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Facebook Technology

Facebook Offers Solution To End Drunken Posts 134

First time accepted submitter blueshift_1 writes Remember that photo that you posted to Facebook sophmore year of college when you thought there was nothing more important than partying and letting everyone you knew how hard you partied? Well facebook is now trying to buzzkill every one of those moments. With their upcoming feature, they'll be using photo analysis algorithms to detect how intoxicated you were in the photo and suggest that you not post it. Which in the end, is probably for the best.
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Facebook Offers Solution To End Drunken Posts

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 12, 2014 @06:36AM (#48580099)

    In order to complete this post, please enable your microphone and say the alphabet backwards.

    • by SpzToid ( 869795 )

      Am I allowed to use a Search Engine?

    • by s.petry ( 762400 )
      I wonder if they have to pay patent royalties to Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson since they invented this app during their Google internship [wikipedia.org]?
      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        I wonder if they have to pay patent royalties to Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson since they invented this app during their Google internship?

        The inspiration for that came from the Google Labs thing for GMail that did just that, introduced years before that movie^H^H^H^H^Hrecruitment ad. It literally pops up a math problem for you to solve before GMail will let you send the email out to determine your level of intoxication.

    • Um, why? No, I mean zee!

    • please enable your microphone

      Not necessary on an Andriod phone where FB already has access to use the microphone without telling you--and you can't disable this without root.

  • ... "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you start the vehicle."

    If you fail the visual test, the car makes you take a breathalizer.

  • No thanks (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rodrigoandrade ( 713371 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @06:45AM (#48580119)
    I hereby declare that I can take care of my own posting and am fully responsible for my actions, drunk or otherwise.

    Fuck you Big Brother.
    • Re:No thanks (Score:5, Informative)

      by AchilleTalon ( 540925 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @07:53AM (#48580291) Homepage
      You will still be able to post your drunken pictures, the only thing this application will do is to ask you if you really want to do it given the content or the likely content to be at your disadvantage. You can still decide to post it anyway. It is just like a pat on the back: Are you sure you want to do this?
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Dan Askme ( 2895283 )

        You will still be able to post your drunken pictures, the only thing this application will do is to ask you if you really want to do it given the content or the likely content to be at your disadvantage. You can still decide to post it anyway. It is just like a pat on the back: Are you sure you want to do this?

        If i am in the process of having a shit, I dont need someone to ask me the question of "Am i sure i want to do this?".

        We are all capable of making our own decisions, without the need for verification. Those that need verification prompts to exist in our society, need to seriously rethink their basic thought process and self control.

        • by plover ( 150551 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @08:32AM (#48580371) Homepage Journal

          Those that need verification prompts to exist in our society, need to seriously rethink their basic thought process and self control.

          That's exactly what this tool is for. Those that could benefit from verification prompts are completely unaware that they even have a problem. It's possible that some of them may start questioning their life choices as a result.

          Of course, it's also likely to gamify alcoholism: "Dude, Facebook says I've posted drunk for 100 days in a row, that's gotta be some kind of record."

          • Re:No thanks (Score:5, Informative)

            by Oligonicella ( 659917 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @01:31PM (#48583217)
            Yes... Well, your last snark is exactly why this is a bad thing. Facebook's algorithms will no doubt have false positives and Facebook will **no doubt** keep these statistics. As with other stats, these can find their way out of Facebook's altruistic hands.

            That last, by the way, was a snark. At least the word altruistic.
            • by plover ( 150551 )

              Actually, I wasn't trying to be funny or snarky. I do know some people who would take it as a challenge to drunk-post every day; I also know people who sadly couldn't post any other way. And yes, I don't see Facebook voluntarily deleting data on anything their subscribers do.

          • Of course, it's also likely to gamify alcoholism: "Dude, Facebook says I've posted drunk for 100 days in a row, that's gotta be some kind of record."

            Posting a picture of someone who is drunk is not the same as "posting [while] drunk". This prompt will not stop the latter.

          • by Meski ( 774546 )
            And requests from Smirnoff wanting you to 'friend' them.
        • by Anonymous Coward

          We are all capable of making our own decisions,

          I think I see a flaw in your argument.

        • Those that need verification prompts to exist in our society, need to seriously rethink their basic thought process and self control.

          Apparently you've either never been around anyone who was drunk or you're so incompetent in your own decision making that you think drunk people make good decisions and have self control.

        • by MightyYar ( 622222 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @09:19AM (#48580511)

          We are all capable of making our own decisions

          I think you are getting drunk wrong.

        • by fisted ( 2295862 )

          If i am in the process of having a shit, I dont need someone to ask me the question of "Am i sure i want to do this?".

          Might not be the worst idea to have this, since by this analogy you're taking a shit in public

        • by bledri ( 1283728 )

          We are all capable of making our own decisions, without the need for verification. Those that need verification prompts to exist in our society, need to seriously rethink their basic thought process and self control.

          It must be tough being perfect in an imperfect world. See, I can be judgmental too. That was fun.

