Facebook giving open-access to user's data; formed data-sharing partnerships: NYT
Weeks after it was revealed that a British political firm Cambridge Analytica accessed millions of user data on Facebook, the social network company is now through another set of allegations by the New York Times. The NYT yesterday revealed Facebook has formed data-sharing partnerships with 60 device makers, including Apple and Microsoft, giving them access to information of users and even their friends.
Zuckerberg admitted making a huge mistake
In April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had admitted making a "huge mistake" as personal data of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.
Some device makers could get user's friend's data too: NYT
The deals allowed Facebook to expand its reach and let device makers offer customers popular features of Facebook, such as messaging, "like" buttons and address books. The agreements raise "concerns about Facebook's privacy protections and compliance with a 2011 consent decree" with the Federal Trade Commission, NYT's report said. Some device makers could retrieve personal information even from users' friends, The NY Times found.
Facebook defends saying consistent with privacy policies
Facebook, however, defended its data sharing agreements and asserted that these are consistent with its privacy policies, the FTC agreement, and pledges to users. "Unlike developers that provide games and services to Facebook users, the device partners can use Facebook data only to provide versions of 'the Facebook experience'," Ime Archibong, Facebook Vice President told the esteemed news organization.
More and more data collected can be accessed
"The problem is that as more and more data is collected on the device and if it can be accessed by apps on the device it creates serious privacy and security risks," Serge Egelman, a privacy researcher at the University of California, Berkeley said.
