Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE —Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has joined with 37 state attorneys general seeking information from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the social media giant’s business practices and privacy protections.
Shapiro led the bipartisan AG coalition in sending a letter demanding answers from Zuckerberg.
“Businesses like Facebook must comply with the law when it comes to how they use their customers’ personal data,” Shapiro said in an emailed news release.
Shapiro said state attorneys general have an important role to play in holding them accountable.
In their letter to Zuckerberg, the AGs write that news reports indicate the data of at least 50 million Facebook profiles may have been misused by third-party software developers. Facebook’s policies allowed developers to access the personal data of “friends” of people who used certain applications — without the knowledge or consent of these users.
“Pennsylvania residents using Facebook — and users across the country — deserve to know where their data is going, and what it is being used for,” Shapiro said. “Facebook needs to answer our questions so we can know if the company is upholding its end of the bargain with its customers.”
The letter to Zuckerberg, initiated by Shapiro and joined by the 37 other attorneys general, raises a series of questions about the social networking site’s policies and practices, including:
• Were those terms of service clear and understandable?
• How did Facebook monitor what these developers did with all the data that they collected?
• What type of controls did Facebook have over the data given to developers?
• Did Facebook have protective safeguards in place, including audits, to ensure developers were not misusing the Facebook user’s data?
• How many users in the states of the signatory attorneys general were impacted?
• When did Facebook learn of this breach of privacy protections?
• During this time-frame, what other third party “research” applications were also able to access the data of unsuspecting Facebook users?
The attorneys general write in the letter: “Facebook apparently contends that this incident of harvesting tens of millions of profiles was not the result of a technical data breach; however, the reports allege that Facebook gave away the personal data of users who never authorized these developers to obtain it, and relied on terms of service and settings that were confusing and perhaps misleading to its users.”
Joining Attorney General Shapiro in leading the letter were attorneys general Tim Fox (R-Mont.), Ellen Rosenblum (D-Ore.), Marty Jackley (R-SD) and George Jepsen (D-Conn.).
“Consumers everywhere deserve answers in light of recent revelations regarding the unauthorized harvesting of data from tens of millions of Facebook profiles,” said Fox.
Rosenblum said as a bipartisan group of attorneys general, the group cares deeply about the privacy of constituents personal information.
“Just because they use Facebook and sign up for apps does not mean consumers have signed a lifetime agreement to give up their privacy,” Rosenblum said. “We have asked Facebook several important questions, and we expect clear answers from them. We must be assured that a breach or ‘leak’ of this nature will not happen again.”
Jackley said Facebook provides its users significant opportunity to share events and personal information and as attorney general, he is working to protect consumers from the loss of personal information through data-harvesting and breaches.
“Facebook is being cooperative with our office in determining the best course of action to deal with the data loss that might have occurred for South Dakota residents,” Jackley said.
Jepsen said the situation involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica raises significant concerns about Facebook’s policies and practices relating to user privacy, as well as the truthfulness and clarity of representations made to users concerning the uses of their data.
“We take this very seriously and are collectively engaging Facebook to get to the bottom of what happened and to ensure that these privacy concerns are addressed,” Jepsen said.
