Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 27 March 2018
FTC is investigating Facebook over privacy practices

By BARBARA ORTUTAY low it. Officials say the data
AP Technology Writer is not sold or shared with us-
NEW YORK (AP) — The Fed- ers' friends or outside apps.
eral Trade Commission is They say the data is used
investigating Facebook's "to improve people's expe-
privacy practices following rience across Facebook"
a week of privacy scan- by helping to connect with
dals including allegations others. But the company
a Trump-affiliated political did not spell out exactly
consulting firm got data in- what it used the data for or
appropriately from millions why it needed it. Marc Ro-
of Facebook users. tenberg, executive director
Facebook's stock, which of the Electronic Privacy In-
already took a big hit last formation Center, believes
week, plunged as a result. Facebook was in violation
Tom Pahl, acting direc- of the 2011 settlement in
tor of the FTC's Bureau of letting Cambridge Analyti-
Consumer Protection, said ca harvest data on friends
the probe would include of Facebook users. "This is
whether the company en- what Facebook was do-
gaged in "unfair acts" that ing 10 years ago that peo-
cause "substantial injury" to ple objected to, what the
consumers. FTC should have stopped
Facebook's privacy prac- This Jan. 28, 2015, file photo, shows the Federal Trade Commission building in Washington. in 2011," Rotenberg said.
tices have come under Associated Press "It makes zero sense that
when a person downloads
ROOMS FOR RENT per night in fire after revelations that contact names, telephone lets reported on the FTC their apps, they have the
the center of aruba with private Cambridge Analytica got numbers, call lengths and investigation last week, but ability to transfer the data
bedroom, WIFI, TV by cable data on Facebook users, information about text mes- the FTC hadn't confirmed of their friends." Although
and Private Parking. including information on sages from Android users. it until Monday. Facebook Zuckerberg talked about
since usd .30 per night. friends of people who had Facebook said in a state- reached a settlement with changes in 2014 that would
whatsapp 5600312 downloaded a psychologi- ment on Monday that the the FTC in 2011 offering have prevented this, Ro-
email: cal quiz app, even though company remains "strongly privacy assurances. Face- tenberg said it should have
lasaresidence@gmail.com those friends hadn't given committed" to protecting book said Sunday that this been banned already un-
explicit consent to sharing. people's information and information is uploaded to der the 2011 consent de-
Facebook is also facing that it welcomes the op- secure servers and comes cree. He said the FTC had
questions over reports that portunity to answer the only from people who dropped the ball in failing
it collected had years of FTC's questions. News out- gave explicit consent to al- to enforce that.q

Researcher alleges Indian

leader's app ships data abroad

By RAPHAEL SATTER and Prime Minister Narendra
AJIT SOLANKI Modi's official smartphone
AHMEDABAD, India (AP) app is shipping Indians'
— Allegations that Indian personal data to servers

An Indian woman about to download Indian Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi's official smartphone app in New Delhi, India, Mon-
day, March 26, 2018.
Associated Press

abroad have morphed trolled by a U.S. firm.
into a political scandal in a "Hi! My name is Narendra
country where privacy rules Modi. I am India's Prime
are weak and the data Minister," Gandhi wrote in a
mining runs rampant. sarcastic Twitter post pub-
Indian opposition leader lished Sunday. "When you
Rahul Gandhi taunted sign up for my official App,
the prime minister after a I give all your data to my
pseudonymous researcher friends in American com-
found that Modi's app was panies." Modi's party has
pumping private informa- defended the app, saying
tion such as citizens' email the harvested data is being
addresses to servers con- used "only for analytics."q