Apple and Facebook’s privacy policies slammed as ‘untenable’ by US watchdog during a heated debate at CES following a litany of scandals
- Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter spoke at CES on a panel
- Executives from Facebook and Apple were also on the panel to discuss privacy
- Ms Slaughter spoke of the enormous amount of recent privacy scandals
- Called the current failing policies o the tech firms ‘untenable’ and said more needs to be done to protect users
Apple and Facebook have been told current privacy practices are ‘untenable’ by the US Federal Trade Commissioner during a debate on the issue.
A panel focused on privacy at CES in Las Vegas featured executives from the two firms who were urged to take more responsibility on the issue.
Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter said the number of data breaches reported in recent years proved that more needed to be done to safeguard users.
Apple and Facebook’s executives both claim their respective firms are improving customer privacy by allowing users to control their own data collection settings.
But Ms Slaughter rebuked these clams and said it is unreasonable for companies to expect consumers to be fully aware of how their data is being harvested due to the complexity and lack of transparency.
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Pictured, the all-female panel of executives speaking on a privacy panel at CES in Las Vegas. Pictured, L-R: Facebook’s chief privacy officer for policy, Erin Egan; Apple Senior Director for global privacy, Jane Horvath; The Procter & Gamble global privacy officer, Susan Shook; and Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter
APPLE’S SIRI PRIVACY SCANDAL
Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly claimed privacy is a fundamental human right.
As a result, the firm is taking steps to protect users that other firms are not, and has experienced fewer privacy scandals than peers Google and Facebook.
But despite its best efforts, there have been some questionable events.
In August 2019 it was revealed Apple had human contractors listen to Siri recordings to help improve its service.
Later, Apple formally apologised for this.
it said in a statement: ‘We realise we haven’t been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologise.’
Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft were all doing similar things.
it was revealed Apple employees could be listening to upwards of 1,000 Siri recordings a day.
‘Just the fact that when we read the newspaper every day we see different concerning stories about privacy or security breaches means that it would be impossible to conclude that enough is being done,’ she said.
‘It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to draw that conclusion.’
The panel discussion was the first time an Apple executive had appeared at CES in years, with global privacy senior director Jane Horvath’s representing the firm.
Her counterpart from Facebook, Erin Egan, claimed the firm’s privacy check-up tool is a good example of how the company is making advances in protecting its users.
Ms Slaughter however, disagreed with the sentiment and thought it was unfair consumers were being tasked with the policing of their own data collection.
She said: ‘Because I think that today even if consumers can walk through a privacy check-up, the amount of information that you have to process, to figure out what is happening with your data, is untenable for most people.’
She said even as a privacy expert, she personally ‘can not figure out’ all the different uses of data going on across the different services she uses.
‘I think it’s important that we think about ways that the burden is not just placed on the consumer, but that the collectors and stewards of data have the responsibility to for example minimise what’s collected, minimise what’s retained and minimise how it’s shared consistent with still providing the product or service that they’re offering and that the consumer wants – but without creating this endless trove of data that can disappear into the ether.’
Defending its own approach to the issue, Ms Horvath said: ‘At Apple, the way we look at privacy is to put the consumers in the driving seat.
‘They should have control over their data. They should have choices with their data and one of the things we really focus on at Apple is privacy by design.
Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter participates in a privacy roundtable at CES 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Ms Slaughter says the current privacy policies of tech companies, including Apple and Facebook, are ‘untenable’
‘The other thing that is critically important is that we have support from our executives.
‘Tim (Cook, Apple chief executive) is incredibly committed to privacy and it flows through the company.’
Following up, Ms Egan said Apple’s approach ‘completely resonates with how we approach privacy at Facebook’.
She said it was important to the company that users understood how and when the company used personal data.
‘But we’re constantly iterating because expectations are evolving.’
However, the commissioner rebuked Ms Egan over her belief that user privacy on Facebook was successfully being protected today.
