Facebook Gave More Than 150 Companies, Including Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify, Amazon and Yahoo, Unprecedented Access To Users' Personal Data: NYT (buzzfeednews.com) 114
The New York Times obtained hundreds of pages of Facebook documents which were generated in 2017 that show that the social network considered these companies business partners and effectively exempted them from its privacy rules. From a report: Facebook allowed Microsoft's search engine Bing to see the names of nearly all users' friends without their consent, let Spotify, Netflix, and the Royal Bank of Canada read, write, and delete users' private messages, and see participants on a thread, allowed Amazon to get users' names and contact information through their friends, and let Yahoo view streams of friends' posts "as recently as this summer" despite publicly claiming it had stopped sharing such information a year ago, the report said. Collectively, applications made by these technology companies sought the data of hundreds of millions of people a month.
The records also show that Russian search giant Yandex, which was accused last year by Ukraine's security service for giving user data to Kremlin, also had access to Facebook's unique user IDs in 2017. A Yandex spokeswoman told the Times that the company was unaware of the access to user data provided by Facebook. Yandex did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment. In response to the report, Steve Satterfield, Facebook's Director of Privacy and Public Policy defended the actions of the social network.
The records also show that Russian search giant Yandex, which was accused last year by Ukraine's security service for giving user data to Kremlin, also had access to Facebook's unique user IDs in 2017. A Yandex spokeswoman told the Times that the company was unaware of the access to user data provided by Facebook. Yandex did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment. In response to the report, Steve Satterfield, Facebook's Director of Privacy and Public Policy defended the actions of the social network.
If it's free, you're the product (Score:1)
Of course they did. If you put anything on Facebook you better be ok with everyone seeing it eventually.
Re: If it's free, you're the product (Score:4, Insightful)
There used to be a time when anyone logging into a BBS was presented with a notice as required by law that nothing on the system was to be considered private and you were advised not to treat it as such. The impression I had at the time was that this was Legally enforceable. We may be able to apply those older laws to the current iteration of message boards. Should be interesting.
tl;dr;
This generation has never had a sufficient level of distrust instilled at an early age.
Re: (Score:2)
The impression I had at the time was that this was Legally enforceable.
Reading comprehension for the win. The key word here is 'impression'.
I was on from the late 80's and there's still some around. I Modded WWIV and did a lot of interesting configuration with Renegade. TW2000 Was my favorite door game of the age. No small wonder I play a lot of Eve Online now.
Re: (Score:3)
There used to be a time when anyone logging into a BBS was presented with a notice as required by law that nothing on the system was to be considered private and you were advised not to treat it as such. The impression I had at the time was that this was Legally enforceable. We may be able to apply those older laws to the current iteration of message boards. Should be interesting.
tl;dr; This generation has never had a sufficient level of distrust instilled at an early age.
I was not on Facebook for many years. Why? Because I actually read the terms and conditions for joining. At the time (I haven't gone back to check recently) it said that anything you post on Facebook belongs to you, but as long as it is on the site Facebook can use it for absolutely anything whatsoever. By signing up you are giving Facebook carte blanche to do anything they please with the information you put on the site.
Like you point out, the fact that people are surprised or upset by whatever Faceboo
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Educated people don't use facebook. Those people that use it even after been told what is going on are just not that smart.
I know, I know...you consider yourself intelligent but somehow you are forced to use it because work or family or cat pictures. Not smart.
Re: (Score:2)
Bad habit, but that's just me.
Facebook is a handy place / way to keep in touch with people (if that's your thing) so I can understand how more gregarious people (yes even the smart ones) use it.
Just don't expect any sort of privacy whatsoever when using it and act appropriately.
Facebook didn't "Give" anyone anything. (Score:2)
They sold it.
Well that explains it (Score:5, Funny)
I was wondering why Netflix started to bring up a video category "Shows for People Who Wear Blue Underwear on Fridays".
Re: (Score:2)
#deletefacebook
same ole, same ole (Score:2)
ad $ $,$$$,$$$,000,000
Re: (Score:2)
Zuck sucks
Difficulty to manage at a young age. He might not be that bad, but with that high level of responsibilities and that low level of experience he is more prone to other people influence, people who care more about blind profit (they're paid by the company) than ideas and ethics (more the CEO side).
Re: same ole, same ole (Score:1)
No shit. That's their business. (Score:5, Informative)
That's why people who know what Facebook does couldn't believe the uproar over the Cambridge Analytics "scandal." Selling user data is what facebook does.
Well, they sometimes sell and they sometimes give it away as they did when they learned Obama's team sucked "the whole social graph." Not only didn't they stop Obama's team, they actively helped them afterward.
Yeah, this'll be modded down, but it's all true.
Re:No shit. That's their business. (Score:5, Interesting)
"...and the Royal Bank of Canada read, write, and delete users' private messages..."
That's the problem. These companies have more administration rights over your profile than the owner does.
If you don't want to be dragged into courts by the techno-police you'd better not be writing about bombs and stuff on your Facebook feed. This is basically saying that these companies can write whatever they want into your IMs. The potential for abuse is quite staggering.
