.

    1. Re:Yeah by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      You couldnt afford it. You are a trump supporter.

  10. Farcebook Doesn't Like Competition by zenlessyank · · Score: 1

    Also, 2-faced fucks rule the world. If you aren't 2-faced then you won't make it here on this satanic rock.

    1. Re:Farcebook Doesn't Like Competition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, what evidence is there that feacbook does not spy on its users?

  11. ..but for the US government by SumDog · · Score: 1

    So, they'll refuse to let Egypt spy on their users, but they have no problem what so ever with allowing the US government full access to search everything? (Or did everyone suddenly forget about PRISM?)

    1. Re:..but for the US government by DocHoncho · · Score: 1

      Why do you think they're pushing it? You think FaceBook gives a shit about government surveillance? They're one of the biggest parts of the espionage industrial complex, after Google of course. This FaceBook basic shit is all about outsourcing foreign data collection to the individuals so the US spy industry doesn't have to work as hard.

      --
      Celebrity worship is a poor substitute for Deity worship and costs more to boot.
  12. Hey SISI, Go Fuck Yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey SISI, Go Fuck Yourself

  13. WTF is a SLASHVERTISEMENT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And why are there a half dozen of them on the FP?

  14. I don't blame them by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    The users were probably using it for April fools jokes. The punishment could not be harsh enough.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  15. Targeted advertising by guises · · Score: 1

    This is an advertisement for Egypt, right? I've never seen one quite like this before, but I'm sold.

  16. SLASHVERTISEMENT by billybob2001 · · Score: 2

    This story is a blatant Slashvertisement!

    I remember when it was all much less blatant :-)

    (18-digit UID, today)

    1. Re:SLASHVERTISEMENT by whipslash · · Score: 1

      hehehehehe

    2. Re:SLASHVERTISEMENT by billybob2001 · · Score: 3

      This is a much more cerebral fooling than some years.

      I'm enjoying it (just as much as other recent changes).

      Now can you hack in some code to make :like: display as a thumbs-up image, just for today? :-)

    3. Re:SLASHVERTISEMENT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh yeah, that's just so fucking hilarious. /s

      capcha: grandeur

    4. Re:SLASHVERTISEMENT by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      I was wondering when we'd have the obligatory UID fight where it would end in gasps when someone reveals a sub 10 digit...

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    5. Re:SLASHVERTISEMENT by zenlessyank · · Score: 2

      Now I can't tell if I like you or not. Binary gives me a fingerache with the calcalater.

  17. Right by I4ko · · Score: 1

    So you are saying Egypt blocked Facebook to stop Facebook spying on users. I wish my government was so forward looking and insightful. The misery spreading douche bag dominated site needs to die.

    1. Re:Right by DocHoncho · · Score: 1

      If they did it's because they know the US is the one doing the spying. Nothing short of the complete dissolution of the entire US government will stop the Espionage Industrial Complex now, they've got their hooks in deep and with the Big Data fetish in Sillicon Valley there's no shortage of new opportunities to gather more and more data.

      --
      Celebrity worship is a poor substitute for Deity worship and costs more to boot.
  18. If you are going to do an April Fool's article... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you are going to do an April Fool's article, please try and make it something more believable then Facebook caring about security.

  19. Facebook still sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Facebook will never value its user's privacy, no matter what moves the Egyptian government takes against them.