How Facebook shadowbans critics: They ghost you during verification

Facebook's dishonest suppression of criticism raised its ugly head again today. But before I tell you about that, let's start from the beginning. 

On the 4th of July, 2019. I declared independence from Facebook. After months of meticulously detailing their seemingly endless history of ethical lapses, I declared that I would stop using Facebook out of protest and I encouraged everyone else to do the same. I also swore off Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. I replaced Facebook with Google Photos, of all things. A tiny percentage of my family and friends engages with my pictures there. 

I inspired a few people to follow me out. But, for the most part, most people don't care about hardcore immorality by social media companies. That was true of Facebook in 2019 and true of Twitter today. 

And so the net effect was that I just lost contact with half my family and friends, who use Meta-owned social products exclusively. 

My plan was not to delete my account. The best practice for exiting Facebook was at the time to deactivate, rather than cancel, one's account, then revisit the site once a year to re-activate, then re-de-activate. The reason for this was to retain ownership of the account to prevent identity theft -- so somebody else couldn't start an account with my name, my picture and start interacting with my family and friends as me as part of some scam. 

A year went by, and I returned to Facebook to perform the whole de-activate, re-activate charade. Facebook demanded proof of identity, including uploading my passport and driver's license. 

I did that. Then crickets. 

I uploaded again. Then nothing. 

A friend of mine was a senior AI engineer who worked at Facebook. And he told me they have a process inside the company where an employee can vouch for a user who needs extra special tech support. So together we went through their process to verify. And, again, they ghosted me. No response. 

As a result, Facebook took control of my old account and blocked me from accessing it in any way. 

Yada, yada, yada -- Meta announces a new Twitter like adjunct to Instagram that supposed to connect to the "Mastodon" fediverse somehow. I wanted to test it out (it launches in June, according to disreputable sources). 

So I went into my neglected Instagram account, followed a few people, posted my third-ever post (a picture of Amira and me standing in a Oaxaca Valley agave field). 

Facebook locked me out, falsely claiming I had violated their Community Guidelines, and to dispute the charge I had to verify my identity. I requested a code by email, which they sent. Then they demanded a verification by phone, which they did not send. And that's the shadowban. 

It's clear to me that in all cases, the way Meta keeps critics of the company off their services is they demand verification, then they ghost you, never responding to your activities. You can't verify. You can't get in. They won't return your messages. You're out. 

The most ethical thing for Facebook to do is to allow critics of Meta to use their social sites. All other social networks allow this. The second most ethical thing would be to ban us critics, but man up and admit it to our faces. Just say you're banning us because you don't like criticism. 

But the least ethical thing is to break authentication, then ghost. It's such a spineless, weaselish way to suppress critics. And it's one of the hundreds of ugly, no-good bad things about Meta.  

Elegant new coffee shop to open Monday in Oakland with BEAUTIFUL ceramics (made by my daughter-in-law)

A 45-year-old coffee roasting company called Mr. Espresso will open its first-ever coffee shop in Oakland Monday called the Caffè. (Find it at 1120 Broadway). 

The creators of this shop have incredibly good taste. I know this because they're getting their beautiful, elegant, custom-made ceramics from my super-talented daughter-in-law, Nadia, owner of Habibi Ceramics.

Eater has a nice article about the opening. (Pictures here courtesy of that article and credited to Hardy Wilson.)

Check it out, people! (I'd attend the opening, but I'm stuck in Italy where they don't have such stylish espresso cups...) 

How remote work is changing American culture

Tech philosophers have been waxing verbose lately about the culture-shifting power of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

“Artificial intelligence is transforming the world,” said the Brookings Institute. “Generative AI changes everything,” the Harvard Business Review proclaimed.

And that’s true. But the biggest tech-driven culture change at the moment — far bigger than AI — is the move to remote work.

Here are the five biggest ways remote work is changing American culture.

Do you really need a CISO?

Cybersecurity has never been more challenging or vital. Every organization needs strong leadership on cybersecurity policy, procurement and execution — such as a CISO, or chief information security officer.

A CISO is a senior executive in charge of an organization’s information, cyber and technology security. CISOs need a complete understanding of cybersecurity as well as the business, the board, the C-suite and how to speak in the language of senior leadership.

