In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it is very easy to blame Facebook. Yes, Facebook must be held to account, but should they be the only ones in the dock?
Silicon Valley is a place with its own rules. Here, in the new economy, traditional valuations (and values, some might say!) do not always apply. The companies which are perceived to be the most successful are the ones with the most information, not necessarily about products, but about us. If we really think about it, we aren’t the customers using a product — we have become the product. Each time we log into Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, our likes, dislikes, fears, and sometimes, sadly, our darkest secrets are turned into data points harvested for the benefit of advertisers.
Yet, it is only now it seems, amidst the Cambridge Analytica scandal, that people are becoming aware of the startling power of technology platforms like Facebook.
So, who should be held responsible for the unauthorized data breach? It is easy to point fingers at Facebook alone, and yes, Facebook is to be held to account for its part in the scandal. But is it the only culprit? No.
It is widely known that Facebook harvests user data to sell targeted advertisements. When you post or share something on Facebook it becomes Facebook’s property. Despite claims that protecting user data is its topmost priority, it is selling this data to developers all the time. How can Facebook ensure that all the third-party developers will collect and use the data for ethical purposes? Well, it cannot. At this point anyway.
No one hacked Facebook’s servers exploiting a bug, like the Equifax data breach. No one tricked Facebook users to give away their passwords to steal their data like the Russian hackers did when they hacked the email accounts of John Podesta and others and others through spam emails.
Data collection is integral to Facebook’s business model. It is a feature, not a bug. Facebook has built massive data collection machines with almost no guardrails on how they are used. And if your business is building a massive surveillance machinery, it is almost inevitable that data will eventually be used and abused.
Facebook should have had a different attitude towards the responsible handling of user data and taken account of the risks of third-party data use. Period.
Cambridge Analytica, too, has its own share of the blame. One could argue that they are an analytics company, so what else can we expect them to do? A lot of analytics company often harvest user data as a part of their routine. But Cambridge Analytica used the data provided by another party to manipulate and alter user behaviour. Few would disagree that this is morally and ethically wrong.
But blaming Facebook and other tech companies for privacy invasion becomes a pointless exercise unless governments create consistent, actionable standards — both consumer rights and regulations for companies. In this regard, governments have lagged behind.
It is no easy task, and there must also be the right balance between allowing freedom of expression of individual users while protecting ourselves from malicious parties and unscrupulous governments.
In the end, some amount of responsibility must fall to us, as consumers. We freely give up our personal information to apps, websites, and other new technologies and reap the benefits from doing so.
You can point fingers at Cambridge Analytica for using your data, or Facebook itself for collecting it in the first place, but if the public really cares about such privacy violations, then we must change our social understanding of privacy and how data can be collected and used.
Otherwise, we mustn’t be surprised if our personal data is eventually misused by companies like Cambridge Analytica or Facebook.
Commentaires