As if losing hundreds of millions of dollars of your net worth wasn’t bad enough, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg may find himself the subject of a hostile takeover. For those that use Facebook but aren’t aware of what’s going on, a company called Cambridge Analytica developed an app that ostensibly would help its users finds compatible people on social media platforms. What it was actually doing was taking that person’s on-line information and that of their friends, and of their friends’ friends, and of their friends’ friends’s friends–until it got profile information on an estimated 50-million people. Cambridge then used that information to target potential voters with pro-Donald Trump (or anti-Hillary Clinton) ads leading up to the 2016 election.
People working for President Obama’s re-election campaign admit they used the same information to micro-target their potential voters in 2012. The only difference is they had permission from Facebook to use the data–as Mark Zuckerberg was a big Obama supporter. Facebook is allowed to share that info because you clicked the “accept” button on the terms of use agreement that nobody has ever actually read. Where Cambridge violated the agreement is that they didn’t ask permission from Facebook to go data mining.
Kim Komando (heard 9 to noon every Saturday here on WOSH) revealed something this past weekend that should really concern us. Re-reading that potential post and deciding against hitting the blue button does not mean Facebook doesn’t know what your wrote. Basically, every keystroke from your computer is saved by the website–even if delete everything or discard the “draft” and it never appears on your page. Those “rejected” thoughts are added to the huge database that Facebook has collected on you–which it is willing to sell to advertizers–and which can be stolen by hackers.
Because this data mining was used for the “nefarious” purpose of electing Donald Trump (as opposed to its use “for good” in election President Obama four years earlier) the Federal Government now wants to get its meaty hooks into Facebook. Zuckerberg will likely be called before Congressional committees to detail how your personal data is collected, how it is sold, and what flimsy protections are in place to prevent another Cambridge Analytica “breach”. Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry–a big-time Hillary Clinton supporter and a hedge fund manager that does not invest in Facebook–is calling for regulation of the site (and other social media outlets).
Once Uncle Sam becomes a “partner” in Facebook, you can pretty much stick a fork in it. First, the tin-foil hat crowd will dump the site because “the Government will have all your information, man”. And if the Feds place new limits on what info Facebook can share with its potential advertisers, companies will see less value in the social media platform, causing revenues to whither and die. Data thieves will be forced to move on too–likely to Alexa and Siri–who hear everything you say in the privacy of your own home.
