Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Friday 22 September 2017 TECHNOLOGY
A24

Islamic State backers find ephemeral platform in Instagram

By LORI HINNANT and Tumblr, “you are usu-
Associated Press ally looking at supporter-
PARIS (AP) — Researchers driven creations,” he said.
say Islamic State supporters “I just don’t see guys in
have found an ephemeral Raqqa building Instagram
platform to share propa- stories.”
ganda: Using Instagram’s Nathan Patin, who analyz-
“stories” feature, which es extremist social media
causes posts to disappear for the website Bellingcat
in 24 hours. and reviewed the report
With successive military and database, said the
defeats in Iraq and Syria, ability to scrape social me-
many of its recruits dead dia for geotags offers new
or on the run and its Twitter insight into Islamic State
and Facebook accounts supporters. IS supporters
being shut down, the still rely primarily upon the
group’s propaganda drive encrypted app Telegram,
is increasingly homemade. but Patin said they “will use
But a recent analysis found every platform that’s avail-
the networks of people in- able.
spired by the group remain ” The difference with Insta-
strong elsewhere. gram stories, he added, is
The software analysis iden- that they’re public and in
tified more than 50,000 In this Thursday, June 20, 2013 file photo, a journalist makes a video of the Instagram logo using “one post they’re posting
the new video feature at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
accounts linked to Islamic Associated Press Islamic State propaganda
State supporters posting In- and in the next they’re
stagram stories, according Stroppa, who is also affiliat- ing used as a propagan- aggressively to remove posting at a restaurant
to Andrea Stroppa, who ed with the World Econom- da and recruitment tool. content or an account as that’s geotagged.”
is part of the software re- ic Forum. At the height of Islamic soon as we become aware The analysis bolsters a
search group called Ghost There is no sign that the ma- State’s recruitment drive in of it.” conclusion this week by
Data. Of those 50,000, just jority of the posts are from the West in 2014 and 2015, The company said its policy Policy Exchange, a Brit-
over 10,000 are described Islamic State’s central pro- the group’s propaganda prohibits terrorist content, ish think tank, that Islamic
as strongly-linked to IS paganda units — rather, was of a quality unseen in and that it has specialized State’s ability to reconsti-
— they follow core IS ac- they tend to be personal other extremist groups. On teams that work to stop the tute its online networks is
counts and are followed snapshots with little pro- Wednesday, the U.N. Gen- spread of such posts from undiminished. Policy Ex-
back, and about 30 per- duction value, like a clip of eral Assembly was focusing its platform. change found that Islamic
cent of their posted con- the IS trademark black flag, on extremist content on the Seamus Hughes, deputy State places a premium on
tent is about the group. or a bloody photo showing internet, with social media director of the Program on speed and agility to move
“They send a message that what happens to “traitors.” front and center. Extremism at George Wash- between platforms. It also
they know will disappear Instagram is owned by In a statement Wednes- ington University, said the said IS output of online ac-
but they know who the au- Facebook, which came day, Instagram said “There crackdown by Twitter and tivity remains consistent,
dience is. They are using under pressure to close is no place for terrorists, ter- Facebook is a big reason even when the group is
these stories because they accounts linked to Islamic rorist propaganda, or the why the content is moving under pressure militarily, by
know it is a safe channel State supporters after gov- praising of terror activity on elsewhere. finding a “dispersed and
to share information,” said ernments said it was be- Instagram, and we work On places like Instagram resilient form.”q
Nest Labs adds doorbell that

can recognize familiar faces

thermostats, smoke detec- Nest had been supple- group of risky companies
tors and stand-alone secu- menting its existing product venturing into new areas
rity cameras that Nest has line with slightly different of technology that have
been selling since its incep- choices until Wednesday’s collectively lost $10.6 billion
tion six years ago. move into entirely new cat- during the past three-and-
Although Nest has been egories.The Hello doorbell half years alone. Alpha-
among the early leaders comes with a built-in video bet hasn’t disclosed how
in the effort to make home camera and speakers that much Nest has contributed
appliances as intelligent as will make it seem like it can to it the losses in its “Other
people’s smartphones, it recognize and talk to peo- Bets” segmentNest isn’t
Michelle Turner, general manager of security products for Nest hasn’t been able to make ple.The doorbell will draw announcing a price for its
Labs, talks about the camera features of the Hello doorbell dur- money to the frustration upon Google’s facial rec- new doorbell until it hits
ing an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. of its corporate parent, Al- ognition technology so it the market sometime dur-
Associated Press
phabet. In an attempt to can warn a home’s occu- ing the first three months of
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE doorbell and rolling out a shake things up, Alphabet pants when a stranger ap- next year.Google’s facial
AP Technology Writer security system in an at- brought in cable industry proaches. Google bought recognition technology is
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — tempt to end its history of veteran Marwan Fawaz to Nest for $3.2 billion in 2014 coming to the doorbell a
Home device maker Nest losses. replace Nest founder Tony and then spun it off after few months after Nest intro-
Labs is adding Google’s fa- The products announced Fadell as CEO after Fadell it hatched Alphabet as its duced a more sophisticat-
cial recognition technolo- Wednesday expand upon stepped down 15 months parent company. ed indoor security camera
gy to a camera-equipped the internet-connected ago. Nest is now lumped into a featuring the same tool. q