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Updated 9.45pm
THE OFFICE OF the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has said it is “actively supervising Facebook’s progress in cleaning up its act and ensuring users’ data is protected”.
The office was commenting after it emerged that up to 45,000 Irish Facebook profiles may have been affected by the Cambridge Analytica data breach.
Last night, Facebook revealed that the number of profiles affected by the mass data scrape is more likely closer to 87 million than the 50 million originally mooted.
Of that number, as many as 44,687 Irish profiles may have been affected as a consequence of just 15 Irish people installing the thisisyourdigitallife app which provided the gateway to the initial data breach.
In a statement released this evening, the ODPC said: “Facebook needs to be fully transparent about the extent to which users’ data has been misused.
“It will take time for Facebook to fully identify the risks and harms arising from misuse of data given that there are about 1.6 million active apps on the Facebook platform.
“The next step in European data regulation is the General Data Protection Regulation, which becomes effective next month, and brings with it heavy fines for companies breaching rules on the use and sharing of data.”
Facebook earlier said: “Our investigation shows that the people impacted were predominantly in the United States – 97.1% of users who installed the app are understood to have been primarily in the US, while 81.2% of total affected people, ie installers and their friends, were in the US.
However, we do know that 15 people in Ireland installed thisisyourdigitallife, and up to 44,687 people in Ireland may have been friends with someone who installed the app, and, therefore, may have been affected. This represents 0.0516% of the total number of people affected.
Mark Zuckerberg
Last night, the company’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he remains the best person to lead the social network despite acknowledging mistakes in underestimating abuse of the platform.
Zuckerberg told reporters on a conference call that he accepted responsibility for the hijacking of private user data and other abuses, but when asked if he remained the best person to lead Facebook, he answered, “Yes.”
“I think life is about learning from the mistakes and figuring out how to move forward,” he said.
When you’re building something like Facebook which is unprecedented in the world, there are things that you’re going to mess up. What I think people should hold us accountable for is if we are learning from our mistakes.
In a statement released last night, Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer said: “In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people – mostly in the US – may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.”
Last month, the New York Times and Britain’s Observer and Guardian newspapers detailed how Cambridge Analytica stole information from tens of millions of Facebook users’ profiles in the tech giant’s biggest-ever data breach.
The firm, best known for its work on Donald Trump’s US presidential election campaign, used the data to help them design software to predict and influence voters’ choices at the ballot box.
Meanwhile, its CEO Alexander Nix was suspended after being secretly filmed by Channel 4 allegedly touting the use of bribery and entrapment to swing elections.
Yesterday’s announcement detailed steps the tech giant says it is taking to protect people’s data.
With reporting by Órla Ryan and © – AFP, 2018
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You put your life up on a free social media site and you’re shocked that the data was sold and misused?
This is only one company that we know about, how many more will come to light….
@B9xiRspG: Totally agree Jim. Most people put absolutely everything on facebook including where they are at a particular moment. No sympathy.
@B9xiRspG: the more important issue is the subtle manipulation of public opinion by misuse of the data.
Max Schremm was right to challenge Facebook.
In the US, Facebook was used to elect Donald Trump.
@Michael Lang: Michael, As Abraham Lincoln said, “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet”
https://pics.me.me/dont-believe-everything-you-read-on-the-internet-abraham-lincoln-5242750.png
:)
@Michael Lang: “In the US, Facebook was used to elect Donald Trump.” – It was also used in the 2012 US election campaign by a Mr. Obama, and was hailed as a unified computer database that gathers and refines information on millions of potential voters is at the forefront of campaign technology, how times have changed :P
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/17/obama-digital-data-machine-facebook-election
@B McQ: in a transparent and less influential way in the case of Obama and not using the psychologically manipulative methods pioneered by Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica employed a combination of psychological manipulation and AI deep machine learning technique to weaponise social media against Clinton and in favour of Trump through 87 million people.
@Michael Lang: so fiona/tony/risen/kalamari…after your ranting and raving all day yesterday the truth is out ….it wasn’t pro-life that left leaflets in babe toy shop catalogues..it was the distribution company…..you are nothing but a despicable paid troll …it’s time the journal rooted out and banned your multi accounts..again….
@Michael Lang: While Cambridge Analytica were undoubtedly more deceptive in their data gathering exercise, using a personality test and not informing users that their data would be used for analytics in a political campaign.
It’s a flat out lie to say that the Obama campaign were ‘transparent’ in their data gathering. Yes, people who downloaded the Obama campaign app consented to give their data, but all of their friends whose data was harvested by the campaign certainly did not consent.
