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To: scion who wrote (11454)	11/27/2018 9:38:59 AM
From: scion	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12881

Lawmakers criticize Facebook's Zuckerberg for UK parliament no-show NOVEMBER 27, 2018 / 1:13 PM / UPDATED 19 MINUTES AGO 3 MIN READ reuters.com LONDON (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) came under fire on Tuesday from lawmakers from several countries who accused the firm of undermining democratic institutions and lambasted chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for not answering questions on the matter. Facebook is being investigated by lawmakers in Britain after consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, obtained the personal data of 87 million Facebook users from a researcher, drawing attention to the use of data analytics in politics. Concerns over the social media giant’s practices, the role of political adverts and possible interference in the 2016 Brexit vote and U.S. elections are among the topics being investigated by British and European regulators. While Facebook says it complies with EU data protection laws, a special hearing of lawmakers from several countries around the world in London criticized Zuckerberg for declining to appear himself to answer questions on the topic. “We’ve never seen anything quite like Facebook, where, while we were playing on our phones and apps, our democratic institutions ... seem to have been upended by frat-boy billionaires from California,” Canadian lawmaker Charlie Angus said. “So Mr Zuckerberg’s decision not to appear here at Westminster (Britain’s parliament) to me speaks volumes.” Richard Allan, the vice president of policy solutions at Facebook who appeared in Zuckerberg’s stead, admitted Facebook had made mistakes but said it had accepted the need to comply with data rules. “I’m not going to disagree with you that we’ve damaged public trust through some of the actions we’ve taken,” Allan told the hearing. Facebook has faced a barrage of criticism from users and lawmakers after it said last year that Russian agents used its platform to spread disinformation before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, an accusation Moscow denies. Allan repeatedly declined to give an example of a person or app banned from Facebook for misuse of data, aside from the GSR app which gathered data in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Legal documents reviewed by Reuters show how the investigation by British lawmakers has led them to seize documents relating to Facebook from app developer Six4Three, which is in a legal dispute with Facebook. Damian Collins, chair of the culture committee which convened the hearing, said he would not release those documents on Tuesday as he was not in a position to do so, although he has said previously the committee has the legal power to. Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Mark Potter reuters.com

To: scion who wrote (11454)	12/19/2018 1:51:00 PM
From: scion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12881

D.C. attorney general sues Facebook over alleged privacy violations from Cambridge Analytica scandal By Tony Romm , Craig Timberg and Aaron C. Davis December 19 at 1:41 PM washingtonpost.com The attorney general for the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Facebook for allowing Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, to gain access to the names, “likes" and other personal data about tens of millions of the social site’s users without their permission. The lawsuit filed by Karl Racine marks the first major effort by regulators in the United States to penalize the tech giant for its entanglement with the firm. It could presage even tougher fines and other punishments still to come for Facebook as additional state and federal investigations continue. “Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data and how it was used,” Racine said in a statement. "Today’s lawsuit is about making Facebook live up to its promise to protect its users’ privacy.” Facebook said in a statement Wednesday it is "reviewing the complaint and look forward to continuing our discussions with attorneys general in DC and elsewhere.” The company’s stock had fallen more than 5 percent by early Wednesday afternoon. Racine told reporters that his office has “had discussions with a number of other states that are similarly interested in protecting the data and personal information of their consumers” -- but he said there is not yet a formal, multi-state lawsuit against the tech giant. Announcing the lawsuit, Racine said Facebook’s entanglement with Cambridge Analytica had exposed nearly half of all District residents' personal data to privacy and security risks. Citing the region’s consumer-protection law, the attorney general’s contended that Facebook misled users about the security of their data, made it difficult for users to control their privacy settings and failed to inform them promptly after discovering Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed personal information. The lawsuit also took issue with other business practices at Facebook, including its relationships with device-makers such as BlackBerry that could access social data in ways that could “override” a user’s privacy settings. In response, the attorney general’s office said the District seeks an injunction to “ensure Facebook puts in place protocols and safeguards to monitor users’ data," along with “restitution for consumers, penalties, and costs.” The lawsuit comes as Facebook continues to face criticism around the world for mismanaging its users' personal information. Last week, for example, the company admitted that some users' photos may have been improperly accessed by third-party apps. On Tuesday, new details emerged about Facebook’s extensive data-sharing arrangements with corporate partners including Amazon and Spotify. The report from The New York Times quickly triggered another round of calls from Capitol Hill for the tech giant to be penalized. D.C. officials said Wednesday their lawsuit could be amended in the future to include more recent allegations of improper data collection and use. Facebook’s troubles with Cambridge Analytica came to light in March, after a whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, revealed that the political firm sought to create “psychographic” profiles about social-media users and target them with messages that preyed on their hopes and fears. Before it shut down, Cambridge Analytica for a time had been managed by Steve Bannon, who was the company’s vice president and later served as a top advisor to President Trump. Cambridge Analytica in 2014 used data collected by a quiz app, which gathered information on those who used it as well as their friends, which numbered in the hundreds for many users. That data included names, home towns, religious and educational backgrounds, friend lists and other data, researchers said at the time. In total, the effort allowed Cambridge Analytica to harvest insights on more than 87 million users around the world, including 71 million Americans, Facebook previously revealed. The revelation unleashed unprecedented global scrutiny of Facebook’s privacy practices and a wave of investigations, including the United States, where Facebook now faces the prospect of serious fines. The federal investigation involving the Security and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department has been underway for months, focusing in part on whether Facebook’s representations to investors regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal have been full and accurate. The FTC is also probing whether Facebook’s relationship with Cambridge Analytica -- and its handling of users’ data -- violated a 2011 agreement brokered by the agency that required the tech giant to improve its privacy practices. Regulators in the United Kingdom announced earlier this year they would penalize Facebook -- a $625,000 fine -- but the company has contested it in court. Previously, Facebook declined to make its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, available to testify in front of lawmakers from the UK and eight other countries that remain concerned about the Cambridge Analytica controversy. washingtonpost.com