“The Federal Trade Commission has an open investigation into Facebook’s growing privacy scandal, it revealed Monday,” Francesca Chambers reports for The Daily Mail. “The regulator’s acting director, Tom Pahl, made the announcement in a statement which immediately send Facebook’s share price plunging.”
“He also raised the prospect of a massive fine for Mark Zuckerberg’s social network because it had entered into a consent decree in 2011 about the use of personal data and any breach of that can be punished by the regulator,” Chambers reports. “If the FTC finds Facebook violated terms of the consent decree, it has the power to fine the company thousands of dollars a day per violation, which could add up to billions of dollars.”
“Shares in Facebook fell from an opening price of $160.82 to as low as $150.36 in the minutes after the announcement was made,” Chambers reports. “The latest blow to the social network was the revelation that it had been scraping call data from Android phones for years, meaning that people who had the Facebook app on their phone were handing over the numbers they called and texted and received replies from… Last week as the backlash grew, the co-founder of messaging service WhatsApp, Brian Acton, suggested it was time for users to ‘delete Facebook.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last Friday:
Two monopolies, at least, have become too powerful: Facebook and Google. The U.S. has remedies available to it. The country just needs to find the backbone to utilize them.
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Cook calls for more data oversight, ‘well-crafted regulation’ after Facebook debacle – March 26, 2018
Facebook has been collecting call history and SMS data from Android devices for years; Apple iOS devices unaffected – March 25, 2018
Apple CEO Cook ramps up pressure on Facebook, calls for more regulations on data privacy – March 24, 2018
Steve Jobs tried to warn Mark Zuckerberg about privacy in 2010 – March 23, 2018
Facebook has gotten too big, too powerful, too influential for Mark Zuckerberg to handle – March 23, 2018
How to block Facebook completely from your Mac – March 22, 2018
How Facebook made it impossible to delete Facebook – March 22, 2018
What to expect from Facebook’s Zuckerberg if he testifies before Congress – March 21, 2018
Why Facebook’s blatant disregard for users’ privacy could be very good for Apple – March 21, 2018
Facebook’s surveillance machine – March 21, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg AWOL from Facebook’s damage control session – March 20, 2018
U.S. FTC reportedly probing Facebook’s abuse of personal data as UK summons Zuckerberg for questioning – March 20, 2018
The problem isn’t Cambridge Analytica: It’s Facebook – March 19, 2018
Apple: Privacy is a fundamental right – September 27, 2017
It’s past time for you to STOP USING FACEBOOK – March 19, 2018
Delete your Facebook: The only way to win the social game is not to play – March 19, 2018
How you access the super creepy data that Facebook has on you – March 12, 2018
Facebook asks users: Should we allow men to ask children for sexual images? – March 6, 2018
Study: Facebook is for old people – February 12, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg is fighting to save Facebook; announces major change to News Feed – January 12, 2018
Facebook developing ‘Portal’ gadget which will let it put microphones and cameras in people’s homes – January 11, 2018
Facebook is giving the US government more and more data – December 21, 2017
Former Facebook exec: Facebook is ‘destroying how society works’ – December 11, 2017
Apple’s cutting-edge ‘differential privacy’ is opt-in – June 24, 2016
Apple’s cutting-edge ‘differential privacy’ offers unique option for technology users – June 20, 2016
Apple’s use of cutting-edge tech will peek at user habits without violating privacy – June 16, 2016
Apple unveils iOS 10, the mother of all iOS releases – June 13, 2016
Apple previews major update with macOS Sierra – June 13, 2016
Apple seeks to use AI to keep Google off your iPhones, iPads, and Macs – June 15, 2016
Edward Snowden: Apple is a privacy pioneer – June 5, 2015
Tim Cook gets privacy and encryption: We shouldn’t surrender them to Google – June 4, 2015
Tim Cook attacks Google, U.S. federal government over right to privacy abuses – June 3, 2015
The price you’ll pay for Google’s ‘free’ photo storage – June 3, 2015
Apple CEO Tim Cook champions privacy, blasts ‘so-called free services’ – June 3, 2015
Passing on Google Photos for iOS: Read the fine print before you sign up for Google’s new Photos service – June 1, 2015
Why Apple’s Photos beats Google Photos, despite price and shortcomings – May 30, 2015
Is Apple is losing the photo wars? – May 29, 2015
How Google aims to delve deeper into users’ lives – May 29, 2015
Apple CEO Cook: Unlike some other companies, Apple won’t invade your right to privacy – March 2, 2015
Survey: People trust U.S. NSA more than Google – October 29, 2014
Edward Snowden’s privacy tips: ‘Get rid of Dropbox,” avoid Facebook and Google – October 13, 2014
Apple CEO Tim Cook ups privacy to new level, takes direct swipe at Google – September 18, 2014
Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for government, police – even with search warrants – September 18, 2014
U.S. NSA watching, tracking phone users with Google Maps – January 28, 2014
U.S. NSA secretly infiltrated Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say – October 30, 2013
Google has already inserted some U.S. NSA code into Android – July 10, 2013
Court rules NSA doesn’t have to reveal its semi-secret relationship with Google – May 22, 2013
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
I ain’t studyin’ ary Facebook, never joined the mess. It’s YouTube that concerns me because I like to use it for all kinds of how to stuff. We need a competitive YouTube choice! Loathe goog mess.
who is the “dumb fúck” now, Zuck?
I don’t understand the fuss over this FB fiasco. I’m not an FB fan but they are not doing (or did) anything much different than Google does/did, NOR was this latest gaff any different than what O did in 2012 with FB. Cambridge Analytical probably took their cue from O & FB 2012, plus Google.
What I am surprised with – is that suddenly some people act like they didn’t know that this data swap, stealing, (looking the other way) was going on!
I hope that the FTC/Gov gets tough on data mining but it seems like most people don’t care.
Exactly. For years Google did a poor job of vetting apps on Android and malware ensued. There was never an equivalent Google privacy scandal.
Maybe there are other issues at play. For example, maybe Facebook refuses to allow a US Government, Trump Administration, etc. backdoor into private accounts or something.