Have you posted to friends on Facebook today? If so, just how much of your information and theirs is up for the taking?
That’s the questions some users may be asking after revelations that a firm (Cambridge Analytica) which worked for the Trump campaign in 2016 may have recovered data from 50 million Facebook accounts without anyone’s permission.
“This company was taking millions of Americans user data to try to sort of influence or to pander to their opinions to get them on board with a specific campaign,” said Lauren Dingus, who is a web and graphic designer for Speros.
Dingus says the issue for her and like others is that the company didn’t have permission to view or use the data. “So I think people would be upset to learn that they’re taking anything that’s personal to them, anything that they ‘like’ and then turning it around to sort of manipulate them in a way,” she says.
In this case, it started with what a personality test, something most of us would assume is innocent. But Dingus says when you agree “share” results you give any third party company permission to post on your behalf on Facebook which in turn gives that third-party access to not only information on your account but all of your “friends.”
Third-party marketing is nothing new. Most of us are bombarded by advertising from retailers whenever we go online. The retailers tailor the ads to our online buying habits.
Dingus says you can “look in your Facebook settings and see what third party Apps have permission and what permission they have.”
She says you may be surprised at how many Apps you may find that are running all the time and in a sense “watching” everything you do. She says the Apps can be deleted or disabled from viewing and or capturing certain information.
“I definitely feel Americans have an issue with any type of surveillance and that’s essentially what this is,” said Dingus. “If you’re monitoring people’s activities on Facebook they’re under your surveillance at that point so I think people definitely have an issue with it.”
