Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 18 June 2019

Facebook launching app that pays users for data on app usage

By RACHEL LERMAN “It’s a lot of competitive in-
AP Technology Writer telligence, but a little less
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — spying on the users,” he
Facebook on Tuesday said.
launched an app that will But some privacy experts
pay users to share informa- are concerned users will still
tion with the social media not know exactly what in-
giant about which apps formation they are sending.
they’re using. Many people skip reading
The company previously privacy policies, noted mo-
rolled out two similar apps bile app security research-
that tracked what activities er Will Strafach, who stud-
people did on their phones. ied the underlying code
But both were shut down of Facebook’s Research
after drawing criticism for app earlier this year. And if
infringing on privacy and Facebook updates the pri-
violating Apple’s App Store vacy guidelines, there is no
guidelines. guarantee they will be up-
Facebook said the new front about it, he said.
app, called Study, is differ- In any case, one thing the
ent than the previous two app is sure to do is give
and was built from scratch. Facebook more insight into
And it is only available on personal data and use of
the Google Play Store, In this March 29, 2018, file photo, the logo for social media giant Facebook, appears on screens not only its own services,
though Facebook said it at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York’s Times Square. but others as well.
might work to expand it to Associated Press Facebook said the app
iOS in the future. A previous market-research mation about app usage web searches. will not be used to serve
The new app will collect app from the company, and sending it to Face- What it will do, Cottrell sus- people ads, and informa-
information about which called Research, got in book. That app, too, has pects, is give Facebook fur- tion will not be shared with
apps people are using hot water earlier this year been shut down. ther advantage over com- third-party companies — a
and for how long, includ- when a report found that Facebooks appears to petitors because it will be line the company has been
ing which app features are teens were using it and it be acting in a more up- able to tell how long apps walking carefully since
used. was sidestepping Apple’s front manner this time, said are being used, and even its Cambridge Analytica
That could give Facebook guidelines. Apple booted Lance Cottrell, chief sci- which features within them scandal last year that ex-
valuable insight into how it from its app store and entist for the cybersecurity are most popular. Face- posed the data of millions
people use its competitors’ Facebook eventually shut it firm Ntrepid. book already has a step up of Facebook users to an
services. down completely. “They are being a little when setting up such mar- outside political research
Facebook said it will not The other app, called Ona- less intrusive with this one,” ket research, Cottrell said firm.
track passwords or ac- vo Protect, was a virtual pri- he said, noting that Face- — not many other compa- The Study app is now avail-
count IDs and it will periodi- vate network service used book says it won’t collect nies could release a similar able in the U.S. and India.
cally remind people that to keep information private some of the more sensitive service and get as many Facebook is not saying how
the app is collecting their in public settings — but it information from people’s participants as Facebook is much it will pay participants
data. was also collecting infor- phones such as photos and bound to. to share their information.q

Is Elon Musk closing troublesome Twitter account or teasing?

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE Musk’s apparent intention million settlement with the
AP Technology Writer to leave Twitter after a de- SEC after regulators threat-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) cade on the social media ened to seek his ouster as
— Tesla CEO Elon Musk service attracted wide- the company’s CEO. In-
abruptly revealed that he is spread attention largely stead, Musk agreed to
closing the popular Twitter because his account has step down as Tesla’s chair-
account that has repeat- turned into a hornet’s nest man for at least three years
edly landed him in legal during the past year. and also stipulated that his
trouble, but then proceed- The biggest flap occurred tweets tied to the compa-
ed to keep it open long last August when he tweet- ny be prescreened for ac-
after announced he had ed that he had lined up curacy.
deleted it. the financing necessary Twitter got Musk into trouble
The mixed messaging be- In this March 14, 2019 file photo, Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks to buy Tesla in a buyout again in February when the
gan to unfold Sunday before unveiling the Model Y at the company’s design studio in that would have likely cost SEC alleged a tweet about
when Musk changed his Hawthorne, Calif. more than $20 billion, caus- how many cars Tesla will
Twitter handle to Daddy- Associated Press ing the electric car maker’s manufacture this year rep-
DotCom in apparent hom- Tesla didn’t immediately in the past. In February, stock to swing wildly. An resented another mislead-
age to Father’s Day. Then respond to a request for for instance, he suddenly offer never materialized, ing statement and sought
he signaled in a tweet that comment and Musk hadn’t changed his handle to and the Securities and Ex- to hold him in contempt of
he was scrapping the ac- explained his earlier tweets “elontusk.” When Musk was change Commission later court for violating the set-
count. But 15 hours later, on Twitter as of Monday af- later asked during a con- accused Musk of using Twit- tlement. That resulted in a
the account remained ternoon. ference call with reporters ter to mislead investors. new settlement that is sup-
open under its old “elon- Musk has used his Twitter why he made that change, Musk denied the allega- posed to put even tighter
musk” handle with 27 mil- account to pull pranks and he confessed: “I was just tions, but he and Tesla controls on Musk’s tweets
lion followers. make baffling changes playing the fool on Twitter.” eventually reached a $40 about the company.q