Facebook data scandal
Posted by: Frank Yang on 20 March 2018
Zuckerberg, Sandberg indirectly and Nix directly were doing the bidding of Bannon. Once again, massive and rich data set on millions of FB users, along with their sensitive info, would be very vital for the US election 2017.
These guys must some explaining to do!!!
sorry -
These guys must some explaining to do.
Should be read as:
These guys *must* have explaining to do.
At the end of the day, were they really doing anything more than exploiting information people put into the public domain? We’re all (many of us anyway) guilty of being far to free with information and then surprised how that information is used. Now the agreements are so obscured that it’s not likely anyone has read them properly!
On another observation though... it’s amusing (to me) how some / many of the news sites who are most up in arms about Cambridge Analytical encourage or even require their users to sign in via Facebook.
Eloise, that irony had not escaped me too. That having been said, I've scrupulously avoided using FB for third party logins - thankfully using a mixture of Mac OS and iOS devices, which share a common keychain for passwords, managing multiple logins to a multiplicity of websites is manageable.
I am minded to do a radical prune of information on FB now though!
Duncan Mann posted:Eloise, that irony had not escaped me too.
These days you need a steely edge to cope with the world.
Never signed up to Faceache, ****ter, or any of those things that I don't understand. Never felt the need.
steve
Eloise posted:At the end of the day, were they really doing anything more than exploiting information people put into the public domain? We’re all (many of us anyway) guilty of being far to free with information and then surprised how that information is used. Now the agreements are so obscured that it’s not likely anyone has read them properly!
On another observation though... it’s amusing (to me) how some / many of the news sites who are most up in arms about Cambridge Analytical encourage or even require their users to sign in via Facebook.
I am less concerned about the personal details privacy than being upset about the way it being used to sway the US election in 2016.
Frank Yang posted:I am less concerned about the personal details privacy than being upset about the way it being used to sway the US election in 2016.
Why? They are only doing what psephologists have been doing for centuries. They just took advantage of Facebook and details people gave freely (if being somewhat manipulated into giving those details by Facebooks lack of privacy) to do it better than ever before.
As for swaying the election... well that’s the accusation mostly from the Democratic leaning media but who can really prove that either way?
Between Facebook, Google and Amazon the world is changing... for good or bad is yet to be seen, but it’s impossible to entirely hold back the tide. It’s important for individuals to take responsibility. You can choose to put your life on Facebook, but once it’s there you loose control of any privacy. You can fill your house with Alexa and marvel at the ways it helps you... but don’t forget tha Amazons goal is for you to buy as much as possible through them.
Eloise posted:As for swaying the election... well that’s the accusation mostly from the Democratic leaning media but who can really prove that either way?
Yes, it may have to be proven to convince the public, but it is as clear as daylight to me.
Frank Yang posted:Eloise posted:As for swaying the election... well that’s the accusation mostly from the Democratic leaning media but who can really prove that either way?
Yes, it may have to be proven to convince the public, but it is as clear as daylight to me.
and to me!
The problem is that people don't notice that when you use a Facebook, Google or Twit sign-on to a 3rd party app the 'small print' below the headline button says that you agree to share your Facebook / Google / Twit data with the third party - and most people don't realise that also includes all data accessible to you from your Facebook friends or other linked accounts, even if the owners of those data haven't themselves given permission for the 3rd party access. In the UK, this is explicitly contrary to the data protection acts, which is why the servers doing this are resident in jurisdictions with less cyber security awareness.
This issue is deadly serious for FB, and it is now facing a potential meltdown, its stock values keep coming down since the news came out and its investors are really spooked.
Zuckerberg must rebuild trust and he must do it fast, unless he wants to see the FB earnings disappear in no time.
Individual people's trust in Facebook is irrelevant as it only acts indirectly.
What matters is the perception of its public image by advertisers. If the companies advertising on FB feel that it's a brand with which they no longer wish to be associated, they will pull their adds and FB's revenue will fall. This is what's causing FB's current troubles, not governments, not QUANGOs like the law enforcement agencies.
Quoted from The Guardian:
"Cambridge Analytica conducted data research for one of the leading Brexit campaign groups and then misled the public and MPs over the work the company had undertaken, according to a former employee who has spoken to the Guardian."
