{"id":14890,"date":"2019-04-25T16:42:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T16:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/facebook-broke-canadian-privacy-law-joint-probe-finds.html"},"modified":"2019-04-25T16:42:50","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T16:42:50","slug":"facebook-broke-canadian-privacy-law-joint-probe-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/facebook-broke-canadian-privacy-law-joint-probe-finds.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook broke Canadian privacy law, joint probe finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest damning assessment<\/a> of Facebook\u2019s trampling of user privacy comes from the Canadian and Columbia privacy commissioners \u2014 which have just published the results of an investigation kicked off in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal last year.<\/p>\n

They found the social network company committed serious contraventions of local laws and failed generally to take responsibility for protecting the personal information of Canadians.<\/p>\n

Facebook <\/a> has disputed the findings and refused to implement the watchdogs\u2019 recommendations \u2014 including refusing to voluntarily submit to audits of its privacy policies and practices over the next five years.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said it therefore plans to take Facebook to Federal Court to seek an order to force it the company to correct its deficient privacy practices.<\/p>\n

Both watchdogs have also called for local privacy laws to be beefed up so that regulators have stronger sanctioning powers to protect the public\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook\u2019s refusal to act responsibly is deeply troubling given the vast amount of sensitive personal information users have entrusted to this company,\u201d said Daniel Therrien, privacy commissioner of Canada, in a statement. \u201cTheir privacy framework was empty, and their vague terms were so elastic that they were not meaningful for privacy protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stark contradiction between Facebook\u2019s public promises to mend its ways on privacy and its refusal to address the serious problems we\u2019ve identified \u2013 or even acknowledge that it broke the law \u2013 is extremely concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook has spent more than a decade expressing contrition for its actions and avowing its commitment to people\u2019s privacy. But when it comes to taking concrete actions needed to fix transgressions they demonstrate disregard,\u201d added B.C. information and privacy commissioner, Michael McEvoy, in another supporting statement. \u201cThe ability to levy meaningful fines would be an important starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is untenable that organizations are allowed to reject my office\u2019s legal findings as mere opinions,\u201d added Therrien.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve reached out to Facebook for comment.<\/p>\n

The privacy watchdogs combined their efforts<\/a> to investigate Facebook and Cambridge Analytica-linked data company Aggregate IQ last year \u2014 setting out to determine whether the companies had complied with local privacy laws.<\/p>\n

More than 600,000 Canadians had their data extracted from Facebook via an app whose developer was working with Cambridge Analytica <\/a> to try to build profiles of U.S. voters.<\/p>\n

Among the privacy-related deficiencies the two watchdogs are attaching to Facebook\u2019s business are what they dub \u201csuperficial and ineffective safeguards\u201d of user data that enabled unauthorized access by third party apps on its platform; a failure to obtain meaningful consent for the use of users\u2019 friends\u2019 data; a lack of proper oversight of the privacy practices of apps using Facebook\u2019s platform, with a reliance on contractual terms and \u201cwholly inadequate\u201d monitoring of compliance.<\/p>\n

All familiar stuff if you were following the twists and turns of the Cambridge Analytica data misuse saga last year. (Aleksandr Kogan, the third party app developer at the centre of the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal also accused Facebook of not having a valid developer policy<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The full report can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA basic principle of privacy laws is that organizations are responsible for the personal information under their control. Instead, Facebook attempted to shift responsibility for protecting personal information to the apps on its platform, as well as to users themselves,\u201d the watchdogs write, further accusing Facebook of an overall lack of responsibility for the personal data of users.<\/p>\n

They also point out that their findings are of particular concern given an earlier 2009 investigation of Facebook by the federal commissioner\u2019s office \u2014 which found similar contraventions with respect to Facebook seeking overly broad, uninformed consent for disclosures of personal information to third-party apps, as well as inadequate monitoring to protect against unauthorized data access by apps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Facebook had implemented the 2009 investigation\u2019s recommendations meaningfully, the risk of unauthorized access and use of Canadians\u2019 personal information by third party apps could have been avoided or significantly mitigated,\u201d they add.<\/p>\n

(Oh hai, deja vu<\/a>\u2026 )<\/p>\n

The commissioners are calling for not only the power to levy financial penalties on companies that break privacy laws \u2014 as equivalent watchdogs in Europe already can<\/a> \u2014 but also broader authority to inspect the practices of organizations to independently confirm privacy laws are being respected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis measure would be in alignment with the powers that exist in the U.K. and several other countries,\u201d they note.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving the federal Commissioner order-making powers would also ensure that his findings and remedial measures are binding on organizations that refuse to comply with the law,\u201d they add.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s data protection watchdog levied the maximum possible fine on Facebook last year<\/a> \u2014 although it\u2019s \u2018just\u2019 \u00a3500,000 (and Facebook is appealing, claiming there\u2019s no evidence that UK users\u2019 data was misused).<\/p>\n

But an updated pan-EU privacy framework, GDPR, which came into force after the Cambridge Analytica-related data misuse occurred, has massively upgraded the maximum possible fines that European data watchdogs can hand down for privacy violations. (And the Irish DPC, the lead privacy regulator for Facebook\u2019s European business, has a very long list of open probes against Facebook<\/a> and Facebook-owned platforms. So watch that space.)<\/p>\n

Earlier this year<\/a> a U.K. parliamentary committee which spend multiple months last year investigating Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, as part of a wider inquiry into online disinformation, called for Facebook\u2019s use of user data to be investigated by the privacy watchdog.<\/p>\n

The committee also urged the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority to undertake an antitrust probe Facebook\u2019s business practices, and recommended that the social media ad market face a comprehensive audit to address concerns about its lack of transparency.<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/iPoBosS_xYM\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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