Whom Do We Trust? Facebook, Google, Others?
June 10, 2020
Internet giants Google and Facebook keep assuring us they respect our privacy, but can we trust them? Facebook, for example, just promised the personal data it is supplying to Covid-19 researchers, academics, and humanitarian agencies is stripped of any identifying information. Daijiworld reports, “Facebook Says Not Sharing Users’ Data with Researchers, Academics.” We’re told:
“Over the past few months, public health researchers have used data sets released by Facebook to inform decisions around Covid-19 across Asia, Europe and North America.”
However, we are assured, Facebook’s Data for Good program protects users’ anonymity:
“The social networking giant said it has created a differential privacy framework that protects the privacy of individuals in aggregated datasets by ensuring no one can identify specific people in these datasets. In 2017, the company launched ‘Data for Good’ with the goal of empowering partners with data to help make progress on major social issues. … Facebook said the research partners enrolled in the ‘Data for Good’ programme only have access to aggregate information from Facebook and it does not share any individual information.”
Sounds great—but are we to simply take Facebook’s word for it? The company is not exactly known for its transparency.
Meanwhile, Inventiva reports, “Google Is Sued for Secretly Amassing a Vast Trove of User Web Data.” Despite that company’s pledge that users are in complete control of their data, a complaint recently filed in federal court in San Jose claims otherwise. The plaintiffs accuse Google of invasion of privacy and violations of federal wiretapping law. Writer Apurva Saxena reports:
“Google surreptitiously amasses billions of bits of information –every day — about internet users even if they opt out of sharing their information, three consumers alleged in a proposed class action lawsuit. … According to the suit, the company collects information, including IP addresses and browsing histories, whenever users visit web pages or use an app tied to common Google services, such as Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager. This makes ‘Google “one stop shopping” for any government, private, or criminal actor who wants to undermine individuals’ privacy, security, or freedom,’ the consumers allege.”
Companies like Facebook and Google (one might add in Amazon for good measure) have obtained a great deal of power and revenue through data collection, and we have only their promises that they are not violating user privacy. Who will hold them accountable? We shall see how this lawsuit pans out; similar suits have been summarily dismissed.
Cynthia Murrell, June 10, 2020
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