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Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

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Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#141

Post by jondubois »

It seems that everyone just hates Facebook and we're collectively trying to nit pick any missteps that they make.

I think that the whole issue is not surprising at all. Definitely not newsworthy. I'm pretty sure that everyone and everyone's mum knew that Facebook was doing stuff like this.

What changed is that now we all distrust and dislike Facebook at some deep level... So we respond strongly to even the most mundane criticisms against it.

I think that what's happening is that Facebook is so good with analytics that they are always able to churn out a perfectly optimized statement in response to any situation... But it doesn't change the fact that everyone is eagerly awaiting the next scandal.

Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#142

Post by shell_oil_101 »

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #129
propman wrote: post #39

The trusting developers not to sell any data but putting zero safeguards in place to prevent this and extremely punitive repercussions despite being repeatedly told by the public, media, and even high level employees tells me Facebook can't plead ignorance to this and they not only knew this was happening, but they probably intended for it to happen. They knew it was illegal but put all the incentives for companies n…

It's in Facebook's benefit for advertisers to gather all that data, because the only way they can actually use it to make money is by advertising to the users on Facebook. I find it incredibly hard to believe that this thought never crossed anybody's mind.

"We're sorry!"

I agree, I don't think anyone is buying it.

Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#144

Post by JumpCrisscross »

prostoalex wrote: post #65
propman wrote: post #39

The trusting developers not to sell any data but putting zero safeguards in place to prevent this and extremely punitive repercussions despite being repeatedly told by the public, media, and even high level employees tells me Facebook can't plead ignorance to this and they not only knew this was happening, but they probably intended for it to happen. They knew it was illegal but put all the incentives for companies n…

What kind of safeguards would you introduce? At the very start of Facebook platform the API would anonymize the user's email address, the app would get an app-specific hash, e.g. abcdefg-app123456@facebook.net It was a working email address with Facebook handling the forwarding. This proved futile as the very first thing that apps then did was to ask users for their real email address.

> What kind of safeguards would you introduce?

How about the ones they agreed to with the FTC in 2011 [1][2]?

[1] https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cases/2011...

[2] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2011/11/faceb...

Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#145

Post by ruthvik947 »

nickysielicki wrote: post #110
propman wrote: post #39

The trusting developers not to sell any data but putting zero safeguards in place to prevent this and extremely punitive repercussions despite being repeatedly told by the public, media, and even high level employees tells me Facebook can't plead ignorance to this and they not only knew this was happening, but they probably intended for it to happen. They knew it was illegal but put all the incentives for companies n…

>The trusting developers not to sell any data but putting zero safeguards in place to prevent this and extremely punitive repercussions despite being repeatedly told by the public, media, and even high level employees tells me Facebook can't plead ignorance to this and they not only knew this was happening, but they probably intended for it to happen. Why would they intend for it to happen? They didn't make any money…

I think it is ridiculous to think that Facebook is sharing data to 3rd party sources out of charity. If you provide more value via data to integrating applications than any of your competitors, you will continue to have the largest share of the market. So yes, there is profit incentive.

Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#146

Post by pishpash »

humanrebar wrote: post #89
dfxm12 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was how FB has always designed to work from the beginning Not exactly. In all fairness, as Zuck points out, this is a key part of the story, and in theory, why this is different: In 2015, we learned from journalists at The Guardian that Kogan had shared data from his app with Cambridge Analytica. It is against our policies for developers to share data without people's consent. This raises the question of what Fa…

> It is against our policies for developers to share data without people's consent. Not to mention that it's arguable that "consent" was really given for facebook to share the data in the first place. I'd be interested to see some polling results asking if facebook users knew what facebook was up to and whether they feel OK with it.

These fake consent (EULA, signup clauses) need to be shot down once and for all. Consent needs to be visible, granular, and explicit.

Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#148

Post by jackconnor »

"The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago" What an asshole, if this were true this wouldn't have happened. I liked Zuck until today, now I think he's a lying sack of crap, which probably means he'll make a great politician.

Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#149

Post by prostoalex »

danso wrote: post #97
prostoalex wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of safeguards would you introduce? At the very start of Facebook platform the API would anonymize the user's email address, the app would get an app-specific hash, e.g. abcdefg-app123456@facebook.net It was a working email address with Facebook handling the forwarding. This proved futile as the very first thing that apps then did was to ask users for their real email address.

They could aggressively pursue enforcement and punitive measures. It's not about preventing everything that could possibly go awry, but making it well-known in the developer community that Facebook/Platform has no problem shutting you down if you egregiously break the rules.

I think that's sorta kinda was happening with

> we immediately banned Kogan's app from our platform, and demanded that Kogan and Cambridge Analytica formally certify that they had deleted all improperly acquired data. They provided these certifications.

To generalize the issue, if you were in charge of APIs at some company A and some company B (not necessarily located in your jurisdiction and not necessarily subject to the same legislative framework as you) told you they used to have the data, but deleted it since then, what additional measures would you recommend company A pursue?

Re: Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica situation

#150

Post by uptown »

louthy wrote: post #80
uptown wrote: post #12

Full Text: I want to share an update on the Cambridge Analytica situation -- including the steps we've already taken and our next steps to address this important issue. 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. The good news is that the most important actions t…

> But it was also a breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us and expect us to protect it. We need to fix that. This is so disingenuous. When almost the entire world has a FB account, ‘fixing it’ now is essentially closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. The data has been harvested, it can’t be unharvested. There is no fix. Personally, I’m disgusted that my data has prob…

"Personally, I’m disgusted that my data has probably been compromised just because I have some less technically astute friends who sign up for these idiotic apps."

Now just imagine what happens to your contact info when your friend links their email account or their address book to "find their friends" on all of these services?

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