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Cambridge Analytica files for bankruptcy in the US
Earlier this month, Cambridge Analytica closed up shop saying at the time that media coverage of how it came to obtain 87 million Facebook users' information had driven away nearly all of its customers and it was, therefore, "no longer viable" to operate. The company also said that it would be filing for bankruptcy, and now it has. Reuters reports that Cambridge Analytica filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday.
Mark Zuckerberg agrees to EU meetings a day after ditching the UK
Today, Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, announced that Mark Zuckerberg will meet with representatives of the European Parliament. "The founder and CEO of Facebook has accepted our invitation and will be in Brussels as soon as possible, hopefully already next week, to meet the leaders of the political groups and the Chair and the Rapporteur of the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE)," Tajani said in a statement. It should be noted that this is a meeting, not a public hearing, which is what the EU originally requested.
Whistleblower: Cambridge Analytica couldn’t work with Democrats
Although Cambridge Analytica (CA) is preparing to shut down, US Congress isn't done trying to get answers about the firm's tactics to harvest online user data for political research. Today, in the latest chapter of a matter that has affected up to 87 million Facebook users, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding another hearing, titled "Cambridge Analytica and the Future of Data Privacy." One of the people testifying before the panel of senators is none other than whistleblower Christopher Wylie, the former director of research at CA who helped break the story earlier this year. In written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Wylie said that what he bore witness to during his time at CA, between 2013 and 2014, should alarm everyone.
NYT: FBI and DOJ are looking into Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica already shut down, because it couldn't cope with ongoing probes and scandals. But that doesn't mean the DOJ is going to let things go -- according to The New York Times, the Justice Department and the FBI have started investigating the political data firm, questioning former employees and banks that handled its businesses in recent weeks. Authorities' questions apparently focused on the firm's financial dealings, though they also sought to better understand how it acquired and used personal data pulled from Facebook and other sources. They also got in contact with Facebook itself, though the social network refused to tell NYT what they talked about.
Facebook to UK parliament: No Zuckerberg for you
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the UK asked Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a parliamentary committee in order to address questions and concerns about user data privacy. The CEO declined in March and the company sent CTO Mike Schroepfer to testify instead. But the UK's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee wasn't satisfied with Schroepfer's answers and sent follow up questions to Facebook as well as a renewed request for Zuckerberg to appear himself. "We hope that he will respond positively to our request, but if not, the committee will resolve to issue a formal summons for him to appear when he is next in the UK," wrote Committee Chair Damian Collins. However, despite the threat of a summons, Zuckerberg has again declined the request.
Facebook found 200 more apps that may have misused your data
Early results from Facebook's app audit are in. After examining "thousands" of apps to see if any had misused personal data, the social network has found 200 nefarious applications and suspended them. Names of the offending apps have not yet been released. The social network said that when it does find that an app has misused your data, it will notify users the same way it did if they were affected by Cambridge Analytica's data harvesting.
Cambridge Analytica's Facebook data models survived until 2017
Facebook may have succeeded in getting Cambridge Analytica to delete millions of users' data in January 2016, but the information based on that data appears to have survived for much longer. The Guardian has obtained leaked emails suggesting that Cambridge Analytica avoided explicitly agreeing to delete the derivatives of that data, such as predictive personality models. Former employees claimed the company kept that data modelling in a "hidden corner" of a server until an audit in March 2017 (prompted by an Observer journalist's investigation), and it only certified that it had scrubbed the data models in April 2017 -- half a year after the US presidential election.
UK orders Cambridge Analytica to provide data on US voter
Cambridge Analytica isn't completely out of the woods just because it's technically shutting down. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office has ordered Cambridge Analytica affiliate SCL Elections to provide the personal data of David Carroll, an American professor who became wary of how the company was profiling American voters. As Cambridge Analytica had processed his data in the UK, he filed a test case to see if he would receive access despite living on the other side of the Atlantic.
F8 proved there’s no escape from Facebook
During a keynote about privacy at F8, Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos shared an image of the world that used light to show the sheer size of the company's network. It was intended to highlight all the places where people are using a Facebook product and, as you might expect, there weren't many dark spots.
Senator wants Facebook to stop tracking users after they log out
Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) isn't pleased with Facebook and he wants the FTC to do as much as it can to ensure the company is protecting its users' privacy and data. In a letter sent this week to the FTC chairman and commissioners, he requests certain actions be taken against the social media giant and asks for information about the commission's investigation into the company.
