6 ms·

Meta to pay $725M to settle Cambridge Analytica lawsuit

63 points by doppp 4y ago

sigmonsays 4y ago
that's it?
- SQueeeeeL 4y ago
  Obviously. We can't actually punish bad actors, because it would set a president that the pursuit of profit at the expense of individual freedom is actually dangerous. Much better to give out ritualistic slaps on the wrist to run on headlines and reinstill trust in our endlessly crumbling system. Be on the lookout at Meta's campaign contributions in the next few years, I'm sure none of the regulatory bodies of US communications will be on it :)
somethoughts 4y ago
As a user - how does one even attempt to get their portion of the payout? Instead of the settlement paying off lawyers and the remaining scraps being distributed as 1 cent to each consumer - the settlements should go to fund some sort of oversight board - sort of like the SEC/CFTC but for social media. That oversight board can then sprout and grow and then look for future funding by taxing social media companies. Or fund some sort of healthy social media consumption education organization - kind of like what we already did/do with the cigarette settlements/taxes.
ergocoder 4y ago
How do we punish the Cambridge analytica's founders and employees? Since this seems like a big deal that FB is fined 725M
- fanso99 4y ago
  The main perpetrator in this case - Alexandr Kogan (now Spectre) - is now a tech entrepreneur leading a company with an investment from a US-based accelerator 43 North. That's how we punish them.
strangelove026 4y ago
I just got my equifax payout. A whopping $5.21 USD. It looks like they were charged $700MM? I think those in charge should really actually throw the book at these corporations for a change... Not very likely though.
- crazygringo 4y ago
  Me too, just 3 days ago! Speaking of things I never thought would actually happen, since it's 3 years later. A far cry from the $125 promised, but it's kind of like having a little piece of history, a tiny sign there's some accountability occasionally.
  - MarcelOlsz 4y ago
    Accountability is these companies not existing. We live in a "you'll fucking buy it anyways" economy now. All a fake variation on a problem that was solved 100 years ago. The people at the top are scraping as much from us as possible to fund their fear Mansions in New Zealand. It is a small club at the top and they all share a sandbox. You're not allowed in. It's over. The cancer has metastasized and the rich have won.
    - zamalek 4y ago
      > live in a "you'll fucking buy it anyways" economy now. In the case of Equifax, you are basically forced to use them (as the choice isn't yours to make).
    - survirtual 4y ago
      It isn’t over. There are means to still fight and win. Nothing is over here until all of us stop breathing. The first victory is realizing that for our own internal struggle. I look forward to the day when our shared suffering is a distant memory, and I know that day will come.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
baeaz 4y ago
Let's remember that this is because Facebook had an open API that a 3rd party developer abused with the consent of the users. In case you wonder why nobody bothers to have open APIs for anything anymore. (cf. Twitter 10 years ago and today)
- fanso99 4y ago
  I might be remembering the details wrong, but wasn't the main issue that users half-knowingly allowed spying on their friends without any consent required from those friends? Open API isn't the reason this abuse happened IMO - Facebook failed to prevent massive data collection on users who did not give any consent.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - baeaz 4y ago
    Sure - if you give a 3rd party application API access using your account, they can see whatever your friends have made available to you. This is as if my friends sued Facebook because I gave you my password and you used it to snoop on them.
    - fanso99 4y ago
      I am not buying this. It's borderline victim-blaming. An informed consent must be required. Giving access to an app is not the same as sharing your password with them and explicitly allowing them to do anything they want. Saying that, even if you do share your password, the app should not be able to collect data on your friends without their consent. There is a huge difference between you stalking someone else's friends and a company collecting billions of data points to use for political manipulation. The purpose, the scale, the incentives are different. We need to stop assuming that the rules should be the same for an individual and a business just because they use the same loophole.
      - baeaz 4y ago
footlose_3815 4y ago
[dead]
ngcc_hk 4y ago
Just wonder what tip tok could do for the data they collected. Could it be used for china whatsoever purpose.