The Facebook executive had said the social media firm believed privacy was a ‘fundamental right’ and that it protected the privacy of its users.
But Ms Slaughter did not agree. ‘I don’t want to talk about specific services or products but as a general matter no, I don’t think privacy is generally protected,’ she said.
‘I think the amount of data that is collected about any individual in this room… I don’t think anyone here could tell us accurately who has what data about them and how it is being used.’
She acknowledged that a world where no data was shared could not exist, but said a minimum level of what data is collected and used needed to be found.
Ms Slaughter added that she hoped privacy legislation would be introduced in the US by 2021.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook five billion dollars (£3.8 billion) for privacy violations and enforced strict new oversight rules on the company.
A white paper published by the UK government in April 2019 also proposed new legislation which would impose a statutory duty of care to users on social media and internet companies, with large fines and personal liability for executives as potential punishments for breaches of the code.
FACEBOOK’S PRIVACY DISASTERS
July 2019: Facebook data scandal: Social network fined $5bn over ‘inappropriate’ sharing of users’ personal information
March 2019: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised to rebuild based on six ‘privacy-focused’ principles:
- Private interactions
- Encryption
- Reducing permanence
- Safety
- Interoperability
- Secure data storage
Zuckerberg promised end-to-end encryption for all of its messaging services, which will be combined in a way that allows users to communicate across WhatsApp, Instagram Direct, and Facebook Messenger.
December 2018: Facebook comes under fire after a bombshell report discovered the firm allowed over 150 companies, including Netflix, Spotify and Bing, to access unprecedented amounts of user data, such as private messages.
Some of these ‘partners’ had the ability to read, write, and delete Facebook users’ private messages and to see all participants on a thread.
It also allowed Microsoft’s search engine, known as Bing, to see the name of all Facebook users’ friends without their consent.
Amazon was allowed to obtain users’ names and contact information through their friends, and Yahoo could view streams of friends’ posts.
As of last year, Sony, Microsoft, and Amazon could all obtain users’ email addresses through their friends.
September 2018: Facebook disclosed that it had been hit by its worst ever data breach, affecting 50 million users – including those of Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg.
Attackers exploited the site’s ‘View As’ feature, which lets people see what their profiles look like to other users.
Facebook says it has found no evidence ‘so far’ that hackers broke into third-party apps after a data breach exposed 50 million users (stock image)
The unknown attackers took advantage of a feature in the code called ‘Access Tokens,’ to take over people’s accounts, potentially giving hackers access to private messages, photos and posts – although Facebook said there was no evidence that had been done.
The hackers also tried to harvest people’s private information, including name, sex and hometown, from Facebook’s systems.
Facebook said it doesn’t yet know if information from the affected accounts has been misused or accessed, and is working with the FBI to conduct further investigations.
However, Mark Zuckerberg assured users that passwords and credit card information was not accessed.
As a result of the breach, the firm logged roughly 90 million people out of their accounts earlier today as a security measure.
March 2018: Facebook made headlines earlier this year after the data of 87 million users was improperly accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy.
The disclosure has prompted government inquiries into the company’s privacy practices across the world, and fueled a ‘#deleteFacebook’ movement among consumers.
Communications firm Cambridge Analytica had offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as Brazil and Malaysia.
The company boasts it can ‘find your voters and move them to action’ through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioural psychologists.
‘Within the United States alone, we have played a pivotal role in winning presidential races as well as congressional and state elections,’ with data on more than 230 million American voters, Cambridge Analytica claims on its website.
The company profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends.
The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix (pictured), after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump
This meant the company was able to mine the information of 87 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so.
This was designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voters’ choices at the ballot box.
The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump.
This information is said to have been used to help the Brexit campaign in the UK.
It has also suffered several previous issues.
In 2013, Facebook disclosed a software flaw that exposed 6 million users’ phone numbers and email addresses to unauthorized viewers for a year, while a technical glitch in 2008 revealed confidential birth-dates on 80 million Facebook users’ profiles.
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