Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 10 april 2018
5 questions for Mark Zuckerberg as he heads to Congress

By RYAN NAKASHIMA tweeted in March that
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook had threatened
Congress has plenty of to sue to stop publica-
questions for Facebook tion of its story that broke
CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the Cambridge Analytica
who will testify on Capitol scandal in mid-March.
Hill Tuesday and Wednes- Neither the Guardian nor
day about the company's Facebook have comment-
ongoing data-privacy ed further.
scandal and how it failed POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP: Do
to guard against other you still stand behind Face-
abuses of its service.Face- book’s actions here?
book is struggling to cope ___
with the worst privacy cri- QUESTION: Have you spo-
sis in its history — allega- ken with critics, including
tions that a Trump-affiliated some former Facebook
data mining firm may have investors and colleagues,
used ill-gotten user data to who argue that the com-
try to influence elections. pany’s service has become
Zuckerberg and his com- an addictive and corrosive
pany are in full damage- force in society?
control mode, and have CONTEXT: Sean Parker,
announced a number Facebook’s first president,
of piecemeal technical said Facebook specializes
changes intended to ad- In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg meets with a group of entrepre- in “exploiting” human psy-
dress privacy issues. neurs and innovators during a round-table discussion at Cortex Innovation Community technol- chology and may be harm-
But there's plenty the ogy hub in St. Louis. ing our children’s brains. An
Facebook CEO hasn't yet Associated Press early investor in Facebook,
explained. Here are five Roger McNamee com-
questions that could shed fied exactly how Facebook rently avoid data mining of to change those settings pared Facebook to an ad-
more light on Facebook's developed such a huge your public profile informa- yourself. dictive substance such as
privacy practices and the blind spot, much less how tion. (You can opt not to POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP: Does nicotine and alcohol.
degree to which it is re- it can prevent history from see the resulting targeted this legacy suggest the Brian Acton, a co-founder
ally sorry about playing fast repeating itself. ads , though.) Allowing government needs to step of WhatsApp (acquired
and loose with user data — POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP: Does that, Sandberg said, would in with clear and universal by Facebook in 2014), re-
or just because its practices Facebook need a chief effectively require Face- privacy rules? cently recommended that
have drawn the spotlight. privacy officer with the au- book to turn into a "paid ___ people should delete their
___ thority to take action on product" that charges us- QUESTION: Did Facebook Facebook accounts . Cha-
QUESTION: You've said you behalf of users? ers. threaten legal action math Palihapitiya, an early
should have acted years ___ POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP: Don't against the Guardian news- vice president at Face-
ago to protect user privacy QUESTION: Who owns user other businesses allow paper in the U.K. regarding book, said Facebook’s
and guard against other data on Facebook, the some users to opt out of its reporting on the Cam- tools are “ripping apart the
abuses. Was that solely a company or the users? If ads? Why can't Facebook bridge Analytica scandal? social fabric.”
failure of your leadership, it's the latter, why shouldn't charge users who want ad- CONTEXT: John Mulholland, POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP: If
or did Facebook's busi- Facebook allow people to free experiences the way editor of the Guardian US, not, why not?q
ness model or other fac- opt out of being targeted Hulu and YouTube do?
tors create an obstacle to by ads? ___
CONTEXT: Facebook col-
QUESTION: Facebook has
change? How can you en-
sure that Facebook doesn't lects data on its own (your made connecting with oth- Facebook users to learn if they
make similar errors in the likes, which ads you click ers and sharing information
future? on, etc.); keeps data you dead simple. Why haven't were part of privacy scandal
CONTEXT: Zuckerberg con- share yourself (photos, vid- you put similar effort into
trols 59.7 percent of the eos, messages); and cor- making your privacy con- By BARBARA ORTUTAY the U.K. In addition, all 2.2
voting stock in Facebook. relates data from outside trols equally easy to use? NEW YORK (AP) — Face- billion Facebook users will
He is both chairman of the sources to data on its plat- CONTEXT: Facebook has book is scheduled to begin receive a notice titled "Pro-
board and CEO. He can't form (email lists from mar- updated its privacy set- notifying users Monday if tecting Your Information"
be fired, unless he fires him- keters, and until recently, tings seven times in the last their data has been swept with a link to see what apps
self. "At the end of the day, information from credit decade, each time aimed up in the Cambridge Ana- they use and what infor-
this is my responsibility," he agencies). at making them simpler to lytica scandal, but it isn't mation they have shared
told reporters on a confer- Who owns what is a difficult use. clear if it's started yet. with those apps. If they
ence call last week. He question to answer, and The latest update was on The 87 million users who want, they can shut off
also admitted to making a Facebook clearly hasn't March 28. On April 4, the might have had their data apps individually or turn off
"huge mistake" in not tak- been good at explaining company announced new shared with Cambridge third-party access to their
ing a broad enough view it. While you can download technical changes de- Analytica were supposed apps completely. Reeling
of Facebook's responsibil- everything the company signed to close loopholes to get a detailed message from its worst privacy cri-
ity in the world. Zuckerberg, knows about you, it doesn't that allowed third parties on their news feeds start- sis in history — allegations
however, has been apolo- really allow you to take overbroad access to user ing on Monday. Facebook that this Trump-affiliated
gizing for not doing better "your" data to a rival. data. says more than 70 million data mining firm may have
on privacy for 11 years . In Sandberg told Today's Sa- Facebook makes many of the affected users are in used ill-gotten user data to
the current crisis, neither he vannah Guthrie that given pieces of information your the U.S., though there are try to influence elections
nor chief operating officer Facebook's ad-driven busi- profile public by default; to over a million each in the — Facebook is in full dam-
Sheryl Sandberg have clari- ness model, you can't cur- lock them down, you have Philippines, Indonesia and age-control mode.q