Facebook has been under the spotlight for the release of user information to a British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica. It was discovered that up to 87 million, mostly U.S., Facebook users were affected by this data breach. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, is under heavy scrutiny at Capitol Hill to explain how Facebook manages and tracks user data.
Facebook shares dropped almost 18 percent in the 10 days after the news broke on March 17. An online “#DeleteFacebook” movement drew some high-profile support, though Zuckerberg says there’s been no “meaningful impact” on Facebook’s business.
What Actually Happened
Cambridge Analytica (CA) uses data, including Facebook and other online services, to target hyper-specific ads to voters, which is known as “psychographic” targeting or modeling.
Cambridge University researcher named Aleksandr Kogan had designed Quiz app called “thisisyourdigitallife” and obtained permission to access user account data and information about the friends of each person who downloaded the app. The app collected information about users’ identities, friend networks and “likes.” People who used app gave Kogan FB information like public profile, friends list, birthday, page likes, same for friends’ whose settings allowed sharing (public).
The information collected by Kogan was then sold to Cambridge Analytica, which was a violation of Facebook’s terms. Facebook then asked CA to delete the data. However, Cambridge Analytica’s confirmation of data deletion now seems untrue. Facebook did not audit the company and did not tell anyone about the issue.
What the Facebook users need to know
- No credit card information or Social Security Numbers were shared
- Facebook took steps in 2014 to stop it from happening again. The changes included restricted apps’ access to data even further.
- Facebook has removed a feature that let users enter phone numbers or email addresses into Facebook’s search tool to find other people.
- The company also will make it easier for users to adjust their privacy settings.
How can you avoid the concerns around data privacy
Before we get into the how, you need to understand that tracking users for ad-targeting purposes is a standard industry practice. Have you ever searched for something on google and noticed that ads related to your search results have shown up other websites you visited? This is how the tech giants can afford to provide free services while being profitable. You need to understand that when you install an app on your iPhone, you give it access to some information, just like when you login with FB.
In most cases, the user’s private information (e.g. name, contact, birthday) is not used for advertisement purposes. This is where Facebook is different than other companies as it is a social network with complex algorithms and third party involvement. If you would like your data to be private and secure, this is how you can avoid the concerns around data privacy:
- Make sure to enable private or friends only sharing in your privacy settings so that your data is not available publically for third party apps. Facebook provides control over data use via settings for Public vs Private vs Friends sharing.
- Check your privacy settings for your activity and how people can find and contact you
- Check your ad preferences if you do not want advertisers to reach out to you based on information you’ve provided on your profiles.
- Read the disclaimer and user agreement before installing any third party apps (e.g. games, surveys, polls).
- Check Apps and Websites settings as they can request info you chose to share with them. Remove any unnecessary websites and apps that you do not use.
To update your privacy settings go to:
- Facebook > Settings > Privacy
- Facebook > Settings > Apps and Websites
- Facebook > Settings > Ads
If you enjoy the free online services provided by companies like Google and Facebook, then you have to accept the fact that your online data will be shared with publishers to serve/target advertisements. It is a compromise that I am willing to make in exchange for some amazing services that I receive from these companies. In the case of Facebook, you have to be aware of privacy settings that work best for your needs. If you take the steps identified in this post, you should not have to worry about data privacy when using Facebook.
I am officially a tech addict and enjoy providing my views on matters related to this industry. I am always interested in trying out new tech gadgets and I have owned multiple smartphones including the legendary HTC One, SGS2, Nexus 4, iPhone 4, 5S, 6S, XR, Note 9. You can ask me any tech related questions in the comment section or on twitter @hookedNav