Be Seen. Not Found.

Is Meta's AI Doxxing YOU?

Is it the AI? Or just what's already out there?

Meta's AI Doxxed A Creator

The creator world (and general media too) was all abuzz this week with this video from mom/travel creator @kontheinside. She was a small travel and parenting creator (about 400 followers before she posted the video) who posted a video of her and her child singing in the car. That's her normal type of content, so she didn't think anything of it.

She noticed that Facebook put a suggested AI question underneath the video... specifically: "Who's the child passenger?" So, she clicked on it - and the AI started pulling together information from other posts (name, birth info, posts from her mom's page, and a picture that she deleted a few years ago) to be able to identify her kids.

Then... Facebook's next suggested question was "Where does Kalie Robins live?" So she clicks on that too, and sees that it starts digging through old posts connecting her to where she used to live, new posts connecting her to where she lives now, and eventually pieced pieces of information together to be able to pinpoint where she lived.

And let's just say, her flabbers were gasted.

But... if you've been reading this newsletter for any length of time, yours shouldn't be.

The pattern we keep seeing Sometimes it's not the information that others are putting out there about you that's the leak. Sometimes, it's from your own content.

it just takes one post

​Last week, we talked through how you can take a photo or a video and link that to someone's name and then link that name to where they live. And it took about 3 steps from photo to driveway. This isn't all that different, it's just about where the data is coming from (data brokers and other stuff that's out there vs your own content).

Meta hasn't disclosed all the sources of data that their AI is pulling from... but do we actually need the data (or the AI) to get the same result? Let's be super generous here, and assume that Meta's AI isn't using the piles and piles of data on everyone on the platform that it has access to, and just assume that it's only looking at this creator's content (we know that's not the case, but just go with me here).

A quick scan through her account content shows a video from a few months ago, shot from her house's porch, of a wildfire that was heading her way, and it has a hashtag for that specific fire department (including the named city) attached to it.

So, even without doing anything deeper, we already have her name and her city. And that's without analyzing anything at all from the actual video, which was filmed in her home of the outside view (or looking at the date and figuring out where the fire is).

In about 3 minutes, just a quick scan of her content took me from: "I have no idea who this creator is" to "this is exactly where she lives" with very little effort. No AI tool, no technical skills.

Now, should Meta be allowing it's AI to suggest (or even answer) questions about where a creator lives? Uh... absolutely not. But the AI is only working with the information that is already out there in the world, it doesn't need to do much digging.

If a human can do it in 3 minutes, an AI can do it in 3 seconds. But either option still gets the job done.

Pay attention to what's in the frame

There are lots of potential pieces of information that you leak through your content that could lead someone to your door. But here are some general rules to operate by (you get to decide if these change how or what you post, or you just know about them and accept the risk):

• Assume any shots outside can be pinpointed to where you are (don't believe me? Go watch a few videos on this channel)​
• Don't post anything in real time (this is especially true for when you travel). Telling people where you are, when you're there is a recipe for folks to just show up.
• Scan your content for anything that might give away where you are before you post it (mailing labels on boxes, a high school sports team on your t-shirt, address numbers, etc.).
• Don't post any information that you use for security questions for access to your accounts (think... pets names, birthdate, birthplace, etc.) And... p.s. you don't have to be truthful when you pick security questions and answers either. (yes, tyrannosaurus can be the answer to your mothers maiden name)

The TL;DR here... have a look at your content with an eye towards "what could someone get from this?" before you post.

Your move · This week Scan your own content. Take 5 minutes and just scan through your social media pages. Look for anything that might give folks a clue (or access). Decide whether or not it should stay up.

On the Radar

What we're watching

01	Is your drivers license out there? 153 Million US and Canadian drivers licenses got breached in a new identity theft service that launched this week.
02	Delaware updated their consumer data privacy law. They're adding in amendments that other states have been adopting to make protections stronger.

Stay safe, Susan @ Unpublic

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