It appears some people don’t care about the data harvesting and the ethical question around data usage that have been going on for years by FB and other entities but only want to use this as a reason to deceive themselves that everyone who did not support Hilary Clinton in 2016 was deceived either by Cambridge Analytica or Vladimir Putin.
@Bobby Byrne: no sympathy just absolute smugness?
Can’t they just get rid of Facebook no need for it . Take down The Whole site .the world be better then.
@Rusty3578: not a chance…too valuable to the intelligence services with the amount of data on people, plus it keeps the sheep dumbed down and not thinking for themselves.
@noBankAccBertie: Intelligence services are really interested in Bertie’s post this morning “Look at me breakfast roll, missing a rasher..Spar are a bunch of robbers”
MI6 will be knocking at your door, watch out!
@Rusty3578: Facebook is great for keeping in touch with friends and family sharing pics etc it’s a shame your private data is being used this way I wouldn’t mind paying a small amount every year if it meant my information wasn’t being shared with third parties.
@John Judd: The data all FB users willingly signed up to provide?
@John Judd: Skype to stay in touch. EMail for photos. Though I trust very little IT-wise these days.
@Father Hody Commody: you’re dead right, it’s kinda simple … only put on these sites the things you don’t mind being shared, regardless of settings. Talking and sharing is fine, but if you’re shouting to each other across a busy room, don’t expect privacy, and FB is a very busy room.
Tip of the iceberg. How far does the rabbit hole go?
@Billy Connelly: The Irish media will continue to focus on Cambridge Analytica because of their hatred of Trump, while Zuckerburg admitted yesterday that most FB users could have had their data scraped.
@Robert Burke: great link, people really don’t get it, or don’t want understand how much their personal information was sold to unreliable sources. It’s almost like the religious when you explain atrocities caused by those religions, like their brain can’t actually process the information for fear of self criticism.
“Oh I just use it to talk to friends living abroad..”
Translation: I use it to stalk my exes and snoop on people I was in school with.
@Stevie Doran: I prefer the old style of stalking myself. More of a thrill.
just got rid of it and would urge others to do the same. the withdrawal is tough tho
@pierre roncuzzi: you sad,sad man.get a life
@pierre roncuzzi: Says the suspended Twitter account.
@Tom Mc Cormack: I will tom thanks
@Dave Doyle: says the knob
Wouldn’t governments just love it if FB was closed down or people closed and deleted their accounts.
The water protests were organised using FB. The truth about IW came out on FB. Many scandals including the corruption surrounding NAMA came out on FB. Issues are open for discussion on FB. Governments can’t hide because of FB.
Without FB we would only have the propaganda machines of MSM to pump out the spin and lies government wants us to hear.
I look at the comments above and see the new false names all encouraging people to get rid of FB. That says a lot.
Use a VPN, i do. It stores no history, blocks all trackers. I see very few ads.
FB is a valuable tool against the lies and spin government would have us believe.
@Dave Doyle: seems some people believe FB is the only place online that allows you to organise protests, post news stories, etc
Any link will do
@Dave Doyle: using a vpn, while hiding your physical location does nothing to block sites gathering your information once you use that platform. Facebook isn’t interested where and what pc you used to tell everyone about your dog!
@Steven Fitzpatrick: 1679 trackers blocked in the past two days.
@Dave Doyle: refine your settings in peerblocker. Mine blocks that many in an hour. Also try collusion via chrome, nice to see all the sites stealing your info.
@Dave Doyle: but you still have a real Facebook account, that is linked to your political commenting on sites like this. Similarly for Twitter. The problem is any company can find a friend of yours in real life, and target them to scrape your FB data and associate it with your 4 years of political opinion on sites like this. Voilà – you are now a sellable profile.
@Gulliver Foyle: If they’re that interested in what I post I’m in trouble.
@Dave Doyle: i look at comments above and see people encouraging people to keep facebook despite it now being proven it is spying on you and showing you ads to influence your opinion. that says a lot
The Guardians facebook app also harvests all your data as well as your friends for any leftists who use it, beware.
https://order-order.com/2018/03/29/guardian-app-harvests-your-and-your-friends-facebook-data/
@Rodney Pickering: Guido Fawkes website? lol.
@Rodney Pickering: trivial commercial use compared to the right wing political use and manipulation by Cambridge Analytica and AggregateIQ
@Rodney Pickering: there has been no complaint or record of this allegation with the UK Data Protection Commissioner.
