Nothing will come of it.
After all, it is the year of the 'mid-term' elections and few campaign contributions in the right places and it will all quietly go away.
Business as usual inside the Beltway then?
The US Federal Trade Commission has confirmed it is probing Facebook over privacy concerns, sending the social network's share price into a downward spiral. The FTC said in a statement on Monday it has launched a non-public investigation into reports of Facebook's policies amid continued revelations about Cambridge Analytica's …
Reports lately suggest that even if you have never had an FB account, they have some of your data (maybe more than just "some"). By having contact with a FB user/product, they got your info but claim it's only the metadata. Much like Google, they just keep slurping and storing and using what they slurp.
I do believe that one can not have too much paranoia with the likes of FB on the loose.
It didn't need to be discovered, it was logical. Faecbook logs every call a FB user makes and receives. Since there exist persons sensible enough not to be a Faecbook user it always had to be the case that data about non FB users is logged.
The laws need changing so that in these cases Faecbook can only record their victim^Huser made or received a call. Nothing at all about the 3rd party should be logged. Not the name, number, IMEI, IP address, not even whether the 3rd party is in the FB users contact list.
I would go even further. FB should be banned from logging details of calls to/from any number that could be in use by more than one person - all landlines for example. Only if a user proves they are the bill payer for a number and gives FB permission can FB user calls to from the number be logged.
Yeah, I'd love to post with a huge degree of smugness about the fact that I have never had a Facebook account. However it seems that the Android app in particular is a huge data sink so any communication I've ever had with someone who is on FB exists on their servers at least as metadata.
The only good thing about the data sharing and retention going on is that Amazon already know I want to order a tinfoil hat....
Does that mean that FB will guarantee the return or deletion of your information if you should request that? Also how do they prove to you that they no longer hold any information anywhere?
FaceBook and others always falling back on their (largely) unread T&Cs is a weasel get out, it's not ethical or moral. I have no idea what they have on me but it's not much since I quit an unused account more than ten years ago and have studiously blocked them with whatever I could find. Even so I am willing to bet they have more data than I would like via sites with FB like buttons etc.
If they do go to the wall I wonder what will fill the vacuum?
Anyone going to the Daily Mail website will automatically run a Facebook script, even if they are not a Facebook user. What is that script doing, has anyone checked.
The Daily Heil isn't the only website that runs a Facebook script. I believe Facebook are slurping up data from all over the place, whether they have permission is another matter.
This is what noscript is for.
The entire integration of sites like facebook, linkedin, etc and their leaching methodology relies on javascript + cookies fetched and set by these scriptlets. DISABLING their scripts while NOT on their websites is the most effective form of anti-tracking you can get out of the box. It is a bit more difficult with google, but possible as well (if you cannot disable it completely, you can at least shoot it in one of the kneecaps).
This alone justifies the use of NoScript across the board in my book. You want to track me? Sure. Have a go. Oh, your tracking scripts do not work. Pure thing, I will commiserate with you and shed a few crocodile tears...
Hardly! For a decade Facebook kept 'Undeleting' Posts on my Timeline. None of this ever showed up the Download-Data option either! Its proof Facebook never delete anything! And the Irish DPC??? Zero interest in investigating. Gave FB the boot a year ago, haven't look backed! Fuck-zuk!
So, The Zuck is trying to pull a Trump ? Fake news then ? Bollocks.
That's the problem with "dumb fucks", my boy. One day, they wake up.
I'm interested to know if Facebook included the mac_address, ssid, signal_strength,frequency,current_connection and access_points from the Graphs WIFI scan
As well as the latitude, longitude, altitude, heading and coordinates and list of Bluetooth connected devices nearby from it's Bluetooth scanning software in the data that users downloaded from Facebook?
Facebook has never been on my Android phone, I've never visited Facebook on my phone, I've never given Facebook my mobile number, but .... I visited a shop one day and later that day when checking a group facebook page a message popped up from the shop saying something along the lines of 'thank you for visiting us, if you have any questions just contact us.' I nearly fell off my chair - how the hell did Facebook link this together? My WiFi would have been on - I now try to remember to switch it off when out.
The death of Facebook cannot come quickly enough, although it is too late for our data. It would be hard to believe anyone that said 'yes, we have deleted all the data we hold on you'.
Where do we stand as regards the Data Protection Act, or whatever it's called these days, with the likes of FB, MS, Google, etc., etc.?
Interesting. Closed Door proceedings. The FCC hosts the "interrogation" where NSA, CIA, FBI and other 3 letter federal departments complain that facebook promised to provide all information available, but failed to tell them about the call and message metadata.
I think I'll join the other commentators and start wearing a tin foil hat