BREAKING: Foreign Firm Flagged By US Intelligence Got YOUR User Data For Horrifying Reason.
Facebook user engagement has been in a freefall downward slide leaving the company scrambling
to figure out new methods for boosting its user engagement since it came under fire for
the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Zero Hedge reported on Facebook's recent "dirty trick" for trying to boost its
user engagement numbers – using phone numbers provided for two-factor authentication to
send users data they can "engage with" but didn't sign up for receiving via text
message.
They told "the story of Gabriel Lewis, who tweeted that Facebook texted "spam" to
the phone number he submitted for the purposes of 2-factor authentication.
And no, he insists he did not have mobile notifications turned on.
What's more, when he replied "stop" and "DO NOT TEXT ME," he says those messages
showed up on his Facebook wall."
Now in the latest bombshell revelation, we find that Facebook has also provided unrestricted
access to user data to at least four Chinese electronics companies, including government-linked
telecom giant Huawei.
These relationships were discovered and revealed as a part of a data sharing partnership program
which included a minimum of 60 major device manufacturers, including but not limited to
Apple, Amazon, Blackberry, Microsoft and Samsung.
This data sharing partnership allowed these companies to integrate various Facebook features
into their operating systems, thus giving them access to user data and that of the data
of the users' friends and family without their knowledge or consent.
Of particular concern is Huawei as lawmakers in Congress and top intelligence officials
have previously raised red flags over whether or not the Chinese government might be able
to demand access to data stored on Huawei devices or servers.
Naturally, Huawei denies any such claims, yet the Pentagon chose to take definitive
action and ban the sales of Huawei smartphones on U.S. military bases stemming from such
concerns.
According to the Washington Post – Facebook data was only ever stored on Huawei servers,
only directly on devices.
WaPo notes – "A spokesman for Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Facebook late Tuesday confirmed that it had worked with Huawei, as well as three other
Chinese firms, Lenovo, OPPO, and TCL.
Facebook said those arrangements were "controlled from the get-go — and we approved the Facebook
experiences these companies built.
Facebook's statement followed a day of silence about its relationships with Chinese firms,
which drew a sharp rebuke from Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va).
Warner said in a statement Tuesday that Facebook's relationships with Huawei and TCL raise 'legitimate
concerns, and I look forward to learning more about how Facebook ensured that information
about their users was not sent to Chinese servers.'"
Amid the fallout from this most recent discovery, Facebook claims they plan to wind down their
relationship with Huawei by the end of the week.
According to a New York Times report from Sunday evening, the data-sharing agreement
allowed manufacturers to access information on relationship status, calendar events, political
affiliations, and religion, among other things.
An Apple spokesman further revealed that the company relied on its private access to Facebook
data to allow users to post on the social network without opening the Facebook app itself.
This allowed manufacturers to access the data of users' friends and family without their
explicit consent.
This is all in spite of Facebook insisting to all and sundry that they would not and
had not allowed outside companies to access user data.
The NYT reports – "Facebook's view that the device makers are not outsiders lets the
partners go even further, The Times found: They can obtain data about a user's Facebook
friends, even those who have denied Facebook permission to share information with any third
parties.
In interviews, several former Facebook software engineers and security experts said they were
surprised at the ability to override sharing restrictions."
Despite significant public outcry and even Congressional interviews and the supposed
winding down of these partnerships up to and including the posting capabilities used by
Apple, Facebook continues to defend the data-sharing agreements.
They claim the data sharing agreements are in full compliance with the company's privacy
policies, as well as in compliance with a 2011 consent decree issued by the FTC.
Facebook officials claim they do not currently know of any cases where user information has
been misused.
"These partnerships work very differently from the way in which app developers use our
platform," said Ime Archibong, a Facebook vice president.
Unlike developers that provide games and services to Facebook users, the device partners can
use Facebook data only to provide versions of "the Facebook experience," the officials
said.
"These contracts and partnerships are entirely consistent with Facebook's F.T.C. consent
decree," said Archibong.
Yet it seems former FTC official Jessica Rich fully disagrees with Facebook's assessment
of the situation, stating – "Under Facebook's interpretation, the exception swallows the
rule.
They could argue that any sharing of data with third parties is part of the Facebook
experience.
And this is not at all how the public interpreted their 2014 announcement that they would limit
third-party app access to friend data."
Rich is now currently employed by the Consumers Union since leaving her position with the
FTC.
The NYT further discovered that because Facebook does not consider the device makers to be
outsiders, the data sharing partnerships go even a step further, allowing these companies
to access user data of a Facebook user's friends and family, even if they have previously
denied Facebook permission to share their personal information with third parties.
Zero Hedge reports of this additional breach discovery – "The discovery of the manufacturer
data-sharing agreements comes on the heels of a massive data harvesting scandal in which
the social media giant allowed third-party apps to gather massive quantities of user
information for various political and marketing purposes.
In March, political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica was revealed to have misused the
private information of tens of millions of Facebook users.
The Cambridge Analytica ordeal shed light on the pervasive collection of data which
has come under growing scrutiny since the scandal began in March.
What do you think about this?
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