More than a twelvemonth ago , Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg put down out on his personal page a “ timeline ” related to the Cambridge Analytica “ situation . ” But he drop a central musical composition of selective information , which was finally made public on Friday .
Asreported in March , internal emails show a Facebook employee warned the company about Cambridge Analytica in September 2015 , saying it was employ in some “ sketchy ” data point - harvest home activities . For most of the year , Facebook has fought smartly in court to prevent that electronic mail from being disclosed to the world . For reason not immediately clear , it ’s lawyer folded this hebdomad andagreed to its release .
“ The District of Columbia fought to make this text file public because we think the American the great unwashed have a right to make love what and when Facebook have intercourse about its data point security weaknesses , ” said a voice for the office of the lawyer general for the District of Columbia . “ According to the conversation this document contains , Facebook employee were raising alarm clock about political better half and doubts about their compliance with Facebook ’s data policies as far back as September 2015 . ”
Photo: Francois Mori / AP
The attorney general for the District of Columbia , Karl A. Racine , is presently suing Facebook , arguing that its privacy insurance policy during the 2016 election were in direct violation of the District ’s Consumer Protection Procedure ’s Act . The office has said in royal court that nigh half of all D.C. residents were sweep up in the Cambridge Analytica incident . In total , the political consultancy unsuitably incur information on as many as 87 million users of the social connection , according toFacebook .
Facebook has repeatedly register movement signify to derail the case , arguing that , even though Facebook keep up an billet in D.C. , the District miss personal jurisdiction . The society also argue that the text file released Friday contain sensitive commercial information . Attorneys for the District disputed Facebook ’s claims , however , saying that its expostulation to releasing the documents was “ finally reputational . ”
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1164933631342718976
Facebook” class=”size-full wp-image-1851745578″ /> Screenshot:Facebook
What the emails show is that months before Facebook read that its substance abuser data was being illegally deal with Cambridge Analytica , Facebook employee based in D.C. had pressed the company to investigate a “ sketchy , ” but unrelated , Cambridge Analytica data - scrapping mathematical process .
Zuckerberg neglected to mention this in hisletter to the publicabout Cambridge Analytica . And perhaps for obvious reasons : It shows Facebook was at least aware that the firm was engaged in ( to use its own employee ’s Word of God ) “ sketchy ” bodily function month before Zuckerberg claim to have “ learn ” about the business firm by read a Guardian news report .
Facebook said in a statement it is “ agreeing ” to liberate the electronic mail , which belies the fact that it spent months stress to prevent its release :
Today we are agreeing with the District of Columbia Attorney General to collectively make public a September 2015 document in which Facebook employees discuss public data scraping . We believe this document has the potential difference to discombobulate two dissimilar events surrounding our knowledge of Cambridge Analytica . There is no substantively fresh entropy in this written document and the issues have been previously reported . As we have enounce many time , including last weekto a British parliamentary committee , these are two distinct issues . One involved unconfirmed write up of scrap — accessing or collecting public information from our product using automate mean value — and the other involved insurance intrusion by Aleksandr Kogan , an app developer who sold user data to Cambridge Analytica . This document examine the issue are separate ; conflating them has the potential to mislead people .
Last calendar month , the Federal Trade Commission announce Facebook wouldpay a $ 5 billion fine , the largest ever give down for infringement of consumer privacy , after a year - retentive investigation into the Cambridge Analytica incident . The company also agree to ask users ’ license before share their data point beyond what ’s pin down in its privacy options .
you’re able to read Facebook ’s intact statementhere . Read the full Cambridge Analytica emailhere .
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