Meta made an important decision against doxxing, ending a gray area in its settlement. Thus, it will simply be forbidden to share a physical address of a person, even if it is accessible to the general public. However, there are exceptions.
This was a gray area of Meta’s rules. A user has the right to disclose a physical address of a person, if it is publicly available. All that, it will be over soon.
Meta has decided to follow the advice of its supervisory board, which sends it seventeen recommendations, including this one. It will therefore soon be prohibited to publish an address on Facebook and Instagram, even though it is a superstar house and everyone knows the location. This measure will be effective by the end of the year. Of course, it was already forbidden to publish the address of an “unknown” person. This rule was an exception.
Meta prohibits publication of known addresses
What is a public address? According to Meta, this concerns those that have been published in at least five media. This concerned a lot of people and could cause trouble. Even a Hollywood star doesn’t want people hanging around her house, for example.
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Moreover, it will no longer be authorized to broadcast exterior photos of private houses, in order to guarantee the protection of the inhabitants. The only exceptions are if the images are taken as part of a news report, if the house is at the center of a news event or if the dwellings are those of high officials. For the latter case, it concerns presidents or ambassadors. Finally, a user will have the right to publish his own address if he likes. However, his contacts will not be able to share it.
To ensure compliance with these rules, Meta promises to implement tools that will allow to easily report violations of privacy. They already exist, but are complicated to find and nebulous, which discourages many users.
Meta and privacy is a story as old as it is complicated. The company walks on eggshells and must now show its paws on this subject. These new rules show that it is heading in the right direction. It remains to be seen whether these measures will be applied quickly.
Source : Engadget
