Tag: Facebook

Political campaigns run with Cambridge Analytica data, says whistleblower

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Whistleblower Christopher Wylie has claimed that Cambridge Analytica’s parent company SCL maintained a database of 7 lakh villages and 600 districts in India, and consulted various political parties including the Janata Dal (United) in the run-up to over 7 national and state elections.

Wylie, who exposed the methods used by the company to attempt to influence elections in multiple countries, tweeted 3 images with the data in response to requests from Indian journalists.

According to the data, which CNBC-TV18 has not verified independently, SCL carried out its research before the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan between 2003 and 2012.

The whistleblower also claims that SCL had managed the campaigns of a number of Lok Sabha candidates during the 2009 general elections.

While the Janata Dal (United) was the only political party mentioned by name, phrases like ‘national party’ and ‘major party’ were mentioned.

The country’s two largest parties, the Bharatiya Janta Party and the Indian National Congress have been accusing each other of using Cambridge Analytica’s data to sway voters.

The second image was a map of SCL’s zonal offices in India and suggests that company had at least 10 offices in India, with its head office in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

The third image detailed a process called ‘Caste research and analysis’, which details how SCL’s campaign team could understand caste influences among Indian voters and create targeted messaging with this information.

The British political consulting firm is at the centre of a controversy involving data harvested from Facebook users and is being investigated for its role in the Brexit vote and US President Donald Trump’s election campaign.

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The US Federal Trade Commission to launch a probe against Facebook

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US Federal Trade Commission has confirmed that Facebook is under investigation into its privacy practices, amidst allegations that its connection with British company Cambridge Analytica resulted in misuse of personal data of some 50 million users.

The FTC, in a statement on Monday, confirmed that it has an “open non-public investigation” into Facebook’s privacy practices.

“FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook, said Tom Pahl,” FTC’s Acting Director in the Bureau of Consumer Protection said.

Pahl said the FTC is firmly and fully committed to using all of its tools to protect the privacy of consumers.

“Foremost among these tools is enforcement action against companies that fail to honour their privacy promises, including to comply with Privacy Shield, or that engage in unfair acts that cause substantial injury to consumers in violation of the FTC Act,” the statement said.

“Companies who have settled previous FTC actions must also comply with FTC order provisions imposing privacy and data security requirements,” it said.

In a related development, attorney generals of as many as 37 states on Monday sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling for answers to reports that millions of Facebook users personal data was provided to third parties without their knowledge or informed consent.

In the letter, the attorney general’s demand to know about Facebook’s role in the manipulation of users data by Cambridge Analytica without those users’ knowledge as well as Facebook’s policies and procedures for protecting users private data.

The letter requests that Facebook produce information regarding their business practices and safeguards to protect users’ privacy.

Signatories to the letter, among others, includes New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S Grewal.

Early reports indicate that user data of at least 50 million Facebook profiles may have been misused and misappropriated by third-party software developers, the letter said.

“According to these reports, Facebook’s previous policies allowed developers to access the personal data of “friends” of people who used applications on the platform, without the knowledge or express consent of those “friends”,” the attorney generals said.

It has also been reported that while providing other developers access to personal Facebook user data, Facebook took as much as 30 per cent of payments made through the developers’ applications by Facebook users, they said.

“Facebook apparently contends that this incident of harvesting tens of millions of profiles was not the result of a technical data breach; however, the reports allege that Facebook allowed third parties to obtain personal data of users who never authorised it, and relied on terms of service and settings that were confusing and perhaps misleading to its users,” the letter said.

These revelations raise many serious questions concerning Facebook’s policies and practices, and the processes in place to ensure they are followed, they said.

According to the attorney general, even with the changes Facebook has made in recent years, many users still don’t know that their profile and personal data is available to third-party vendors.

“Facebook has made promises about users privacy in the past, and we need to know that users can trust Facebook. With the information we have now, our trust has been broken,” the letter said.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Facebook questioned about pulling Android call, text data

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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On the same day Facebook bought ads in US and British newspapers to apologize for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the social media site faced new questions about collecting phone numbers and text messages from Android devices.

