---
title: "Stanford Built an “Internet Observatory” to Monitor Abuse"
description: "Facebook's former head of security wants to build an \"internet observatory\" at Stanford to monitor harassment and build out the tool for academics to use."
date: "2019-07-25"
modified: "2019-07-25"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/internet-observatory-monitor-abuse"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "facebook"
  - "Google"
  - "social media"
  - "the digest"
---

# Stanford Built an “Internet Observatory” to Monitor Abuse

![Facebook's former head of security wants to build an "internet observatory" to monitor harassment. The idea is to build out the tool for academics to use.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/internet-observatory-monitor-abuse.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Hubble Of Hate

Alex Stamos, the former head of security at Facebook, is building a new tool that will help researchers study online harassment and disinformation.

Stamos compares his project, called the Stanford Internet Observatory, to the Hubble Space Telescope — he envisions a shared pool of resources that researchers can use instead of having to build their own, *[Wired ](<https://www.wired.com/story/alex-stamos-internet-observatory/>)*[reports](<https://www.wired.com/story/alex-stamos-internet-observatory/>). But it will take some tough negotiations to get companies like Facebook and Google to share their user data, especially after [recent privacy scandals](<https://futurism.com/google-plus-privacy-bug>).

## Paper Trail

Stamos, who [oversaw Facebook's security](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-hack>) during the Cambridge Analytica scandal that resulted in a $5 billion fine against the company, is now asking for a real-time window into user data from Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Reddit, according to *Wired*.

The idea is to anonymize data coming from those social media and tech giants, while also scraping up already-public and anonymous posts to hate-filled sites like 4chan and 8chan.

"This is an attempt to figure out a safe, secure, privacy-protective way to make this data available to academics," Nate Persily, co-director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center at which the observatory will be housed, told *Wired*.

## Team-Building

Stamos told *Wired* that Silicon Valley engineers aren't prepared to deal with the hate and disinformation that proliferates on their platforms, and only opening up that data to academics can lead to true solutions.

"If we want companies to make smart decisions, we have to create the intellectual framework for them to base it on, and we have to lobby them as well," said Stamos.

**READ MORE:** [FACEBOOK'S EX-SECURITY CHIEF DETAILS HIS 'OBSERVATORY' FOR INTERNET ABUSE](<https://www.wired.com/story/alex-stamos-internet-observatory/>) \[*Wired*\]

**More on the internet:** *[The Guy Who Invented the Retweet Is Filled With Regret](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/guy-invented-retweet-regret>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)