63 points by doppp 4y ago

sigmonsays 4y ago

that's it?

SQueeeeeL 4y ago
Obviously. We can't actually punish bad actors, because it would set a president that the pursuit of profit at the expense of individual freedom is actually dangerous. Much better to give out ritualistic slaps on the wrist to run on headlines and reinstill trust in our endlessly crumbling system. Be on the lookout at Meta's campaign contributions in the next few years, I'm sure none of the regulatory bodies of US communications will be on it :)

somethoughts 4y ago

As a user - how does one even attempt to get their portion of the payout? Instead of the settlement paying off lawyers and the remaining scraps being distributed as 1 cent to each consumer - the settlements should go to fund some sort of oversight board - sort of like the SEC/CFTC but for social media. That oversight board can then sprout and grow and then look for future funding by taxing social media companies. Or fund some sort of healthy social media consumption education organization - kind of like what we already did/do with the cigarette settlements/taxes.

ergocoder 4y ago

How do we punish the Cambridge analytica's founders and employees? Since this seems like a big deal that FB is fined 725M

fanso99 4y ago
The main perpetrator in this case - Alexandr Kogan (now Spectre) - is now a tech entrepreneur leading a company with an investment from a US-based accelerator 43 North. That's how we punish them.

strangelove026 4y ago

I just got my equifax payout. A whopping $5.21 USD. It looks like they were charged $700MM? I think those in charge should really actually throw the book at these corporations for a change... Not very likely though.

crazygringo 4y ago
Me too, just 3 days ago! Speaking of things I never thought would actually happen, since it's 3 years later. A far cry from the $125 promised, but it's kind of like having a little piece of history, a tiny sign there's some accountability occasionally.
- MarcelOlsz 4y ago
  Accountability is these companies not existing. We live in a "you'll fucking buy it anyways" economy now. All a fake variation on a problem that was solved 100 years ago. The people at the top are scraping as much from us as possible to fund their fear Mansions in New Zealand. It is a small club at the top and they all share a sandbox. You're not allowed in. It's over. The cancer has metastasized and the rich have won.
  - zamalek 4y ago
    > live in a "you'll fucking buy it anyways" economy now. In the case of Equifax, you are basically forced to use them (as the choice isn't yours to make).
  - survirtual 4y ago
    It isn’t over. There are means to still fight and win. Nothing is over here until all of us stop breathing. The first victory is realizing that for our own internal struggle. I look forward to the day when our shared suffering is a distant memory, and I know that day will come.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

baeaz 4y ago

Let's remember that this is because Facebook had an open API that a 3rd party developer abused with the consent of the users. In case you wonder why nobody bothers to have open APIs for anything anymore. (cf. Twitter 10 years ago and today)

fanso99 4y ago
I might be remembering the details wrong, but wasn't the main issue that users half-knowingly allowed spying on their friends without any consent required from those friends? Open API isn't the reason this abuse happened IMO - Facebook failed to prevent massive data collection on users who did not give any consent.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- baeaz 4y ago
  Sure - if you give a 3rd party application API access using your account, they can see whatever your friends have made available to you. This is as if my friends sued Facebook because I gave you my password and you used it to snoop on them.
  - fanso99 4y ago
    I am not buying this. It's borderline victim-blaming. An informed consent must be required. Giving access to an app is not the same as sharing your password with them and explicitly allowing them to do anything they want. Saying that, even if you do share your password, the app should not be able to collect data on your friends without their consent. There is a huge difference between you stalking someone else's friends and a company collecting billions of data points to use for political manipulation. The purpose, the scale, the incentives are different. We need to stop assuming that the rules should be the same for an individual and a business just because they use the same loophole.
    - baeaz 4y ago

footlose_3815 4y ago

[dead]

ngcc_hk 4y ago

Just wonder what tip tok could do for the data they collected. Could it be used for china whatsoever purpose.