The website Ars Technica reported that users who checked data gathered by Facebook on them found that it had years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths and text messages.

Facebook said today the information is uploaded to secure servers and comes only from Android users who opt-in to allow it. Spokeswomen say the data is not sold or shared with users’ friends or outside apps. They say the data is used “to improve people’s experience across Facebook” by helping to connect with others.

The company also says in a website posting that it does not collect the content of text messages or calls. A spokeswoman told the Associated Press that Facebook uses the information to rank contacts in Messenger so they are easier to find, and to suggest people to call.

Users get the option to allow data collection when they sign up for Messenger or Facebook Lite, the Facebook posting said. “If you chose to turn this feature on, we will begin to continuously log this information,” the posting said.

The data collection can be turned off in a user’s settings, and all previously collected call and text history shared on the app will be deleted, Facebook said.

The feature was first introduced on Facebook Messenger in 2015 and added later on Facebook Lite.

Messages were left today seeking comment about security from Google officials, who make the Android operating system.

Reports of the data collection came as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took out ads in multiple US and British Sunday newspapers to apologize for the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The ads say the social media platform doesn’t deserve to hold personal information if it can’t protect it.

According to the ads, a quiz app built by a Cambridge University researcher leaked Facebook data of millions of people four years ago. Zuckerberg said this was a “breach of trust” and that Facebook is taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Facebook’s privacy practices have come under fire after Cambridge Analytica, a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm, got data inappropriately. The social media platform’s stock value has dropped over USD 70 billion since the revelations were first published.

Among the newspapers with the ads were The New York Times and The Washington Post in the US, and The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph in the United Kingdom.

The ads said Facebook is limiting the data apps received when users sign in. It’s also investigating every app that had access to large amounts of data. “We expect there are others. And when we find them, we will ban them and tell everyone affected,” the ads stated.

Cambridge Analytica got the data from a researcher who paid 270,000 Facebook users to complete a psychological profile quiz back in 2014. But the quiz gathered information on their friends as well, bringing the total number of people affected to about 50 million.

The Trump campaign paid the firm USD 6 million during the 2016 election, although it has since distanced itself from Cambridge.

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Facebook data breach: Govt issues notice to Cambridge Analytica

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cracking the whip on alleged misuse of user data on Facebook, the government today issued a notice to UK-based Cambridge Analytica, asking it to give a list of clients and the source of data it had collected.

The notice came after reports that political parties had used the data analytics firm during elections.

The IT Ministry has asked Cambridge Analytica – the firm at the centre of Facebook data breach scandal – to respond by March 31 on six questions, including how the company had collected user data, whether consent was taken from the individuals, and how the data was used.

The move assumes significance as the BJP, earlier this week, had questioned links between the Congress and Cambridge Analytica, the data mining firm accused of harvesting personal information from Facebook illegally to influence polls in several countries.

Taking a stern view of reports on the misuse of user data obtained from social media platform Facebook, the IT Ministry in a statement today said that “breach of privacy cannot be tolerated”.

“The government is deeply concerned about such developments and is committed to ensuring the protection of the fundamental right of privacy and safety and security of data for every citizen of India,” the ministry said.

The IT Ministry said it had issued a notice to Cambridge Analytica “wherein the serious breach of propriety and misuse of data intended to profile and influence voting behaviour has been highlighted”.

The notice comes just days after Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned the social media giant Facebook of stringent action for any attempt to influence polls through data theft. Prasad had even threatened to summon its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, if needed.

“…the notice addressed to Cambridge Analytica seeks an immediate response to the following questions…Whether they have been engaged in any assignment to utilise data of Indians from the above-cited breach. Who are the entities that have engaged them for the above,” it said.

The ministry also questioned the company on how it had come to be in possession of user data and whether user consent had been taken for the same. The company has also been asked to divulge details of how the data collected was used and whether any profiling was done on basis of such data.