Developers would rather ignore Cambridge Analytica at F8
Facebook is ready to turn the page on the Cambridge Analytica user-privacy scandal, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made that perfectly clear yesterday during his F8 opening keynote. "I'm going to go through all of that head on in just a minute, because I think it's important that everyone here knows exactly what we're doing to address [these issues]," he said -- "these issues" being the safety of your data, more-robust privacy controls and the spread of fake news (which was a major part of a campaign to interfere with the 2016 presidential election). "But we also have a responsibility to move forward." That he did, as he barely addressed the CA incident onstage and quickly moved on to making product announcements. And apparently all the developers in the room were eager to follow his lead.
Cambridge Analytica is closing, but it solves nothing
Cambridge Analytica is closing up shop. Company executives continue to deny any wrongdoing and insist that the shuttering of both it and parent company SCL is due to the loss of business resulting from "sensationalistic reporting." Cambridge Analytica has been accused of improperly obtaining data on some 87 million Facebook users -- a revelation that has led to its removal from Facebook, a slew of changes to the social media giant's handling of user data and two congressional hearings. But the issues surrounding Cambridge Analytica aren't just going to disappear after it closes.
Cambridge Analytica is shutting down following Facebook scandal
Today, Cambridge Analytica was shut down following the Facebook scandal and subsequent investigations, The Wall Street Journal reports. During a conference call today with the tech firm's employees, chairman Julian Wheatland of parent company SCL Group announced the news, according to Gizmodo. But it isn't just the tech firm: SCL Group is closing down too, its founder Nigel Oakes told The Wall Street Journal. Shortly after the news broke, Cambridge Analytica itself issued a press release announcing it and SCL would stop operating, and the former would begin bankruptcy proceedings.
Facebook is trying to close the book on Cambridge Analytica
Mark Zuckerberg is over it. Yes, Facebook allowed the data of more than 80 million users to land in the hands of a partisan political consulting firm during an obscenely contentious presidential election, but that's all in the distant past. You know, like last month.
Facebook removes the middleman with its own dating feature
During the F8 developer conference keynote today, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be launching a dating feature. The CEO said that people often tell him that they met on Facebook and since so many relationships now being online, a dating feature seemed like a logical next step. Of course, a dark cloud of data privacy concerns are hanging over the conference and in light of that, Zuckerberg made sure to note that the upcoming tool was designed from the beginning with privacy and safety in mind. The dating feature won't suggest any of your Facebook friends as a match and your friends, even those that have also opted into the feature, won't be able to see your dating profile. And only your first name will be displayed.
UK warns Zuckerberg will face summons if he doesn't testify
The UK has reiterated its request for Mark Zuckerberg to testify before its Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Parliamentary Committee and this time it says if the CEO declines, he'll be compelled to appear the next time he steps foot in the country. In March, following reports that Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained information on millions of Facebook users, the committee asked Zuckerberg to testify on the company's "catastrophic failure of process," but the CEO declined. Instead, Facebook sent a letter summarizing its recent data privacy changes and offered up some other high-level employees in place of Zuckerberg.
Cambridge Analytica says it never got Twitter data from researcher (updated)
When word got out that Twitter had sold data access to Aleksandr Kogan, the researcher at the heart of the Cambridge Analytica data sharing scandal, there was a looming question: did he pass that data to Cambridge Analytica? If you ask the company, the answer is an emphatic "no." In a statement, the firm said it never received Twitter information from Kogan or his company GSR, and that it had never worked with GSR on Twitter data of any kind. Unless there's a sudden revelation, you can rest easy.
Your data is valuable, but you’re never getting paid for it
It's hard to find a positive side to the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica (CA) scandal. But if there is one, it's that it's caused tech companies, lawmakers and users to think more deeply about personal data, how it's being used and who actually owns it. Facebook says that you, the user, are the sole owner of whatever information you consent to share with it. But it will use that data to offer you a free service based on targeted ads. The thing is, Facebook makes billions of dollars doing that, and there are some people who believe you should be getting a piece of it. After all, you are the product.
Twitter sold data access to researcher in Cambridge Analytica scandal
Facebook is clearly the company most affected by the Cambridge Analytica data sharing scandal, but that doesn't leave other social networks completely unscathed. Twitter has confirmed to the Telegraph that it sold public data access to researcher Aleksandr Kogan's GSR, the firm whose quiz app collected data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. GSR paid for one day of access in 2015, Twitter said, and scooped up a "random sample" of public tweets covering a period between December 2014 and April 2015. Twitter added that it "did not find any access" to private information.
Constant controversy hasn't stopped Facebook from making money
When it comes to public perception, Facebook hasn't had the best 2018 so far. Over the past few months, the company's been working hard to clean up its image after dealing with a series of nightmares, including the idea that the site was becoming toxic and, most recently, the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal that led CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before US Congress. But business goes on, and today Facebook released its Q1 2018 earnings report, which shows it made a revenue of $11.97 billion, an insane 49 percent year-over-year increase.