It’s a changing role in a changing world. But do you really need one?

Having a nice ombra by a canal in Venice

"Ombra" means "shade" or "shadow" in Venetian. Back in the day, there were wine sellers in Venice's Piazza San Marco. Locals would buy a glass of wine in the middle of the day, then find some shade with a friend to drink it. So even today, locals will tell a friend: "Let's go grab a shade" -- an "ombra." They visit bars called bàcaros, and also get a cicchetti, which is a kind of Venetian tapa. Because wine is so much better with a little food. Join us and I'll show you. 

Should you be afraid of the cameras in your robot vacuum?

Robot vacuum cleaner products are by far the largest category of consumer robots. They roll around on floors, hoovering up dust and dirt so we don’t have to, all while avoiding obstacles.

The industry leader, iRobot, has been cleaning up the robot vacuum market for two decades. Over this time, the company has steadily gained fans and a sterling reputation, including around security and privacy.

And then, something shocking happened. Someone posted on Facebook a picture of a woman sitting on the toilet in her home bathroom — a picture taken by a Roomba.

And the world responded: “Wait, what?!”

We’re quickly moving into a world of ubiquitous AI and computer vision. And these technologies need to be trained with real-world data. Locking that down, especially when these technologies involve hundreds or thousands of people around the world, is extremely difficult and likely to result in errors, leaks and hacks. 

Here's what you need to know about how much your robot vacuum really sucks. 

Are Apple’s upcoming AR glasses already obsolete?

Augmented reality companies are working on the holy grail of AR: socially acceptable glasses that show high-resolution digital objects tethered to and interactive with actual objects and spaces in the real world. 

The augmented reality people want to... augment reality!

But the generative AI revolution, led by OpenAI's ChatGPT, has changed demand. Instead of wanting to augment reality, the bigger demand that has emerged is the desire to augment the self through AI.

We still want AR. But even more than that, we want wearable AI appliances, so that are own brains can be augmented by the AI collective brain. 

Read all about it in my latest Computerworld column.

Just had a MagSafe Moment

I'm staying at a pricey Airbnb in a fashionable district of Mexico City, working at the dining room table. Directly in front of me is a glass vase with a green ribbon around the top. The window is open and the blind mostly closed. 

A sudden gust of wind pushed the blind, knocked over the vase, which started rolling toward the left edge of the cabinet. I shot out of my chair and lunged for the vase, in the process kicking my MacBook Pro cable with so much force it not only came out on the MacBook end, but the power brick end as well, ending up in a pile against the far wall. 

My MacBook is actually perched somewhat precariously on a cardboard box, and could have been easily knocked off without MagSafe. 

Well, I caught the vase as it was halfway to the floor. And my MacBook Pro didn't even move. Thank you, Apple, for listening to the people and bringing back the MagSafe feature!

Remote work isn't killing cities. But it could save them!

One of the many complaints about remote work is that it's killing cities. Without all those suburban residents enduring soul-crushing commutes into the city every day to work in soul-crushing offices, cities are impoverished because empty office spaces neither bring in tax revenue nor support city businesses during the day. 

Except they've got it backwards. By converting empty office space to housing for remote workers, they could massively increase tax revenue and business activity. 

Here's my case for why remote work is the solution to the decline of cities.

Check out my favorite new barbeque joint in Oaxaca

This magnificent, spacious, friendly spot does it all: Las Barbacoas de Mexico slow-cook meat underground, they ferment underground, they grill, roast and bake. Super delicious place that you should not miss if you visit Oaxaca! (Full disclosure: It's owned by the Ruiz siblings, including Chef Alex Ruiz, who are friends. It's still fricken great.) 

The most important piece of Oaxacan camping gear: A copper still for making mezcal

Amira and I attended Portozuelo's first-ever Camping Under the Moon event with Chef Alex Ruiz and guest Chef Rodrigo Martinez. Alex brought in a young mezcal maker to set up a coal-fired still and distill mezcal on the spot. (First, he sealed the parts of the still with corn flour.) He infused it with lavender and rosemary, and it was delicious. We drank it all night and then had more for breakfast. This is, after all, Oaxaca.