So this firm misled and swayed the public over the US Election 16 and the Brexit campaign in the UK, wow!
Frank Yang posted:Zuckerberg, Sandberg indirectly and Nix directly were doing the bidding of Bannon.
Don't forget the philanthropic Robert & Rebekah Mercer - all due credit should be given to these shy grey eminences.
Huge posted:if the owners of those data haven't themselves given permission for the 3rd party access. In the UK, this is explicitly contrary to the data protection acts,
And is illegal under the data protection act, and if proven the fine in the UK (and I think in the EU as well with GPDR) can be a percentage of that company’s global turnover in some circumstances.
I think this could be an interesting tipping point.
I'm surprised by my own reaction to this and to the outrage it has caused as I think it is naive in the extreme to believe that personal data posted on sites like facebook would not be used by third parties both political and economic (much the same thing really) to gain an advantage. Shock horror big corporation/political party uses underhand means to gain advantage over their competitors!!!!
The only thing that is new here is the size of the information used and the fact that it can now be taken remotely from parts of the world that are less worried about things like data protection.
My own view is that if this makes the general public more wary about what the do online then it is a good thing obviously not for FB but BOO HOO!
It might make the public more wary but only until it all blows over or in many cases until after the next sleep. More seriously it might make the companies such as FB & Cambridge Analytica more wary either in self protection or regulation.
Some people around me seem to be amazed that I can actually survive without being on FB & don't use Twittersphere, but yes I do remarkably well & it seems to me to be a lot less fuss & far more pleasant state of affairs.
Bob the Builder posted:
My own view is that if this makes the general public more wary about what the do online then it is a good thing obviously not for FB but BOO HOO!
That’s my view as well... I wonder if the FB era will start to see a steady decline now as it really has become too corporate and seemingly less trust worthy and moved away from its exciting and novel principles of when it first started (after it’s essentially funded by advertising technology and target advertising which raises ones suspicions straightaway).... perhaps it will be the AOL of the 2010s... I am looking forward to the next big craze....each one of these cycles brings something new, innovative and interesting, until they get too big for themselves and they themselves then give way to something new... and yes withy the reach of the web being so immense now these waves appear to get larger and larger. Me thinks the next big wave will be more AI related.... and I am confident that will throw up its own issues that then require legislation...
The statement from FB
“We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t, we don’t deserve it”
leaves quite a few people a bitter feeling - too little, too late!
And then there is the aggressive marketing to boast your posts on an interest page you run. Can’t tell them to stop and complaints are ignored.
Phil
Now I really understand why we say "A picture is worth a thousand words".
Adam Meredith posted:Frank Yang posted:Zuckerberg, Sandberg indirectly and Nix directly were doing the bidding of Bannon.
Don't forget the philanthropic Robert & Rebekah Mercer - all due credit should be given to these shy grey eminences.
"All modern political campaigns have to balance their need for exorbitant sums of money with the obsessions of the people who want to give them that money."...
" In the end, Rebekah Mercer’s mistake was that she thought she could upend the system and then control the regime she had helped to bring to power. Helping to elect a president wasn’t enough: She wanted the machinery to shape his presidency. Instead, the chaos simply continued. An administration full of insurgents, it turns out, functions in a near-constant state of insurgency. " ...
"... a new group being launched by Rebekah Mercer. And so she may yet get another chance to realize her grand ambitions. “She’s used to getting everything she wants, 100 percent of the time,”
Presumably Hoopla safeguards the details and data of all of us on this here forum ?
Personality profiling seems to have been a significant part of FB saga. What assurance do we have that this forum is immune to this sort of inappropriate activity ?
I am assuming we have no such assurance.
Don, Social Strata who run the Hoop La platform comply with the General Data Protection Regulation. This regulation applies to any entity who collects or processes identifiable data from EU citizens (in short, almost everyone).
As far as Naim is concerned, apart from using the registered email address to sometimes contact members in the normal course of moderation, what little other personal data is available is not used for any other purpose. Any member who wishes to have their account deleted only need ask - indeed, I believe that a release to allow a member to delete themselves may well be imminent. All in line with GDPR.
Anyone who wishes to read Social Strata's Privacy Policy can do so here: