New Facebook Privacy Furor: What's At Stake?

Facebook is at the center of another privacy furor, this one over its sharing of user data with device makers such as Apple, Amazon, Samsung and others over the past decade

 

The social network acknowledges the data sharing deals, which it says it’s — according to a New York Times report — it has struck with at least 60 device makers since 2007. But it says there’s nothing scandalous about them.

The arrangements raise a number of questions, among them whether Facebook failed to get the explicit consent of users before sharing their data. If so, that could place it in violation of a 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission. Facebook denies it shared user data without consent.

These device-maker deals could raise concerns similar to those in Facebook’s recent Cambridge Analytica scandal. That’s where a Trumpconnected political consulting firm used data derived from as many as 87 million Facebook profiles in order to sway election results.

In this case, however, it’s not clear how the device makers could have abused Facebook even if they wanted to. So far there’s no evidence that phone and tablet makers used Facebook data improperly, in sharp contrast to Cambridge Analytica consultants. Apple, for instance, said it has worked with Facebook for years to let its users share things on Facebook through iPhone and Mac apps.