“The intermediaries cited above have been given time till March 31, 2018, to submit their responses on the above issue,” the ministry said.

Referring to media reports of “gross abuse of social media platform to influence the sanctity of polling process”, the ministry said, “any attempt to influence the sanctity of the electoral franchise through dubious and questionable means is unacceptable”.

“In particular, all intermediaries and their associates have the legal obligation to maintain security, confidentiality and sanctity of data and any unauthorized use of data can entail legal action,” it warned.

The statement said that Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued advisory laying down security best practices to be followed by social media users, to safeguard personally identifiable information on social network sites.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

We made mistakes, admits Zuckerberg in his Facebook post

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that his company has “made mistakes.” Zuckerberg made the admission after the social networking site came under fire for its alleged role in the Cambridge Analytica dispute.

In a post that was published on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg stated that he wanted to update all regarding the ongoing row that has the data mining firm in the centre.  “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you. I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he wrote adding that the company had taken action years ago to prevent such incidents from repeating.

However, Zuckerberg also accepted that mistakes happened from the part of the company and a lot more has to be done to make it safer.  “We also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it,” he said.

In order to prevent such incidents he explained that Facebook will take measures such as thorough investigation on all apps that collect large volumes of data, further restrictions on accessing data and more transparency towards customers when it comes to informing them about apps that are allowed to access their information.

Explaining about the harvesting of information from Facebook, Zuckerberg claimed that the app created by Aleksandr Kogan had made use of updates introduced by the firm in 2007  aimed at making Facebook more customer friendly.

He informed that the company had already taken steps back in 2014 to prevent abusive apps from exploiting data and asked Kogan and Cambridge Analytica to formally certify that they had deleted all improperly acquired data when it learned about the sharing of data by the two.

It was, as per the post only when the news broke out that the company learned about the breach of trust.  The company on its part promptly banned Analytica from using Facebook and also has started an investigation.

He concluded the post by assuring that he is serious about protecting safety and privacy of his users. “I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I’m responsible for what happens on our platform. I’m serious about doing what it takes to protect our community…  We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward.”

The statement, that comes at a time when calls have come from various sides demanding explanation from Zuckerberg and Facebook who many believe are directly responsible for the data harvesting. It is yet to be seen whether this explanation will be enough to pacify these voices.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

WhatsApp co-founder urges followers to delete Facebook

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on Tuesday posted a tweet asking people to delete Facebook. The tweet appeared in the twitter account of Acton, who had earlier sold the popular messaging service to Facebook back in 2014.

“It is time,” tweeted Acton along with the hashtag ‘#deletefacebook’ on his account on Tuesday. While no comment has come up from Acton regarding the tweet, some indicate that he may be planning to take on Facebook.

It is time. #deletefacebook

— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018

Acton, who as per the Forbes, has a real time net worth of $ 5.5 billion had last month made news by investing $ 50 million in to “Signal,’ widely expected to be an independent alternative for the Facebook controlled WhatsApp.

Acton, along with his partner Jan Koum had remained in the top of WhatsApp till a few months back after selling it to Facebook back in 2014 for $ 19 billion. However he later left the company and along with Moxie Marlinspike founded the ‘Signal Foundation’ last month.

With an aim “to develop open source privacy technology that protects free expression and enables secure global communication” the foundation is expected to develop its messaging app as an alternative to existing apps.

It is not uncommon for former employees to speak up against Facebook. Earlier former head of growth Chamath Palihapitiya had attacked the social networking giant saying that it was ripping apart the fabric of  society. Similar outbursts have come from others including Sean Parker, Justin Rosenstein etc.

However what makes Acton’s tweet more effective is its timing. The tweet comes at a time when Facebook is facing criticism from across the globe over its involvement in Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of user data. Questions have been raised about the security of personal data in the site and Mark Zuckerberg himself has been summoned by a parliamentary committee under UK’s House of Commons.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Breaking up with Facebook? It’s harder than it looks

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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NEW YORK: Facebook’s latest privacy scandal, involving Trump campaign consultants who allegedly stole data on tens of millions of users in order to influence elections, has some people reconsidering their relationship status with the social network.