          Gravity forbid we use tools and technology to help us make better decisions.

      • I won't post it? Hold my beer!
      • by rhazz ( 2853871 )
        I'm not drunk, I have ptosis you insensitive clod!
    • How exactly is this "Big Brother"? You were about to post the picture anyway, and if Facebook's computers can tell that you're drunk, so can any human being looking at the picture.
  • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @06:46AM (#48580123)

    So when Facebook compiles all of this information into one large data set and labels the results file "underage drinking" to sell to law enforcement, we won't be surprised at all when arrest rates increase in highly targeted areas with great "success", right?

    The power to abuse large data sets should not go unnoticed, and there are quite often more reasons than one to justify a new feature or service.

  • by rsmith-mac ( 639075 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @06:53AM (#48580143)

    Not to be preachy, but it always strikes me as odd to what lengths some people will go to mitigate the damage their drinking does, rather than exercising just a bit of self control and not drinking to the point of intoxication. Having to make computers take care of us in this fashion and stop us from harming ourselves just seems silly.

    • by xvan ( 2935999 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @07:04AM (#48580191)
      Sometimes, drinking to the point of intoxication is the point.
      • Sometimes? What are the other times?

        I know a lot of people have come up with "Well, I like the taste..." but that's BS. Ethanol is a gross tasting solvent and we drink it for one reason, to experience its effects. In the past, it was safer to drink than certain other things because of the antimicrobial effect, but that's been beside the point for 100 years.
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Not to be preachy, but it always strikes me as odd to what lengths some people will go to mitigate the damage their drinking does, rather than exercising just a bit of self control and not drinking to the point of intoxication. Having to make computers take care of us in this fashion and stop us from harming ourselves just seems silly.

      Implying that narcissistic addicts of social media could or should exercise good judgement and self-restraint?

      Oh, that's fucking rich.

    • woooooooooosh

    • We have an unhealthy societal perspective regarding alcohol, which you are indicating right there in your post. The drinking done by these people is probably not causing a great deal of harm, but we have an unprecedented level of access to cameras and semi-permanent communications. Therefore, this otherwise healthy activity can have harmful effects on your career or personal life.
    • Sometimes life gives you more than you can handle, and you just want to shut out the entire world. Like the loss of a child or partner. It's not an elegant way of dealing with the problem, but alcohol is cheap, legal and pretty effective in numbing your brain.

    • by Slashdot Parent ( 995749 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @11:59AM (#48581835)

      Not to be preachy, but

      Have you ever noticed how the words, "Not to be ___________, but," always seem to precede a bunch more words that are the epitome of ____________?

      I have!

    • by bledri ( 1283728 )

      Not to be preachy, but it always strikes me as odd to what lengths some people will go to mitigate the damage their drinking does, rather than exercising just a bit of self control and not drinking to the point of intoxication. Having to make computers take care of us in this fashion and stop us from harming ourselves just seems silly.

      Believing that it's silly to use technology to help people make better decisions when they are impaired seems silly to me. Doubly so on a site supposedly for people that are into technology.

    • by Baki ( 72515 )

      One of the effects of drinking, is that it lessens self control.

  • Well, they came in second...

    http://gmailblog.blogspot.de/2... [blogspot.de]
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... [telegraph.co.uk]

  • No, this is wrong...totally wrong. HR departments need a way to filter out all the partiers and drunkerds. Facebook has become their number one tool in choosing which employees to discriminate against.

  • This is a symptom of a number of problems including how much employment has become tied to Facebook, but in particular this seems to be the next level of enabling individuals to avoid responsibility for their own actions.

  • Instead of fancy breathalizer equipment, making people read a bunch of letters and numbers is probably enough.

  • So, a bot will be giving advice to drunk college freshmen to act reasonably... Sure, we all know how well it works when you (as a real human who cares) say to someone: "Dude,don't do that please, it's stupid, you're drunk and you're gonna regret it"...
    • by N!k0N ( 883435 )
      <quote>So, a bot will be giving advice to drunk college freshmen to act reasonably...

      Sure, we all know how well it works when you (as a real human who cares) say to someone: "Dude,don't do that please, it's stupid, you're drunk and you're gonna regret it"...</quote>

      "Shutup and hold my beer. This is gonna be awesome!"<br/>
      (2 hours later, in the ER) "So ... 'awesome', huh?"
  • by Bob9113 ( 14996 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @07:26AM (#48580243) Homepage

    detect how intoxicated you were in the photo and suggest that you not post it. Which in the end, is probably for the best.

    Not bad. Now if we can just get them to suggest that you not post things when you don't look intoxicated, they'll have covered all the cases where not posting things to Facebook probably for the best.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Friends don't let friends use Facebook

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Stuff like this is why I deleted my facebook in the first place. They are jut as bad as google and many many others. They don't care about privacy or civil liberty.

    • Stuff like this is why I deleted my facebook in the first place.

      So you were running a Facebook competitor but decided to halt all the operations due to seeing how bad the datamining was getting? Well, thanks for doing the responsible thing.

  • by gatkinso ( 15975 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @08:00AM (#48580307)

    Seriously.

  • were the only people still posting on Facebook
  • by Anonymous Coward

    So all of my facebook posts are going to be deleted?

  • by Jim Sadler ( 3430529 ) on Friday December 12, 2014 @09:00AM (#48580445)
    There are many people who suffer from a lousy self image. They may feel that they are the only ones who have ever done stupid things. It can be quite theraputic to realise that almost all people have really humbling moments and actually be able to see people that you deal with every day during those moments. If you had the flu and found yourself on the bathroom floor spewing from both ends your mind has a snapshot of what you felt you looked like. How about being able to see your boss under very similar conditions? Or how about the night your banker got drunk and punched his wife and left home in cuffs in a squad car? I doubt there is anyone out there that has not had times when they looked or acted like they belonged in a trash dump.
    • by koan ( 80826 )

      Or the doctor about to perform surgery on you, or the pilot about to fly 300 people across the ocean, or your SO in a 3 way with a couple of bisexual, intravenous drug using Haitians.

  • Facebook has immediate access to your phone number details, like name, address etc?

    FB on your phone or registered FB, the instant you put that number in there they have all the details.

    As I stated previously it's become a ubiquitous login as well, allowing FB all of that 3rd party data, I wonder when people will become uncomfortable with this level of access, with the psych profile built off of their data and actions.
    I don't think most people get it.

    Kind of sad that most people I talk to say they can't quit

    • by n6kuy ( 172098 )

      Facebook doesn't have my phone number or address. Why would anybody give them that info?

      • by koan ( 80826 )

        If you're using FB on a phone they do, if your friends or someone related to you has it in their contacts, etc.
        If you give it to them...

  • Facebook is doing some interesting research. Is it even possible to determine, from a picture, if someone is drunk? Do you start with face recognition algorithms, and look at the face? Can the algorithm learn body language? I am skeptical on this.

    Fashioning such a tool is largely about building image recognition technology that can distinguish between your drunken self and your sober self, and using a red-hot form of artificial intelligence called “deep learning”—a technology bootstrapped by LeCun and other academics—Facebook has already reached a point where it can identify your face and your friends’ faces in the photos you post to its social network, letting you more easily tag them with the right names.

    Identifying one's face is not barely even AI any more. The fingerprint is based on the distance between the facial features. Yes, neural networks and things are good at finding those features, so AI is involved to some degree. Identifying some vague concept

  • they'll be using photo analysis algorithms to detect how intoxicated you were in the photo and suggest that you not post it

    ... Except that most of the time the people taking those photos are posting them while they are intoxicated, and therefore the suggestion not to post won't have any effect

    My impression is the regret in taking these drunken pictures happens years after the fact, when the drunken college scene has been left behind, and the poster now has a family and a 9-to-5 job and they want to distance themselves from that past. Trying to tell college students that they shouldn't be posting inappropriate pictures of thems

    • My impression is the regret in taking these drunken pictures happens years after the fact, when the drunken college scene has been left behind, and the poster now has a family and a 9-to-5 job and they want to distance themselves from that past.

      It shocks me how rarely the cultural underpinnings are made overt in these scenarios. What you depict might actually be the case in America, but I suspect it will be different in France, where when a search pulls up no college revelry whatsoever, cultured individuals

  • So now all the 13 year olds will be faking a drunk selfy to see if Facebook gives them the knock-knock. I suspect this will actually encourage them to drink. I can hear it now: "Dude Facebook thinks I'm drunk, how cool is that!"

  • I solved it before them. Don't drink, ever. Works for me.
    On that subject, if it calls one single photo of me drunk, we're gonna have a big fucking problem. I don't ever upload a single photo of me for privacy reasons but still.
  • How about we just mandate that Facebook (or any other website that keeps personal information) be required to DELETE any and ALL history over a specific age. I figure that anything more than a year old is worthless to just about everybody anyway, but make it something like 7 years. That way, your unfortunate college posts won't haunt you all your life.

  • Everyone drink, post and repeat. Until Facebook warns you to stop.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I was thinking of making profile on Facebook.
    Now I'll have to pop on over to that competing social site, Drunkbook and create one there.
  • My suspicion is that /. could use this even more...
  • Really, Facebook should add a feature that let's anyone in a photo veto its entire publication on the site. They already have great facial recognition algorithms - I should be able to completely remove a photo of me that my friend posted, instead of just removing the tag.

  • Zuck , it took you what 11 years to learn that FaceMash was probably not the best idea ?

    http://dublindigital.ie/origin... [dublindigital.ie]

  • Anyone have a polite way of telling people that you don't want them to take digital photos of you without sounding like a paranoid antisocial weirdo?

    I only use really bad blurry pictures for my own profile pics on the web and I don't let people tag me in posts, but the sheer number of pics that I show up in online without my consent means most likely Facebook and the like will ID me even though I don't participate. It really annoys me that even in party situations the social norm is not to ask for any conse

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