In any other jurisdiction this is called wiretapping, and it's expressly illegal.
Don't use Facebook. Get off of Facebook. These companies are pure scum out for profit above even human decency.
Re: (Score:2)
The Business model (Score:4, Insightful)
Someone had to be sharing that data. How else is every service so perfectly in sync? These stories about Facebook handing out data, collecting data, and correlating data are simply stories about how Facebook operates.
--
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. - James Madison
They're all US intelligence front companies (Score:1)
Everything makes sense when you see them for what they actually are.
Accused by Ukraines security services (Score:1)
That's like, a trademark of quality, man. Nothing beats integrity and professionalizm of the Ukrainian security services.
Just shows... (Score:4, Interesting)
And the Goog isn't listed. Which only means Google knows more about you than the bookface, and so wouldn't gain anything from their data.
Re:Just shows... (Score:4, Insightful)
Or google and fb have more animosity towards one another than google vs apple (something about direct competitors?)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: Cambridge? (Score:2)
Because people draw a distinction between product ads and political ads. The law does too, for that matter.
An ad company (Score:2)
Whats paying for the services offered? Ads and the way the users interact.
Re: (Score:3)
Whats paying for the services offered? Ads and the way the users interact.
Users are the product and the ads are the service they offer to their customers.
Ads don't require handing out users' data. Counter (Score:5, Interesting)
Showing ads doesn't require giving Microsoft data dumps of all the users' data. In fact, that's counter-productive to selling ads to Microsoft. Facebook could:
A) get Microsoft to pay every month to have Facebook run ads using the profile data that only Facebook has
B) Get one payment from Microsoft and hand over the data, the golden goose, allowing Microsoft to run and target their own ads without Facebook
It seems Facebook chose option B.
Google does option A. Google collects as much information as they can from you, because it's very valuable to them in order to be able to target ads for their customers. The data they have on users is their biggest asset, so they guard it. They don't hand out data dumps to competitors, as Facebook has been doing, and as many marketers used to do before Google took over the industry by keeping the valuable data in-house, secret.
Re: (Score:2)
The user is always the product been sold for a "free" service
evil company is evil (Score:2)
well, surprise surprise!
when are you guys going to FINALLY make good on your promise to delete this crap from your lives?
you can email anyone who is on FB; you wont lose contact.
just leave that godforsaken place, already!
the longer you stay, the more rope you give them. why empower those bastards? they could not care less about you. and you don't need them, either.
grow a pair. leave FB.
Re: (Score:3)
well, surprise surprise!
when are you guys going to FINALLY make good on your promise to delete this crap from your lives?
I never joined facebook and found that the friends I make are the ones I share an interest with. The other thing I've found is that when I see people I haven't seen for a while there is plenty to talk and ask them about themselves.
Talking about cutting out things I cut TV out back in 2013, I do binge watch Netflix occasionally with my wife though. Cutting out commercials dropped a noticeable amount of stress in my life, they're a waste of attention.
The point I'm making is that, from someone who was
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, they're [sociopathic] (evil is a child's word) but email solves a different problem than social media. This is just axiomatic - everybody had email before social media arose. There are CS terms for the collection of services social media provides, but that's not the main point here; email does not.
The problem is ISP bans on "running servers". Everything Facebook does is possible (and better) in a fully distributed manner but governments grant service monopolies and then allow them to impose a "no se
cyberstalking as a business model (Score:5, Interesting)
Creepy Faceboot is creepy.
That much _everyone_ knows by now. Including those people who for social or business purposes continue to use Faceboot.
It's time for Congress to ban cyberstalking as a business model. One way to do that would be too impose very high (instant bankruptcy high) mandatory fines for data spillage. And require that data hoarders be _fully insured_ against the maximum fine. Let the insurance companies take care of the rest.
Death to Facebook (Score:2)
What will it take? (Score:2)
I fail to see why we are (Score:2)
Just my 2 cents
Irony (Score:1)
The article is hidden behind a privacy invasion wall where you can't simply say no do not track
Let's be clear (Score:2)
They didn't "give" anyone anything.
They sold it. That has always been their model.
How precisely did you think zuckerberg got to be one of the world's richest men ?
Privacy Chernobyl is upon us (Score:3)
Actually that's not a great analogy, in privacy terms this is even worse than the quasi-sabotage of Chernobyl, but the damage is worse than Chernobyl, Fukushima and Kyshtym combined.
Everyone involved in this should be banned from working with personal information for life, and a concrete sarcophagus should be built over Facebook HQ.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually that's not a great analogy, in privacy terms this is even worse than the quasi-sabotage of Chernobyl, but the damage is worse than Chernobyl, Fukushima and Kyshtym combined.
No, it isn't. Privacy laws can be revised however civilizations can rise and fall in the amount of time that those radio isotopes have decayed through their daughter products.
Everyone involved in this should be banned from working with personal information for life, and a concrete sarcophagus should be built over Facebook HQ.
