10 ms·

So FB opened up their platform to 3rd party Devs in 2007 and this CA incident happened in 2013. FB changed their policy of not allowing broad data access to the

So FB opened up their platform to 3rd party Devs in 2007 and this CA incident happened in 2013. FB changed their policy of not allowing broad data access to these Devs in 2014. So my question is: Why they admit that they'd audit the pre-2014 apps now when NYT and Guardian/Observer broke the news? And what policy is in place now that makes sure that these 3rd party Devs won't sell whatever info they do collect as per post-2014 policy? I am not satisfied with what Mark said just now. We need more answers.

d4l3k 9y ago
They probably assumed that if devs couldn't access the data anymore it wouldn't be a problem in the future. > We'll require developers to not only get approval but also sign a contract in order to ask anyone for access to their posts or other private data. Sounds like they'll make the developer agreement legally binding so they can take legal action for violating the ToS.
- cinquemb 9y ago
  I kind of doubt that this action will stop all of the devs that check in their api keys into public repos everyday that are then used by other parties, but at least it will allow facebook to cover their ass a bit more.
downandout 9y ago
Why they admit that they'd audit the pre-2014 apps now when NYT and Guardian/Observer broke the news? I don't know, they should have done it when Obama committed even worse Facebook privacy violations back in 2008/2012. I guess when you have Chris Hughes working for your campaign, it's easier to keep things under wraps and spin what does become public as a positive. It was only after Trump won that this kind of use of the data became an issue for the press. The Obama-era articles on this subject actually celebrated the use of these techniques almost universally. And what policy is in place now that makes sure that these 3rd party Devs won't sell whatever info they do collect as per post-2014 policy? You're not understanding what he said. The Facebook platform was completely neutered in 2014. They broke my (and most other developers') apps by disabling access to almost any friend information, even things as mundane as public profile pictures. In fact, these days, more information can be gleaned by scraping publicly available data from Facebook than can be obtained through the API. The post-2014 policy has zero chance of any friend data being sold/abused/whatever, because apps simply don't have access to the data anymore.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > when Obama committed even worse Facebook privacy violations back in 2008/2012 Obama's campaign said they were scraping for academic purposes, downloaded a bunch of data and then lied about deleting it? There are multiple levels of B.S. when it comes to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. Only one finds comparison in the 2008 or 2012 races (on either side).
  - daodedickinson 9y ago
    They didn't tell Facebook what they were doing and then, when they took way more than Facebook was expecting, Facebook was okay with it because of politics or being too afraid to oppose it. Then the all political opposition was powerless to complete with that efficiency of targeting and had to pull off a heist to even the playing field before the politics of social media company executives became the only relevant politics. It's not like academics are any morally superior to anyone else anyway so I don't think Facebook should be handing that stuff out to anyone.
    - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      > They didn't tell Facebook what they were doing Source?
      - downandout 9y ago
        https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/facebook-data-scandal-trump-election-obama-2012/ https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/facebook-data-... "Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn't stop us once they realized that was what we were doing." - Carol Davidsen, Former Obama Campaign Director
        JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        > Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn't stop us once they realized that was what we were doing The extraction of Facebook's social graph is the element I agree "finds comparison in the 2008 or 2012 races" [1]. But Obama's campaign didn't mis-represent its identity nor intentions to Facebook. Kogan and Cambridge Analytica did. Obama's campaign didn't lie about deleting its data when asked to (which, to my understanding, it wasn't). Kogan and Cambridge Analytica did. Moreover, Obama's campaign reported its backers to the FEC; Kogan and Cambridge Analytica do not. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16642536 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16642536

d4l3k 9y ago

They probably assumed that if devs couldn't access the data anymore it wouldn't be a problem in the future. > We'll require developers to not only get approval but also sign a contract in order to ask anyone for access to their posts or other private data. Sounds like they'll make the developer agreement legally binding so they can take legal action for violating the ToS.

cinquemb 9y ago
I kind of doubt that this action will stop all of the devs that check in their api keys into public repos everyday that are then used by other parties, but at least it will allow facebook to cover their ass a bit more.

downandout 9y ago

Why they admit that they'd audit the pre-2014 apps now when NYT and Guardian/Observer broke the news? I don't know, they should have done it when Obama committed even worse Facebook privacy violations back in 2008/2012. I guess when you have Chris Hughes working for your campaign, it's easier to keep things under wraps and spin what does become public as a positive. It was only after Trump won that this kind of use of the data became an issue for the press. The Obama-era articles on this subject actually celebrated the use of these techniques almost universally. And what policy is in place now that makes sure that these 3rd party Devs won't sell whatever info they do collect as per post-2014 policy? You're not understanding what he said. The Facebook platform was completely neutered in 2014. They broke my (and most other developers') apps by disabling access to almost any friend information, even things as mundane as public profile pictures. In fact, these days, more information can be gleaned by scraping publicly available data from Facebook than can be obtained through the API. The post-2014 policy has zero chance of any friend data being sold/abused/whatever, because apps simply don't have access to the data anymore.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> when Obama committed even worse Facebook privacy violations back in 2008/2012 Obama's campaign said they were scraping for academic purposes, downloaded a bunch of data and then lied about deleting it? There are multiple levels of B.S. when it comes to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. Only one finds comparison in the 2008 or 2012 races (on either side).
- daodedickinson 9y ago
  They didn't tell Facebook what they were doing and then, when they took way more than Facebook was expecting, Facebook was okay with it because of politics or being too afraid to oppose it. Then the all political opposition was powerless to complete with that efficiency of targeting and had to pull off a heist to even the playing field before the politics of social media company executives became the only relevant politics. It's not like academics are any morally superior to anyone else anyway so I don't think Facebook should be handing that stuff out to anyone.
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    > They didn't tell Facebook what they were doing Source?
    - downandout 9y ago
      https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/facebook-data-scandal-trump-election-obama-2012/ https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/facebook-data-... "Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn't stop us once they realized that was what we were doing." - Carol Davidsen, Former Obama Campaign Director
      - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        > Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn't stop us once they realized that was what we were doing The extraction of Facebook's social graph is the element I agree "finds comparison in the 2008 or 2012 races" [1]. But Obama's campaign didn't mis-represent its identity nor intentions to Facebook. Kogan and Cambridge Analytica did. Obama's campaign didn't lie about deleting its data when asked to (which, to my understanding, it wasn't). Kogan and Cambridge Analytica did. Moreover, Obama's campaign reported its backers to the FEC; Kogan and Cambridge Analytica do not. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16642536 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16642536