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How to Protect Your Privacy & Identity on Facebook – Part 2

April 18, 2018 by Andy Thompson

In our Part 1 article we covered news related to the Facebook privacy scandal. In Part 2, we will emphasize what you can do.  We’ll provided three best-practice recommendation for protecting your identity and privacy.

Our Private Data

As Facebook users we accept the privacy policies when we sign on.  For the most part we don’t even read over the extensive policy pages.  Instead we set up our account and enter data related to our personal lives.  We understand in the process this information gets recorded and stored.

Take Action:

We recommend that you get a clear idea of how much and what kind of data Facebook collects on you.  Check out the “Data In” section of our previous article for directions on accessing the data Facebook has collected from you.

Facebook is a free service and we can expect that they make revenue by providing our data to advertisers.  What many of us are not aware of is that they pass on our data to third party developers and organizations.

This is why we can sign on to a new app or online service using our Facebook login.  Right away they can access our data so that it is easier for us to create a new account with the third party app rather than having to enter all the personal information they require once again.

But what kinds of control are in place once our data leaves the hands of Facebook?  What kind of regulations are there to protect our privacy and information?  This is what Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has to address.

Facebook Updates

In the past Facebook has revised its privacy policies.  However, these previous revisions have been toward openness and sharing rather than protection of privacy.  Unfortunately, “…they were optimizing for profitability rather than security and privacy of their members” says David Kirkpatrick author of the Facebook Effect.[1]

Zuckerberg’s promise at the beginning of this year was to fix Facebook in 2018 – this is no small task.  In fact, he has stated that fixing the company’s problems will take years.

Presently, users are informing users in their News Feed if they’re among the millions of people whose data was improperly harvested by Cambridge Analytica.

Other changes we can expect in the near future: [2]

  • Users will receive notice of all apps they use and what data is shared with those apps.  They then have a chance to delete apps they no longer want.
  • Facebook will restrict access to certain data that applications can acquire.
  • The option to search for users by entering a phone number or an email address will be removed.
  • Facebook will set out to delete all logs after a year and only time of calls will be collected.
  • New policy will also make users aware that WhatsApp and Instagram are part of Facebook and that the companies share information about users.  WhatsApp will still have a separate policy while Facebook and Instagram continue to share one.

Free

Whenever something is offered for free we need to ask: how is this business generating revenue?  Some companies offer a trial license for their software as a means to test drive the service.  Others rely on donation.

In the case of Facebook, it is free to users but there are associated costs.  Not only does Facebook sell data to advertisers who then place ads that are targeted to meet our purchasing preferences, they also harvests our data for app developers as well.

Surveillance Capitalism:

One term being used in many news sources related to this Facebook scandal is “surveillance capitalism”.  Shoshana Zuboff, Harvard Business School professor states that it drives much of the internet.

It’s behind most of the “free” services, and many of the paid ones as well.  It utilizes psychological manipulation in the form of personalized advertising to persuade you to buy something or do something, like vote for a candidate.

“…while Facebook is one of the biggest players in this space, there are thousands of other companies that spy on and manipulate us for profit.” [3]

We need lawmakers to force these companies into the public spotlight and to enforce lawful conduct.

Regulation

Although Facebook is in the process of change and updates we need to ask: how is it possible to keep private data secure after it’s sold to third parties?  Facebook has admitted that it is impossible to monitor what these third parties do with the data once it is out of their hands.  However, Mark Zuckerberg has said that his industry should be regulated.

At present he is facing Congress and has delivered an apology and is answering questions.  But what will be the outcome of this?  What about past regulation?  Zuckerberg has stated they regularly testify before Congress on a number of topics.

In 2011, Facebook offered privacy assurances in a settlement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).  Allowing Cambridge Analytica to harvest data could be a violation of that settlement.  The ability to transfer the data of users’ friends should have been banned with the 2011 consent.  But what is the FTC going to do to enforce existing regulations?

Turning Up The Heat:

In 2016, the European Union passed the comprehensive General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.  One mandate restricts collection of personal data of EU citizens to be only saved for “specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes” and only with user consent.

This means, consent cannot be buried in the terms and conditions.

This law will take effect in May and companies worldwide are paying attention.  It is expected that this will expose the industry like nothing else.  In preparation for this law, PayPal published a list of companies it might share your personal data with – over 600 companies.

 Best Practices – Privacy at Stake

There is no doubt that privacy of information is at stake.

