Facebook returns to the eye of the storm. Two months after Cambridge Analytica scandal, a new storm hits the most popular social network in the world. At the heart of it all is once again the treatment of the personal data of millions and millions of users which, without the consent of those directly involved, seem to have become an object of sharing and currency between Hi-tech giants.
“It was my mistake, I was wrong and I'm sorry,” Mark Zuckerberg said two months ago before the US Congress, trying to defend himself on the alleged violation of privacy carried out by Cambridge Analytica. But if this umpteenth accusation is confirmed, trying to pass off what happened as "an exception" and not as "the rule" would become an increasingly difficult undertaking.
FACEBOOK: THE NEW ACCUSATIONS ABOUT PERSONAL DATA
But let's go in order. To uncover yet another Pandora's box is the New York Times, that in a long and detailed article explains how Facebook, over the past decade, would have stipulated agreements with sixty manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and mobile devices including Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon and BlackBerry. At the heart of these agreements would be the possibility for the latter to access the personal data of social network users and their friends without having obtained the explicit consent of the interested parties.
According to what was written by News, many of these agreements would still be valid and thanks to them Mark Zuckerberg's company was able to extend its margins of action exponentially while the producers of mobile devices would have been left free to offer and disseminate to their users some of the most popular services that characterize the social media giant.
The news released by the American newspaper would contrast with the "official version" of Facebook, which over the last few months has repeatedly explained that it had imposed a tightening on the collection of personal data from 2015. This "tightening", according to the NYT, would have had some exceptions, including the manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and other hardware devices.
THE DEFENSE OF FACEBOOK
Before the red alarm goes off again, Facebook tries to defend itself, claiming to have allowed the various Apple, Samsung, etc. to access users' personal data for the sole purpose of bringing the social network to the various existing smartphones, at a time when there weren't yet app stores.
This is the thesis supported by Ime Archibong, vice president of Facebook, who responding to the New York Times, says the builders have “signed agreements preventing the use of the information” for different purposes, he writes, and asked for users' consent.
“In the early days of 'mobile' – Archibong continues to explain – there were no app stores, so companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube had to work directly with operating system and device manufacturers to get their products into the hands of of people". “We have created a series of APIs (programming interfaces of an app, ed) that allowed companies” to bring Facebook to smartphones.
Then a reassurance: “I partners could not integrate the information into the devices without the user's permission”. Therefore, no violation would have been committed also because, according to Facebook “Since these APIs have allowed other companies to recreate the Facebook experience, we have strictly controlled them from the beginning. These partners signed agreements that prevented the use of user information for different purposes”.
After the mea culpa on Cambridge Analytica and the violation of privacy of millions of users around the world, this time Facebook is therefore not there: "Contrary to the claims of the New York Times, information from friends, such as photos, was accessible on devices only when people decided to share their information with those friends”, continues the manager, who remarks: “We are not aware of any abuses by these companies.
