- 11 Apr 2018 00:29
#14904994
Look at his face, why is Zuckberberg so petrified?
Btw Ted Cruz used Cambridge Analytica for his campaign.
The Guardian
David Smith in Washington
@smithinamerica
Tue 10 Apr 2018 21.04 BST
- Senators express deep concern over mishandling of users’ data
- CEO promises to conduct a ‘full investigation’ into every app that has access to users’ data
[center-img]https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0ecedcaea935aef43100f89210a4f9b423c52f33/0_117_3000_1800/master/3000.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=59bf6a04ca6c653d9ea96f4d37516ce1[/center-img]
Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, was being grilled by the US Senate on Tuesday in what is widely seen as a moment of reckoning for America’s tech industry.
Looking pale and tense, the 33-year-old billionaire, who has enjoyed a career of unalloyed success, sat humbled and silent as senator after senator expressed deep concerns about the company’s mishandling of users’ personal information.
“Let me just cut to the chase,” said Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, before Zuckerberg started giving evidence. “If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are going to have any privacy any more. If Facebook and other online companies will not or cannot fix the privacy invasions, then we are going to have to. We, the Congress.”
Senator John Thune, a Republican and the chairman of the Senate commerce committee, noted that Facebook’s business model offers free service in exchange for personal data. “For this model to persist, both sides of the bargain need to know what’s involved,” he said. “I’m not convinced Facebook’s users have the information they need to make decisions.”
He told Zuckerberg that to many he embodies the American dream, but that could become “a privacy nightmare for the scores of people who used Facebook”.
In a calm and steady voice, Zuckerberg read from a prepared statement first released on Monday. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” he said. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
Then, under questioning, he promised that Facebook is conducting a “full investigation” into every app that has access to users’ information, numbering tens of thousands. “If we find they’re doing anything improper, we’ll ban them from Facebook,” he said.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook should not have trusted Cambridge Analytica’s assurance that it would stop using the personal information it harvested. “In retrospect, that was a mistake. We shouldn’t have taken their word for it. We considered that a closed case.”
He said one of his “biggest regrets” in running Facebook was being slow to identify the threat of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But he also claimed that the company has been more successful in removing “tens of thousands of accounts” set up to target subsequent elections in other countries. “This is an arms race,” he said of Russia.
Facebook has acknowledged that up to 87 million people, mostly in the US, had their personal information harvested from its site by Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm whose clients included Donald Trump’s election campaign. Shares in Facebook are down more than 14% since the revelations and there have been calls for tighter regulation of the industry.
Zuckerberg and Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, have been on a media apology tour since the Cambridge Analytica story broke in the Observer, the Guardian’s sister Sunday newspaper in the UK.
On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Zuckerberg entered the Senate committee room at 2.29pm, wearing a suit, white shirt and sky blue tie. Senators John Kennedy and Ron Johnson walked over, shook his hand and exchanged words and smiles. Zuckerberg then sat alone at a desk, surrounded by a thick forest of clicking cameras, like a prisoner in the dock. He sipped water from a glass and adjusted his chair nervously. He faced two rows of senators as the hearing got under way.
Zuckerberg was making his first appearance before Congress, at a joint hearing of the US Senate’s commerce and judiciary committees. Facebook hired several outside consultants to help coach Zuckerberg, even holding mock sessions to prepare him for questions.
Before the hearing began, three protesters stood up in the public gallery wearing comical giant spectacles – two pink pairs, one orange pair, with the words “Stop spying” written on their tinted lenses – holding paper signs that included the messages “Protect our privacy codepink” and “Like us on Facebook codepink.” A Capitol police officer warned: “Put the signs down or you’ll be arrested.” The signs were then confiscated by the police.
Members of Congress have discussed legislation that would strengthen data privacy protections and enforcement. Tighter regulation of how Facebook uses its members’ data could affect its ability to attract advertising revenue.
Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, has endorsed proposed legislation requiring social media sites to disclose the identities of buyers of online political campaign ads. Twitter said on Tuesday, that it supports the bill, called the Honest Ads Act.
Zuckerberg visited senators in closed-door meetings on Monday, previewing the public apology he planned to give on Tuesday. He will face a second grilling on Wednesday from the US House energy and commerce committee.
Look at his face, why is Zuckberberg so petrified?
Btw Ted Cruz used Cambridge Analytica for his campaign.
Me, well I used to be known as Plaro....