Why are Facebook and Cambridge Analytica in the news. In a nutshell, because the personal data of 50 million people was pulled from Facebook by a company contracted by Cambridge Analytica and used for. Facebook later said the number may have been even higher:. The third-party firm, Global Science Research, used a clicky personality quiz to get people to interact with the app, which then of that user, and also the same data relating to all their friends -- typically 200-300 other people per user. Facebook issued a press release Friday, March 9, saying they had banned Cambridge Analytica, Aleksandr Kogan and Christopher Wylie from facebook cambridge analytica platform because they had improperly shared and failed to delete that data, but that seems to have been a pre-emptive move. Late that day, published a detailed interview with whistleblower Christopher Wylie, a former Cambridge Analytica staffer, who was involved in building its data operations to scrape user data from Facebook. Cambridge Analytica co-founder Christopher Wylie opens up The Guardian claims Facebook threatened to sue to keep the story under wraps, while Cambridge Analytica said it was working within the terms and conditions of Facebook's platform, and that the third party was to blame for any breach of trust or privacy. On Monday, March 12, Channel 4 News, a U. What to know about Cambridge Analytica Who's the bad guy in all this. Depends on your point of view. Cambridge Analytica, through a third party facebook cambridge analytica, definitely made the most of the tools available to them to mine Facebook for every ounce of data it could reach without breaking the law, and may have used that data beyond the scope of what was permissible. Global Science Research, that third party, were the ones who crafted the personality quiz for maximum efficacy, and actually did the data extraction. But the spotlight is certainly on Facebook for permitting that loophole to exist in the first place, for failing to protect its users' personal data, and for not acting, nor being transparent about it when they knew there had been problems. Who is Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie. Christopher Wylie is the whistleblower, an early employee of Cambridge Analytica who detailed their data-scraping techniques in a from his experience putting it into practice. Wylie was one of the actors banned from the platform by Facebook, something he says is regrettable. Not in the classic, sense, no, in that the data wasn't stolen in a hack. Nobody broke into somebody's account and pilfered data. But that's what makes it so worrying -- they didn't have to. Facebook, through its app protocols at the time, allowed an organization to rifle through users' accounts willy-nilly and take their personal data without any real informed consent. Sure, it may be correct to say it wasn't a breach, by dictionary definition, but for more than 50 million end users, the net effect was the same. Their data was taken without their knowledge, potentially to facebook cambridge analytica used against them. Lawmakers demand answers from Facebook over Cambridge Analytica Should I be worried. That depends on your point of view. Facebook says it's working to ensure that all the data extracted is no longer in circulation,or stored anywhere that could be hacked. But what's more important is to stay informed on what the apps you use do with your data. Facebook profiles its users, their likes and interests in minute detail to help advertisers and other groups -- like political action groups -- reach them and convince them to vote, buy things and take certain actions. If that seems concerning facebook cambridge analytica you, learn about your security settings and consider limiting your use of platforms that allow more access to your information than you're happy with.
