A Facebook initiative denote last yr design to generate “ sovereign , credible research about the purpose of societal medium in elections ” is faltering , BuzzFeedreportedthis week , summon multiple sources with knowledge of the program and its participants . According to Facebook ’s former principal security officeholder , reporters who get across the company ’s Cambridge Analytica scandal are at least partially to blame .
Alex Stamos , who manage certificate at Facebook when news show first break about the malicious gossip last yr , criticized BuzzFeed and “ other outlets ” over what he called “ mad reportage on privacy , ” say the media reporting of Facebook’snumerous privacy violationshas been geared all along toward hamper its ability to deal data point for lawful research .
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1164934732481585153
Alex Stamos speaks at WIRED25 Festival on 18 January 2025 in San Francisco.Photo: Phillip Faraone / Getty
“ If the misuse of an API by an academic is consider the greatest concealment dirt in the history of the internet , how do you think the companies are going to treat future pedantic research ? ” he asked , refer to Aleksandr Kogan , the data scientists whose app , “ thisisyourdigitallife , ” gather up the Facebook substance abuser data later on acquired by Cambridge Analytica . ( BuzzFeed ’s story notably does not mention Cambridge Analytica once . )
Stamos ’ characterization of the scandal as “ abuse of an API by an pedantic ” misrepresent the fact that Facebook on purpose designed a organisation in which a individual exploiter was authorized to go for to the going of datum belong to thousands of other users . Thanks to Facebook , while only a few hundred thousand mass downloaded Kogan ’s app , Cambridge Analytica was able-bodied to acquire data on some 86 million others , all of whom never tally to take part in Kogan ’s enquiry .
This practice bear on during Stamos ’ term of office at Facebook , as described bya New York Times storylast year , which Stamos took shots at on Friday , saying it “ entirely misrepresent[ed ] normal industriousness practices like 3rd company clients . ” The story , which relied on inner documents generated in 2017 , described how Facebook allow company like Microsoft and Amazon to get to the name and contact lens info of users ’ friends without their consent .
https://gizmodo.com/facebook-discloses-cambridge-analytica-email-it-fought-1837511179
This system behind Facebook ’s $ 50 billion business makes it a liability for any user to “ friend ” another . There ’s simply no way to be sure which friends will agree to surrender one ’s personal information . And that ’s an inducement for the company not to make its information - sharing practice session too apparent , which is why its privacy configurations do n’t speculate how they truly serve . ( As part of its recent$5 billion settlement with the FTC , Facebook agreed to begin inquire substance abuser ’ permission before sharing their data beyond what ’s specified in its privacy setting . )
accord to Stamos , this is just a “ normal ” diligence pattern , and any effort to glint a light on the finer details of Facebook ’s operations only serve to negatively sensationalize its behavior . Facebook is now too afraid to turn over over its data to give researchers a honest look at how its platform affect popular election around the world — something chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg called “ crazy ” after the 2016 election — and , per Stamos , the medium is to fault .
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1164941633973997568
BuzzFeed ’s tech and business editor in chief , John Paczkowski , respond to Stamos ’ criticism by calling out “ a decade of neglect for exploiter privacy and a profound lack of transparency about how our personal data is being used , ” citing among other examples , Facebook ’s endeavor to lift substance abuser data through promotion of its “ privacy ” product , Onavo .
Onavo , spyware masquerading as a practical individual meshing ( VPN ) , was marketed to Facebook users as a mean to “ protect ” their accounts . In reality , it granted the company access to a wealth of private information — datum which most VPNs are proud to advertise they do not collect — including daily wireless local area connection usage and cellular data . The app also accumulate information on other apps tend on the exploiter ’s speech sound , i.e. , Facebook competitors like Snapchat . Nevertheless , Facebook presented the app as a fashion for users to keep their personal information secure .
Onavo remain by far one of the most grotesque attempts by Facebook to strip its drug user ’ data for marketing intention , and it was reportedlyejected from the Apple App Storespecifically on that base almost exactly a class ago to the day .
While Stamos has retrospectively criticized Facebook ’s use of Onavoin the past tense , he was notably the party ’s most elderly official in direction of security measures oversight and compliance when Facebook decided to start publicise Onavo to user in the Facebook app . It was still running last year on the daylight he foreswear the company . Still , maybe he conceive that , too , is somehow BuzzFeed ’s fault .
Update , 6 post-mortem examination : Stamos sent Gizmodo the following :
I ’m not indisputable it would be proper to say that I ’m ‘ entail ’ the media . I am happy [ BuzzFeed ’s Craig Silverman ] wrote the piece , because I really want SS1 to put to work out and for differential - privacy based solutions to academic research to become the standard . The trouble is that most of the media reportage reflects the larger social issue : we do n’t know how open we need these companies to be or how to define ‘ public ’ .
I think the coverage of data protection publication at Buzzfeed and elsewhere almost never sing about the tradeoffs .
Stamos remain :
“ Yes , I think Onavo should not exist and that [ Facebook ] should not have bought them , ” adding : “ ‘ I do n’t care Facebook for these other thing ’ does not interchange the introductory trade - offs with SS1 and other attempts by academics to analyse what ’s occur on the worldly concern ’s largest societal internet . ”
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