He may be the front facing puppet but the intelligence services who are behind this people controlling apparatus…..ur data will never be private and is been farmed out to specialised firms to profile, target and monitor every aspect of ur daily life.
The Zuck can puck off
It is the political misuse of the Facebook data so as to manipulate public opinion which is of major concern.
@Michael Lang: didn’t the anti-choice crowd employ them and now there’s evidence that they have information on thousands of Irish people? Wow!
@Deborah Behan: a good example.
I think Facebook is very good but I would never put my details on any social media.I have fictional name and photo and use Facebook for news and interesting articles and to search business sites..
@Frankin Finkin: if you use the same pc for other services, like google, bing or pretty much any online product, they already know who you are. Do you really think with the technology in the world that you’d fool systems by changing your profile name. It doesn’t work like that, computer literacy should be made a permanent subject in schools.
As long as they didn’t get my Bank AC details (which they didn’t because they’re not in Facebook) well then I don’t really care about all of this
@Dublin Gooner: he he ! That’s the attitude ! they don’t need your bank a/c details lol
They have you.
They can sell info about what you like etc to others who will do their sinister best to influence you to spend money on their products / plant their products or services in your subconscious with ad images which you probably do not click on but you see them and they are relevant to you.
You are their product even if you think you are not. Nobody who uses FB is immune
@Jazz Buckler: just because your not paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you !
@Jazz Buckler: Or Google.
@Tom Mc Cormack: you are paranoid…….get a grip
Wow Zuckerberg must be really worried…. our Data Commissioner is ‘actively supervising Facebook’s progress in cleaning up its act’ …. and what exactly is she doing…. reading & repeating Facebook’s press releases?
Think it’s time to sue
Extracting the data is one thing but it is the misuse and exploitation of the data for political purposes which is the graver concern.
LOL, like any government agency in this country will ever say boo to the likes of Facebook….
Google are far worse. Go to https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout where you can download what the Ad slinger has on you.
@DJ François: Google has far more extensive data but it controls the use of the data for selling, advertising and for consumer manipulation purposes.
Facebook has a more open model, allowing deep mining of the data, extraction and misuse of the data and psychological profiling for political manipulation purposes by third parties such as Cambridge Analytica and Aggregate IQ, funded by the multi billionaire, Robert Mercer.
There are at least two issues, the data mining itself, which should not be a surprise to anybody, afterall that’s how FB works – analysing users it is able to target advertising and so maximise revenue, they seem to have become too self assured and more than a little naive there.
The more serious issue is the use of data to manipulate people, unfortunately the more gullible among us – the type who believe the rothshilds own the world and who think this is earth shattering news which they must share with everyone they know – are the ones these manipulations are after, the people who listen to headlines and then vote for populist loud-mouths.
We can stop this by shouting at the big evil nasty conspiracy-laden companies or we can just cop-on, share less and question more.
I hope those who have had their data stolen will be advised
You help us; we help you. We stop this getting out of control and hurting us both. We need to paper over this.
We go though the motions, you get rid of some stuff, take a mild rap on the knuckles, we look tough. Everyone’s happy and the punters can be reassured. Then do whatever you need to do to make money but don’t get caught again and don’t embarrass us again.
Don’t work folks. Mark will make it up to you by cooking you a meal in his virtual restaurant. Home of the SuckerBurger. Fill your boots.
I downloaded my data and went though it the other day. Unless they are interested in memes and cat videos there is nothing of interest that would be of interest to anyone really. The only exception was my direct messages. All were there and readable and except ones I had previously deleted. If you are discussing anything of a private or sensitive nature down do it via Facebook, and if you do then delete the chat and request the other individual do the same. Otherwise all the info contained within the download is stuff that you’d already posted for all to see.
And who removed Theodora Klemente an cratur….
.
Dear Commentators I have just scrapped all of ye!!
PS : now including myself
What data is everyone worried about?? Like what you had for dinner? when you where in the Gym? Or when you where tagged at a party? Jaysus Christ it’s not like they got your bank details and deeds to your house! People spend half their life posting their private lives on Facebook and then get all shocked when a company knows stuff about them! Idiots
@Danny Llama: if it was only that, there would be no concern. It is the manipulation and psychop measures to manipulate opinion for ulterior political purposes which is the problem.
Read “Move Fast and Break Things” – How Facebook, Google and Amazon have cornered culture and undermined democracy by Jonathan Taplin to start with.
That is just the the start of researching this issue. It’s a fascinating and Orwellian nightmare.
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