It’s essential that we throttle back on what information we make available online and what data is stored on our PC.  Here are our recommendations.

    1. We recommend the privacy functionality associated with PC Cleaner. By using the available functionality you can see all the personal and private data you have on your PC which could be accessed by illegitimate means.
    1. When on a public Wi-Fi network, we highly recommend not sharing out any sensitive data. Even downloading records online from a public location or terminal can leave your data vulnerable to hacks.
  1. If you decide to delete your Facebook account, consider the following:
    • You will need to sever all ties with Facebook including Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Your data can be shared with these apps and policies are similar or, as with Facebook and Instagram, shared.
    • Any apps that you “log in using Facebook“ will no longer work and you will have to enter your log in credentials for these.
    • Delete all Facebook instances from all devices including your mobile ones. Make sure you delete and not deactivate.  Use this link from Facebook.
    • Do not even attempt to log in to Facebook for at least two weeks or you will cancel the account deletion process.

Last Comment

We started out this two part series asking a question of what to do as a Facebook user.  Undoubtedly, the data breach has been the final straw for some and these users are choosing to delete.

Do we throw the baby out with the bath water?

We need to acknowledge that there are positive online developments, and we need to take an active role in shaping it.

With respect to the baby / bath water analogy – we certainly can agree the bath water is dirty!

As for the baby – in the case of social media technology – we need to closely examine if it’s being overfed.

“…the thing we need to understand now,” Shoshana Zuboff states, “is that the online world, which used to be our world, is now where capitalism is developing in new ways.”

[1] http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/09/technology/

[2] https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/

[3] https://www.schneier.com/

Filed Under: Blog, online security, Online Share, Windows tips Tagged With: Facebook, online identity, online security, privacy, security breach

Facing the Truth – Facebook & Privacy

April 7, 2018 by Andy Thompson

Feeling connected is fundamental to the human experience – feeling part of the whole.  What better way to do that then from the privacy of our home?  We pick and choose when and where and for how long we want to connect when using online social media.

In a previous article we examined Facebook and pointed out its allure.  We listed the aspects of this “free” service and we identified “Likes” and “Dislikes”.  Were we too quick to accept at face value, the company’s emphasis on the importance of privacy?

A Bit about Facebook

  • Facebook, launched in 2004, is the most popular online social media and social networking service. It is based in the U.S. and is the creation of Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard friends and roommates.
  • As of June 2017, Facebook reached 2 billion active users.
  • It is a giant in terms of net worth. According to Wikipedia, as of Mar 25, 2018, it is worth US$62.2 billion.
  • Recently the company has faced considerable scrutiny and public pressure in relation to hate speech, fake news, depictions of violence, and privacy.

Recent News

Facebook has been in the news multiple times of late.  With news related to privacy of data, we need to start with Aleksandr Kogan, a University of Cambridge professor, who created a survey filled out by 270,000 people.  In doing so, he was able to access the data of what was reported as more than 50 million Facebook users – recent news has been released whereby Facebook has admitted that upwards of 87 million people were affected by this breach.[1]

While Kogan gained access to this information using legitimate means, via proper channels governing all developers on Facebook, he violated rules related to passing the data to third parties which included Cambridge Analytica.

Zuckerberg was aware of this in 2015.  The action taken at that time was to ban Kogan’s app and demand legal certification from Kogan and others he shared it with.  According to Zuckerberg[2], Cambridge Analtyica completed certification and told Facebook that they actually hadn’t received raw Facebook data at all.  Furthermore, Cambridge Analytica deleted it and weren’t using it.

This reliance on certification turned out to be, as Zuckerberg admits, one of the biggest mistakes made.

Cambridge Analytica:  Is a British political consulting firm established in 2013, that combines data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis along with strategic communication.  They are in part owned by Robert Mercer and Alexander Nix has been the CEO however, this position was suspended after a Channel 4 news segment was broadcasted.  In this he was videotaped in an undercover, hidden camera video interview during which he spoke to someone he believed would use the firm in Sri Lanka for election persuasion purposes.  Nix speaks of creating sex scandals and using fake news to manipulate voters.

Cambridge Analytica has been involved in elections worldwide.  Their executives claim the company has worked in more than 200 elections around the world, including Nigeria, Kenya, the Czech Republic, India, and Argentina.

