TechBooky

Facebook is questioning a New York Times report that said it shared data inappropriately with gadget producers from Apple and Samsung. The article says smartphone makers have access to your data on Facebook and that they have it so they can make Facebook apps to suit their devices- this just means that they want to control how your Facebook data stays on their gadgets. According to The New York Times, Facebook may have agreed with manufactures to access user information and their friends but not on the Cambridge Analytica scale. Cambridge Analytica was accused of taking user data from the biggest social media platform in the world and using it for political and business purposes without the consent of users thereby profiting off you and your friends. The London based political consulting firm was eventually forced to shut down and file for bankruptcy. But the partnerships, whose scope has not previously been reported, raise concerns about the company’s privacy protections and co...

Cambridge Analytica has lost all its clients and therefore cannot continue in business  Cambridge Analytica has filed for bankruptcy two months after its scandal with Facebook Inc. saying that it cannot continue operations in the UK and US. The London-based political consulting firm had harvested the private information of about 87million users without authorisation, which in fact plunged Facebook Inc. and the consulting into crises. Regulators and US lawmakers were compelled to open an investigation into both firms. However, while Facebook the firm which should suffer the more became more productive after the drilling by the US lawmakers, the same cannot be said of the political consulting firm.  In a statement on its website, it had blamed the media for its setback, forcing it to file for bankruptcy. The part of the statement read: " Despite Cambridge Analyrica"s unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully, which view is now fully supported by...

Facebook Inc. on Wednesday reported an increase in the number of users and a rise in profit by 63%. The social network recorded a 13% increase in the number of active monthly users which rose to 2.2 billion. It"s been two years since the social network marked such massive achievement. Despite its scandal with Cambridge Analytica and its hearing with the US lawmakers and its sanctions from other countries, it did not affect the business. In fact, the scandal has been a blessing disguise; it apparently boosted Facebook"s popularity. Read more: Facebook’s Quarterly Earnings Are A Bright Spot Amidst A Sea Of Bad Headlines After the devastating disclosure in March that the British consultancy, Cambridge Analytica had harvested the information of about 85 million users to influence the US election, the social network subsequently lost about $50b as the scandal progressed. During this time, the investors called for his resignation, but he couldn"t be unseated because even thoug...

Time to clean up your Facebook settings to keep them more private. Here"s how.  — the social media company is for the first time publishing its secret rules and guidelines which will tell users what they can (and can’t) do on Facebook, so it"s 2.2 billion users can know what or not to post on the social network, including hate speech, pornography, even cannibalism. Last May, The Guardian published a leaked copy of Facebook’s content moderation guidelines , which describe the company’s policies for determining whether posts should be removed from the service. Almost a year later, Facebook is making an expanded set of those guidelines available to the public, a move designed to gather input from users around the world. The company is also introducing a new appeals process, allowing users to request a review if they believe their post has been removed unfairly. Until now, Facebook had not publicly disclosed the lengthy rules given to its content reviewers to g...

In the wake of the Facebook scandal, Facebook reported that over one million Facebook users in Indonesia might have had their data harvested by the British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica. Following this report, the Indonesia government has given Facebook Inc. a week to provide answers about the data misuse. About 115 million Indonesians use the social network, and during the revelations, Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that 1, 096, 666 users" data may have been shared without authorisation. Although a Facebook official apologised to the members of parliament in Indonesia, the country"s communication ministry has requested for documents on any misuse of data. The Communication ministry released a statement that it sent a letter to Facebook Inc. headquarters in Ireland asking for details on the data sharing. It wants to know if Facebook had shared users" information with third-party companies such as Aggregate IQ and CubeYou, both of which were linked to the ...

Facebook Inc. boss, Mark Zuckerberg ended his drilling session with the US Senate on Wednesday. He walked away unscathed and remarkably became richer. Although this was Mark Zuckerberg"s first congressional drilling, he wowed the investors by successfully deflecting all the questions asked by the over hundred members of the Senate. On several occasions, he responded that he didn"t have the answer to some questions and that he would get back to them when he could. He incessantly told the Senate that users of Facebook had absolute control over their data and did his best to avoid being pressured to support the new regulation that would likely affect other Internet-based firms. " It is inevitable that there will need to be some regulation of internet firms," agreed Mr. Zuckerberg but refused to be cornered to give specifics. It was a similar case on Tuesday, the first day of the hearing. The U.S lawmakers did not reveal any agreement on specifics about what kinds of p...

As data protection and privacy becomes a big issue around the world, social networking companies like Instagram need to appropriately take care of the information its user’s share. One of the provisions of the UK"s upcoming Data Protection Bill would require companies to allow its users to easily move their data from one service to another. To that end, Facebook-owned Instagram just confirmed to TechCrunch that it is building a new data portability tool so users can download a copy of everything they"ve put on the platform , including photos, videos and messages , similar to how Facebook’s download your information tool works. The tool could help Instagram users monitor how much of their data is on the platform. It will also help Facebook, which owns Instagram, comply with the forthcoming European data privacy rule, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will require all data to be portable. The rule will also require companies to delete data upon user request. Fac...

Facebook Inc. CEO, Mark Zuckerberg told the Senate during his hearing that the case with Russia continually seeking means to exploit the social media platform is an "arms race" and this has resulted in the never-ending battle with the social network. The crises with Facebook include the issue with Russian agents using Facebook to influence the US 2016 election. While answering the questions about Cambridge Analytica"s exploitation, he revealed that Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigation Russia"s alleged meddling in the last election interviewed a staff member from Facebook. He maintained that his discussion with Mr. Mueller would remain confidential should he be interrogated. He said: " Our work with the special counsel is confidential and I want to make sure that in an open session, I"m not revealing something that"s confidential."    Two months ago, Mueller"s team had charged thirteen Russians of interference with the US electio...

It been rather a filled with concern year,  for most Facebook users as millions of Facebook users are concerned about whether their personal data was swept up in the Cambridge Analytica scandal . As a way to help ease the tension of most Facebook users,  the social media messaging platform released tools to help users find out if they are affected by the recent scandal or not. According to Facebook which explained that more than 70 million of the estimated 87 million total -- are in the U.S., though there are over a million each in the Philippines, Indonesia , U.K and other countries. There are two ways to find out whether your data was shared without your knowledge during the course of the recent scandal: firstly, through an alert that Facebook says it will post in your News Feed, or by checking yourself through Facebook"s online Help Centre. How it works As the case may be, Facebook has announced that it will slowly roll out messages to the impacted users on their Facebook ...

Mark Zuckerberg made an appearance before the United States Senate on Tuesday to defend his company on the subject of regulating internet-based companies. He wass confronted with two significant challenges- How Facebook was unaware that users" information of 87 million people was harvested from his social media platform and abused by the political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica , and how Russia used the social network to spread false information during the 2016 U.S presidential elections. The Facebook boss testified before the Senate Commerce and the Judiciary Committees of 44 members of Senate. Senator Bill Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, thinks that the format of the hearing will not give room for a thoughtful debate. " How in the world can you have 44 senators do a hearing that has a lot of substance when each senator only has four minutes? ", he queried. There have been agitations on what the outcome of this hearing would be. Facebook...

Does Facebook need a new chairman of the board? Currently the pressure on Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Social media giants seems pressing.  Just yesterday,  A powerful activist investor group called for Mark Zuckerberg to step down in a statement, citing new admissions of irresponsibility in the CEO’s planned testimony, he wrote to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The call for Zuckerberg to resign was made after he prepared testimony for Wednesday’s congressional hearing which has been posted online. The seven-page statement starts with an apology from Zuckerberg, who says Facebook failed to take a broad enough view of its responsibilities. “That was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry,” he says. “I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.” Zuckerberg will be testifying before the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday after he faces another heari...

[caption id="attachment_10927" align="aligncenter" width="870"] Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg [/caption] Facebook"s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg apologises for leaked data of about 87 million users and says that the company has launched an investigation to determine if other companies aside Cambridge Analytica used users" data without their consent. The social network is currently in the middle of a scandal that has cost it so much financial loss; the company has since February lost $100b in stock value. Since the scandal, the company has had to face questions from the media, lawmakers and regulatory agencies. The British based political consulting firm is believed to have exploited the private information of 87 million users without Facebook"s authorisation.  While Mark Zuckerberg has been in the news for the past weeks, Sheryl Sandberg has been out of sight until Thursday when she came out to apologise for th...

Following the scandal that has trailed Facebook in the past weeks, the social network has halted its plans to match patients" data from hospitals to their accounts on Facebook, the BBC reported. Facebook has faced criticisms since the wake of the scandal with Cambridge Analytica about the improper sharing of users" private information. This has caused a significant setback and the Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday that the social media platform had not made any meaningful revenue in ad sales since the wake of the scandal. The company had initially planned to collect information from patients in the hospital to match it with their information on the social network, but it is yet to receive any health records. Christina Farr from CBNC discovered the data sharing proposal. Two anonymous persons informed her that the social network had written proposal letters to health care centres and organisations including Stanford Medical School and the American Coll...

Indonesia is the latest country to begin a probe on Facebook. The country"s communication ministry said it"s coordinating with the Police to inquire from Facebook if any personal information was shared with Cambridge Analytica. The number of users whose personal information had been inappropriately shared had surged this week to 87million, and although, Mr. Zuckerberg said that a majority of them are in the United States, there have been reports that data from users in other countries are inclusive, with Indonesia been over a million. The communications minister sent a text to Reuters this morning; it read: "There is an indication that Indonesian Facebook users are part of Cambridge Analytica"s data case. We are requesting an exact figure." The breaches of the privacy law in Indonesia include criminal sanctions with a penalty of up 12 years in jail or a fine of $870,000. The Minister said the country had been previously reassured by Facebook that its policies c...

Some African nations now looking into the activities of Cambridge Analytica  Many African countries, Nigeria inclusive do not have data laws to protect internet users and protect the privacy of individuals. Unlike in Europe and other western countries where data privacy law accords the users some level of protection on their information, it"s a different case in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. It"s probably that there are deeper problems that the citizenry could be bothered with. Many Africans have little or no recourse on data breach matters because legal backings and regulatory measures do not exist. Kenya and Nigeria are countries with a growing population of internet users; still, there"s no such law in place to protect the privacy of users. According to Britain"s Guardian newspaper, recent revelations about the British owned firm suggest that the African continent may be slightly affected. Cambridge Analytica was consulted to work on the 2013 and 20117 campa...

Following the new revelation on the new number that was involved in the breach of privacy laws, Australia said it would begin a probe after Facebook confirmed that private information belonging to 300,000 Australians might have been used for business purposes. Facebook Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfer had given details in a blog post on the actual number of users’ information was harvested via the app which was further inappropriately used by British political consulting firm. Given this report, the office of the Australian Information Commissioner has reacted by releasing a press statement on the website from the acting Privacy Commissioner, Angelene Falk.  She said: "The investigation will consider whether Facebook has breached the Privacy Act 1988(Privacy Act). Given the global nature of this matter, the OAIC will confer with regulatory authorities internationally. All organisations that are covered by the Privacy Act have obligations about the personal informatio...

In the wake of the scandal that has trailed Facebook concerning the misappropriate use of users" private information , the overall figure quoted as 50million has now skyrocketed to 87 million. The new numbers were revealed in a blog by Mike Schroepfer who also explained that the previously suggested figure of 270,000 users who had installed the This Is Your Digital Life quiz which was used to harvest the data was a hoax. The new estimate shot to 305,000 people. Moreover, about 16 million of the users are likely from other countries aside from the UK, and the U.S. Australia has begun investigations to determine its involvement in the scandal. Facebook boos, Mark Zuckerberg, had said during a press conference that since Facebook gave provided the tools for users, it was entirely their responsibility to decide how they wish to use them but had later chewed his words to admit that he was "wrong in retrospect." In other words, after much criticism, he has accepted that his pr...

Facebook boss, Mark Zuckerberg admitted on Tuesday that he was in total agreement with the European privacy laws but that every time he came close to abiding by the rules, he failed. The tech company is currently under pressure to improve privacy to prevent the scandal which is negatively affected it in the stock market. About 50 million users" data was harvested and was used during the 2016 elections by Cambridge Analytica. Apple CEO, Tim Cook last month accused Facebook of monetising customers. Tim Cook argued that a third party should not have access to customers" private information and neither should they have the ability to know what a user has been browsing for years, their likes and every other detail. He proposed further that Facebook is guilty of privacy invasion. Referencing Apple, he said, " We could make a tonne of money if we monetised our customer if our customer was our product. We"ve elected not to do that; privacy to us is a human right." This...

It has been a crazy year so far for the social media giant- Facebook-, following the recent event that caused Cambridge Analytica data lost. As a part of Facebook"s damage control activity following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal , the social media website has introduced a new app removal tool which lets users select third-party apps in bulk in order to stop sharing information with them Facebook now lets you remove third-party apps in bulk, including any post those apps may have published on your behalf- a welcome privacy change that should make it easier to strip access to your profile from services you no longer use. The change, precipitated by the ongoing Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, is part of a series of sudden changes Facebook is making to mitigate fallout from the revelation that third-party developers have had generous access to users’ data and could use it in ways Facebook had little to no control over. Facebook confirmed the bulk removal option to Tec...

Following the Facebook Inc. breach which saw over 50 million users" data inappropriately used by Cambridge Analytica, Apple Chief, Time Cook, and IBM Corp Chief have requested for an intense oversight on the external use of users" data, Reuters reported. Tim Cook, Apple boss, emphasised on the use of a well-crafted regulation, in line with what IBM Corp Chief, Virginia Rometty said. He noted that social network owners should be transparent with their terms and conditions. In retrospect, users should be in control of their data or information. During the three-day China Development Forum in Beijing, Tim Cook spoke on the necessity to review the regulations to prevent users from surprises in the future. He said: " It"s clear to me that something, some profound change in needed. I"m personally not a big fan of regulation because sometimes, regulations can have unexpected consequences to it; however, I think this certain situation is so dire and has become so large...