11 May Cambridge Analytica – The calm after the cyber storm?
Social media is known as the way that many of us keep in contact or share with those near and far, though it was not expected that Facebook would decide to share our information without users’ acknowledgment. Safiyah Bennington reports.
The misuse of information has had the general public in uproar over what information has been shared from their personal and private accounts. It was revealed in March that Facebook sold data to Cambridge Analytica that was used in the 2016 Brexit referendum. 87 million users information was also sold to the political consulting firm, leading it to be a contributing factor in the Trump Campaign during the 2016 elections.
After carrying out a survey, 81% of responses showed that since Cambridge Analytica, they are ‘more skeptical’ about the information that they decide to share. Systems and cyber security lecturer, Dr. Nikolaos Pitropakis explained: “Data we didn’t choose to reveal to the public, came into the position of the company [Cambridge Analytica]. Extremely private information shouldn’t be revealed in Social media.’, changes have since been made to the safety and security of our information.
The Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, broke his silence on his account page weeks after the data sharing exposé took place, calling it a “breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data.” Although Zuckerberg has released this heartfelt message, many don’t accept his apology, with one Facebook user, Benjamin Thorpe Barnes saying: “we trusted Zuckerberg and he betrayed that for cash. Everyone thought they could trust him.”
Data sharing stories have been plastering the headlines since the Cambridge the firm, and the safety has been questioned ever since. Companies have felt urged to renew their Terms and Data policies in the wake of the scandal and users have been inundated with emails and notifications. It can then be questioned as to whether these precautions can just be making users even more worried. Lauren Jess, 19 year old student, spoke on the updates, My social media accounts [Facebook and Instagram] have sent data reviews since the changes. It makes me wonder the other reasons why things are changing now.’
It may appear that Facebook isn’t the only data informant. In recent weeks, it has been revealed by Bloomberg that Twitter sold data to Global Science Research, the same company that sold Facebooks data to Cambridge Analytica, between 2014 and 2015. It has yet to be revealed whether any of this information was used in the US campaigns or Brexit.
Moving forward, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be implemented on the 25th of May 2018 which will allow UK and EU citizens to have more control over what is shared. Although this law is in place in the EU, will affect companies globally as it will still stand for any of their customers or employees from the continent.
It has since been officially announced in a press release by the company spokesperson, Clarence Mitchell, that Cambridge Analytica will be shutting down. This is down to them being “no longer viable to continue operating the business.” They will still be prosecuted.