What do you personally do? Do you write to a congress critter expressing your outrage? Do you read proposed bad laws and try to stop them from passing? Did you lobby your representatives to work in your interests?
No, you just keep whining and hoping someone else will defend your freedom and rights. Get used to disappointment, I
Re: (Score:2)
I'm still using Facebook as much as before, which is 0 because I don't have an account.
Radioisotopes decay but the Internet never forgets.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm still using Facebook as much as before, which is 0 because I don't have an account.
ok good, a least you are not a hypocrite - Apologies if I was a bit harsh there however it seems like there are a lot of people prepared to join outrage culture without doing anything to change the situation. I too have never signed onto FB.
Radioisotopes decay but the Internet never forgets.
This is a belief system that is being subverted and used against us. Our truth is that it is gradually being used as a tool to enslave us. I'm more inclined to believe that everything on the internet is a lie until it can be aligned with what is known to be true.
Unfor
Re: (Score:2)
>civilizations can rise and fall in the amount of time that those radio isotopes have decayed through their daughter products. Oh come off it. Chernobyl is already safe enough that flora and fauna in the region are flourishing in the absence of humanity. So what, 30 years between an absurdly enormous nuclear disaster resulting from total incompetence on every level, and the site becoming an accidental wildlife preserve? That's a far cry from the tends of thousands of years+ anti-nukes are always whining about.
Well go help clean up Fukushima. Oh that's right you're full of it and you don't know what you're talking about.
It turns out that radiation is quite common, so all organisms are at least somewhat durable against it.
Another moron that doesn't know the difference between radiashun and radionuclides, is too mentally limited to attempt to understand bio-accumulation in the food chain and continues to ignore the difference between internal and external radiation exposure.
Fuck off idiot.
If you aren't paying for it (Score:2)
you are the product. Why are people still so surprised by this?
Heck, you get people here at /. who are incensed that you actually have to pay full price for Apple products.
I don't understand (Score:3)
I don't understand. When you have a company like Facebook, making BILLIONS of dollars from aboveboard, legit, standard advertising, why are they stooping so low to totally thrash user privacy for.... what? Another fraction of a percent additional revenue? This hints at some god-complex thing going on in the upper echelons of Facebook for these kinds of LARGE decisions to be made with other big corporations. My hunch this is for status symbol / power demonstration to show off to other multimillionaire executives the power you wield.
The more we learn about Facebook... (Score:2)
Throw another log on the fire (Score:2)
Yet another reason to not have a Facebook account.
(or delete yours if you have one)
Re: Bible predicted it (Score:5, Interesting)
Both of you are incorrect in various ways. The Kingdom of Israel refers to the descendants of Jacob, in the twelve tribes of Israel. These tribes were divided into the ten northern tribes, which were dispersed into Asia when the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, and the two southern tribes, which were the Kingdom of Judah. The southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were conquered and put into captivity by the Babylonians. During this conquest, Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
However, the tribes of Benjamin and Judah returned from captivity and rebuilt the temple that was previously destroyed. The second temple is sometimes referred to as Herod's Temple, because of renovations that were supported by Herod the Great. The Kingdom of Judah lasted until 70 AD, when after a rebellion against Roman rule starting in 66 AD, Jerusalem and the second temple were destroyed. That marks the end of the Kingdom of Judah.
The tribes of Benjamin and Judah can be referred to as Jews, since the word Jew is derived from the name of the tribe of Judah. The tribes of Benjamin and Judah date back more than 3,000 years ago before kings David and Solomon. However, they are generally referred to as Israelites, along with the ten northern tribes, prior to the northern tribes being conquered by the Assyrians.
Regarding Jesus being a Jew, that's misleading. Jesus did observe many Jewish traditions such as Passover. However, it was Pilate, a Roman, who proclaimed Jesus as the "King of the Jews. This is recognized the form of the INRI inscription at the top of a crucifix, and was also something the Jews objected to. The Jews considered Jesus to be a false Messiah, and a particularly damaging one at that. In Christianity, Jesus established a new covenant and offered salvation to both Jews and Gentiles, superseding the previous covenant rather than continuing it. A Jew in the present day would be one who believes in the Messianic prophecies, but believes they have yet to be fulfilled. And i haven't a clue what those beliefs have to do with the business practices of Facebook.
Re: (Score:2)
" it was Pilate, a Roman, who proclaimed Jesus as the "King of the Jews. "
To add to the depth of this discussion, Pilate probably came to that because Jesus was claimed to be the 'Son of God', calling God 'Father', a blasphemy to the ruling Jewish authorities, Pharisees and Sadducees. The declared Him deserving of death, but being proscribed from executing criminals etc, gave Him to the Romans, claiming He was leading a rebellion against the Roman authority. Close, that description.
Of course, Jesus actually
Re: (Score:2)
Stay anonymous. It suits you.
Jesus followed al jewish teachings (Score:2)
He said it himself, at no less a venue than the Sermon on the mounts
Matthew 5:17–18
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
SO if he walks like a jew and quacks like a jew, he's a jew right?
Re: Just (Score:1)
Why does this company still exist? Why is it even allowed to exist?