There’s just one problem: There isn’t much of anywhere else to go.

Facebook has weathered many such blow-ups before and is used to apologizing and moving on. But the stakes are bigger this time.

Regulatory authorities are starting to focus on the data misappropriation, triggering a 9 percent decline in Facebook’s normally high-flying stock since Monday. Some of that reflects fear that changes in Facebook’s business will hurt profits or that advertisers and users will sour on the social network.

The furor over Cambridge Analytica, the data mining firm accused of stealing Facebook data, follows a bad year in which Facebook acknowledged helping spread fake news and propaganda from Russian agents. It also comes less than three months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the world that he would devote the year to fixing Facebook. Instead, things seem to be getting worse.

“It’s more serious economically, politically, financially and will require a more robust response in order to regain users’ trust,” said Steve Jones, a professor of communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Yet leaving Facebook, like ending a long marriage, isn’t remotely simple. Starting with the little things.

Arvind Rajan, a tech executive from San Francisco who deactivated his account on Monday, suddenly discovered he needs to create new usernames and passwords for a variety of apps and websites. That’s because he previously logged in with his Facebook ID.

It’s a pain, he said, “but not the end of the world.” And because he is bothered by Facebook’s “ham-handed” response to recent problems, the inconvenience is worth it.

For other users looking to leave, it can feel as if there are no real alternatives. Twitter? Too flighty, too public. Instagram? Whoops, owned by Facebook. Snapchat? Please, unless you’re under 25 — in which case you’re probably not on Facebook to begin with.

Facebook connects 2.2 billion users and a host of communities that have sprung up on its network. No other company can match the breadth or depth of these connections — thanks in part to Facebook’s proclivity for squashing or swallowing up its competition.

But it is precisely in Facebook’s interest to make users feel Facebook is the only place to connect with others. Where else will grandmothers see photos of their far-flung grandkids? How will new mothers connect to other parents also up at 4 a.m. with a newborn?

“My only hesitation is that there are hundreds of pictures posted over 13 years of my life that I do not want to lose access to. If there was a way to recover these photos, I would deactivate immediately,” Daniel Schwartz, who lives in Atlanta, said in an email.

People eager to delete their profiles may find unexpected problems that point to how integral Facebook is to many activities, said Ifeoma Ajunwa, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University.

“It is getting more and more difficult for people to delete Facebook, since it’s not just as a social media platform but also almost like a meeting square,” she said.

Parents could soon realize that their child’s soccer schedule with games and pickup times is only on a Facebook page, for example. Many businesses also schedule meetings via Facebook.

“It’s more and more difficult for people to feel plugged in if you’re not on Facebook,” Ajunwa said.

There are no signs, so far, that users are leaving in droves — and advertisers go where the eyeballs are, so they aren’t leaving either. Research firm eMarketer hasn’t changed its estimate that worldwide ad spending on Facebook will climb 22 percent this year to nearly $49 billion.

Still, if “Facebook were forced to change the way it uses data or the way its ad products work, then advertisers may become less enamored with it,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with the firm.

Not surprisingly, Facebook doesn’t make it easy to leave. To permanently delete your account, you need to make a request to the company. The process can take several days, and if you log in during this time, your request will be canceled. It can take up to 90 days to delete everything.

There’s a less permanent way to leave, deactivation, which hides your profile from everyone but lets you return if you change your mind.

Lili Orozco, a 28-year-old office manager for her family’s heating and cooling company in Watkinsville, Georgia, deleted her account in December. She was upset that every new app she downloaded would ask for her Facebook contacts.

And while she liked staying in touch with people, she was irritated by the conspiracy stories her high school friends would share.

“Falsehoods spread faster on Facebook than the truth does,” she said. She now gets her news from Twitter and shares pictures with friends through Instagram.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow