Page 41 - English Tehelka Issue 7 - April 15, 2018

social media

Facebook Data-Leak: No darkness of scandal; they are now book post, where he said, “We have out in a few days. The primary ac-
a responsibility to protect your data, cused, Alexander Kogan, a research
as sweet as pie and as pure as gold.
associate at the University of Cam-
and if we cannot, then we don‘t de-
Suddenly the company‘s owner-
bridge, said, “I notified the Facebook
serve to serve you.” A very touchy
ship has come under the spotlight.
Hacking, Only Callosity In the US, the famous Mercer fam- and emotional note indeed! of my actions. But they didn’t take
any action.”
But it does not end his trouble.
ily backs it. This family is a staunch
In 2014, Kogan had used an offi-
Zuckerberg’s friend and one-time
Donald Trump supporter. In the
UK, it is linked with the SCL group.
Brian Acton also joins the “#Delete-
velopers and he changed the terms
Immediately after the data leak the partner, WhatsApp co-founder cial Facebook Inc. platform for de-
The Facebook data leak exposes only the tip of the iceberg. Due to the massive impact of Theresa May government has come Facebook” movement. A vehement and conditions. He claimed that he
force of deleting Facebook accounts
changed his “app” form research
out sharply and claimed they have
information technology and the data-deluge, it is now increasingly difficult to keep track of no contracts with SCL group now. gains momentum with Acton‘s par- to “commercial” purpose. He said-
big data and most cases of data leaks and breaches go unreported, sanjib sinha writes But in the past, the UK government ticipation. WhatsApp was bought something is true although it has
had worked with it. Not only that, by Facebook for $17 billion in 2014. not been proved and other people
the company was given access to Acton left WhatsApp in the last year. may not believe it. According to him,
arvard Business Review mation of tens of millions of users! of not only people who used those the confidential documents. At that He tweeted, “It’s time #DeleteFace- Facebook at that time didn’t object
once named it “The Sex- It happened because Facebook programs but of their friends as time this company worked with the book”. Several media outlets are to his actions. Did Facebook know
iest Job of the 21st Cen- kept their app permissions open for well. Why didn’t Facebook respect ministry of defense. It happened publishing guides of ‘how to perma- it at all? The chief operating officer
tury”. The sexiest job, I such exercise. Now the question is their users? Why didn‘t they step up while both the Labour and the Con- nently delete Facebook account’. of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg, while
H mean the job of a ‘data will they stop this from happening to limit the developer‘s access to the servative parties were in power. Facebook failed to protect user’s sharing Zuckerberg’s post, wrote in
scientist’, is under fire now. again? sensitive information of people who At first, Facebook didn’t say a data, so lawsuit followed. A com- her account, “We know that this was
It’s a ‘Bleak House’ scenario. Now Cambridge Analytica is a pri- were faithful users of this social me- word. They suspended Kogan‘s ac- plaint was filed in the US district a major violation of people‘s trust,
a data scientist, one of the richest vate company. They used nearly dia giant for years? Who will answer count. And those of Cambridge Ana- court in San Jose. Several will fol- and I deeply regret that we didn‘t do
men in the world and owner of Fa- fifty million Facebook users’ private those questions? lytica and SCL. They also conducted low seeking damages. It’s a tough enough to deal with it.”
cebook, and a scandalous-data-firm data without their knowledge and At least Cambridge Analytica a forensic audit and a reputed secu- time ahead for Mark Zuckerberg. But this candid confession is
are all at loggerheads over an issue consent. What have they done with will not answer them. They have rity firm Stroz Friedberg has actu- No doubt. After the data harvesting not enough. The sizable storm is
that involves nearly fifty million the data? They used that data to rig fired CEO Alexander Nix. As if, hav- ally been auditing it since the leak. was revealed, the drop in Facebook about to break all over the world.
Facebook users! These tens of mil- and swing elections. Yes, it’s a part of ing fired him, they have emerged Finally, Zuckerberg broke the share price was evident. Nearly 50 In the US, consumer body Federal
lions of users have been affected in their big-data-business. The former into the bright sunlight from the five-day silence. He wrote a Face- billion of market value was wiped Trade Commission has opened an
this massive data-leak. Their per- head of that disgraceful company, investigation into whether Face-
sonal and most sensitive informa- Alexander Nix, boasted that they book violated a privacy agreement.
tion has been used for commercial had manipulated votes in Nigeria. Australia’s Information and Pri-
purpose — to rig and swing elec- They were active in US election This is not a case vacy Commission have demanded
tions. Maybe, you are one of the af- and took part in “Crooked Hillary of data breach. that Facebook provide information
fected! The fall-out is intensifying as Campaign.” on whether any Australian was af-
the “#DeleteFacebook” movement But how did they get that big-da- No one hacked fected by this unauthorized use of
gains momentum. ta? Yes, another Alexander, this time into Facebook profile data. Israel’s Privacy Protec-
Facebook is subjected to attack Alexander Kogan, a psychologist tion Agency has already started an
from every quarter now. The ques- working at Cambridge University, accounts and stole investigation.
tion is how a data-firm, Cambridge had supplied it to them. Turing award winner Jim Gray
Analytica, has used Facebook us- It’s not ethical, we know that. the passwords once imagined data science as a
ers’ private data in various political Technologically it’s a little bit creepy of nearly fifty “fourth paradigm” of science. Be-
campaigns. The scandal attacks a also. Standards of morality, where sides empirical, theoretical, and
variety of segments in our society. open source technology is involved, million users. In computational, now, science is data-
Now, one of the world’s best uni- seem to be dropping. Technol - fact Facebook driven. Everything about science is
versity (unexpectedly the name co- ogy can not live with the shame of changing. Because of this massive
incides) — University of Cambridge other people mishandling the users’ allowed apps to impact of information technology
— also comes under fire for allow- data without their knowledge and access sensitive and the data-deluge, it is now in-
ing its staff psychologist Alexander consent. creasingly difficult to keep track of
Kogan to collate the ‘Big Data’ over You cannot call it a data-breach. information of big data. However, this represents
the years. Kogan has been accused No one hacked into Facebook ac- people who used only the tip of the iceberg since as
of leaking the data for commercial counts and stole the passwords of many as most of the data-breach
use and Facebook has been accused nearly fifty million users. Actually, it those programs cases go unreported.
of incompetence. They allowed was Facebook; it allowed their apps and of their friends
Kogan to play with sensitive infor- to access the sensitive information letters@tehelka.com

tehelka / 15 april 2018 40 www.tehelka.com tehelka / 15 april 2018 41 www.tehelka.com

40-41 Sanjib Sinha.indd 2-3 30/03/18 3:25 PM