Monthly Archives: March 2018

Datenaffäre von Facebook und die EU

Deutsche Welle: Barley pocht bei Facebook auf umfassende Aufklärung. “Im Skandal um mutmaßlichen Missbrauch von Millionen Facebook-Daten erhöht Bundesjustizministerin Barley den Druck. Sie bestellte die Spitzen von Facebook Europe für kommende Woche in ihr Ministerium ein.”

“Schon zuvor hatte die Ministerin betont, es sei nicht hinnehmbar, dass Nutzer in sozialen Netzwerken “gegen ihren Willen ausgeleuchtet werden, um sie ganz gezielt mit Wahlwerbung oder Hass gegen den politischen Gegner zu bombardieren”. Solche Wahlkampfmethoden seien “eine Gefahr für die Demokratie”. Europa habe beim Datenschutz ein sehr viel strengeres Recht als die USA, betonte die Ministerin.

Auch die EU-Justizkommissarin Vera Jourová warnte angesichts des Datenskandals, die Demokratie sei bedroht. Sie sagte in Washington, in dem Fall gehe es nicht nur um den Schutz persönlicher Daten, er habe “massive Auswirkungen” auf die demokratische Debatte und Wahlen. Es sei in das Privatleben von Menschen eingegriffen worden, fügte sie hinzu. Es handele sich um eine “heftige Manipulation” von Meinungen, die sich in Wahlergebnissen spiegelten.”

Die Zeit: EU-Parlament lädt Mark Zuckerberg vor. “Nach der Datenaffäre will Präsident Antonio Tajani den Firmenchef vor dem EU-Parlament befragen. Erste US-Investoren reichen Klage gegen Facebook ein.”

Die Zeit: Datenaffäre: US-Investoren verklagen Facebook. “Anteilseigner fühlen sich von Facebook in die Irre geführt und haben Klage eingereicht. Das Unternehmen teilte mit, man sei sich “des Ernstes der Lage bewusst”.”

“Congress should focus on Facebook – but equally on Cambridge Analytica, engaging in theft and misuse of personal data, dirty tricks, and services for Russians”

The Washington Post: FTC opens investigation into Facebook after Cambridge Analytica scrapes millions of users’ personal information.

“Recently, though, former FTC officials have said that Facebook’s entanglement with Cambridge Analytica may have violated the company’s legal agreement with the federal watchdog agency. Whistleblowers in recent days contend that Cambridge Analytica collected information about users and their friends under a since-ceased policy governing third-party apps on Facebook – then kept that data even after Facebook asked that it be deleted.

About 270,000 users downloaded Cambridge Analytica’s app. But the firm was able to obtain personal information about their friends, who likely had no knowledge that their data was being collected. Roughly 50 million people may have been affected.

If the FTC ultimately finds that Facebook broke that agreement, it could fine the company $40,000 for each violation.”

More on this at MetaFilter : Six Degrees Of Surveillance.

“Whatever you came into government to do […] you have to commit to serve the public.”

The Washington Post: Trump’s view of public service: Officials serve him, not the public. “Trump’s use of nondisclosure agreements in the White House is the latest violation of the public trust.” By Ian Bassin. “Ian Bassin is the executive director of Protect Democracy and formerly served as an Associate White House Counsel to President Barack Obama.”

“That’s why it has been disturbing to have witnessed for the past year a complete upending of this concept by the current holder of that office. This week’s revelation by Ruth Marcus that President Trump had White House staff sign a nondisclosure agreement compelling their silence long after their government service is over, ostensibly to be enforceable by Trump personally, is the latest example. It’s not just a matter of law (though government does restrict disclosure of some confidential or classified information, these NDAs go far beyond those rules); it’s about principle, and what these NDAs signify about the president’s view of government work. At root, it has become clear that Trump doesn’t view public office as a public trust, but rather as a personal fiefdom, to be controlled by whomever is declared the winner of an election.”

Michael Wolff’s Trumpland tell-all, Fire and Fury, has set Washington ablaze

Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin: Michael Wolff, Chronicler of Chaos in Trumpland. (Listen or download, 53 minutes.)

“The man behind the book has gotten surprisingly little attention, even though it was partly Wolff’s position at the top of New York media’s social heap that won him Trump’s trust, and access to the White House. Alec set out to do a different Michael Wolff interview. At a live event at Manhattan’s Town Hall, audience-members learned about the Jewish kid from Jersey with a shoeleather reporter for a mom, who gave up on being a novelist to do big-money media deals – even as he wielded his poison pen against peers in the New York media elite. And Wolff lives up to his reputation as one of New York’s best conversationalists, giving answers by turns open, cantankerous, and very, very funny.”

If you prefer, you can also listen to the interview on YouTube.

This was published on 13 February, 2018, but I only listened to it tonight.