In 2016 they became involved in the 2016 Brexit referendum by supporting persuadable voters to vote for leaving the EU.  On 18 May 2017, the US Congress began investigation with their connection to Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  Cambridge Analytica worked for Donald Trump’s political campaign but there is some question as to the level of involvement.[3]

Nix has made bold claims and it is uncertain if some statements have been embellished.  He was quoted as saying this in October, 2016:

Today in the United States we have somewhere close to four or five thousand data points on every individual … So we model the personality of every adult across the United States, some 230 million people. [4]

The Data

News reports point to unethical organizations making use of personal data made available by Facebook.  This begs the question: what data do they have on us and how can they use it?

Data In:

As soon as a user signs up, data and information is collected.  This includes all data – conversations, pictures, videos, and even documents sent via Messenger.  Does this surprise you?  Would you want to see what the information on you includes?

Should we be concerned?  If you use Facebook on your phone and your phone is an Android device, or you use Messenger to send attachments… it would be a good idea to take a closer look.

Users are discovering that they can request to have all of their Facebook data in a zip file.  Some are astonished to find that this data can include data on every call made and text sent.  There are users that are discovering that the data held by Facebook includes rental property lease forms, tenant ledger reports, bill statements, and screen shots of bank transfers.[5]


To download your information:

  1. Click the down-pointing triangle at the top right of any Facebook page and select Settings
  2. Click Download a copy of your Facebook data at the bottom of General Account Settings
  3. Click Start My Archive

In about 10 minutes Facebook processes the request and you’ll get an email and notification when the file is ready to download.

Data Out:

Likely no one is surprised to know that our personal data is being used and shared out to advertisers.  Facebook makes money on sharing out data to advertisers and to app developers.  The challenge is that there is no control of how the data is used once passed to these groups.

Indeed the most alarming aspect of Cambridge Analytica’s “breach” is that it wasn’t a breach at all. It happened almost entirely above board and in line with Facebook policy.[6]

World Response

Investigations are ramping up world-wide.

US:   Zuckerberg will testify before Congress.  On April 10, before a joint hearing of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees and the next day before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission are conducting separate investigations. [7]

This is a serious matter as stated by Senator Amy Klobuchar who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The senator will ask him to explain “what Facebook knew about misusing data from 50 million Americans in order to target political advertising and manipulate voters.” [8]

UK:   Damian Collins, chair for the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the House of Commons, questions Facebook user data policies.  “Their answers have consistently understated this risk, and have also been misleading to the Committee,” Collins said. “I will be writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking that either he, or another senior executive from the company, appear to give evidence in front of the Committee as part our inquiry.” [9]

MPs on the digital, culture, media and sport committee have accused Facebook of misleading it in a previous evidence session and called for Mark Zuckerberg to appear before them to answer questions.  They have also recalled Nix. [10]

A U.K. parliamentary media committee summoned CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about how Facebook uses data.  U.K. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is investigating how Cambridge Analytica got the data. [11]

Germany: After a meeting with its executives about the abuse of users’ data, the justice minister of Germany stated she wants closer oversight.

Australia: The Information and Privacy Commission has demanded that Facebook provide information on whether any Australian citizens were affected by unauthorized use of profile data. [12]

The Response:  Zuckerberg is set to testify next week before a U.S. congressional committee, and he said top executives at the company would be dispatched to other countries wanting to hold government hearings on the scandal. [13]

User Response

Zuckerberg has stated that the users affected by the misuse of personal data by Cambridge Analytica will be notified.  To date, this has not yet happened.  There are users that are going to delete Facebook as a result of this news and one of the questions we have posed has been: What is the best course of action with regard to Facebook and social media services?

We invite you to give this some thought and to check in with us next week for our Part 2 edition as we outline what Facebook is doing to correct this wrong and we identify the costs associated with what we thought was a “free” service.

We’ll provide out best practices and recommendations for being active on a social media service like Facebook.  However, we’ll leave it up to you to choose your level of exposure and if posting online personal information is worth the associated costs.

This concludes the first part of our Facebook and Privacy article.

We’ll pick it up next week.  Stay tuned!


[1] https://www.ctvnews.ca/
[2] https://www.wired.com/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/
[4] https://news.sky.com/
[5] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
[6] http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/19/
[7] https://www.ctvnews.ca/
[8] http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/19/
[9] https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/
[10] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/22/
[11] https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/
[12] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/22/
[13] http://www.metronews.ca/life/2018/04/04/

Filed Under: Blog, News, Newsletter, online privacy Tagged With: Facebook, identity, privacy, security, social media

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