By MICHELLE WILLSON
Editorial Editor
You have probably seen the headlines about the 2.7 million people affected by facebook’s improper sharing of data. Should we be worried about all this talk about Facebook’s Data Scandal with Cambridge Analytica? I personally don’t think so.
The Data was collected by an app that offered a personality quiz. “Facebook users who downloaded the app also gave it permission to collect data on their location, their friends and content they had “liked.” The data collection was all completely allowable under Facebook’s rules at the time.” CNN You may not have been the one to download the app but your friend could have.
I was interested to find out if my data was shared though. Facebook is going to inform everyone who was affected by the scandal but if you want to know now all you have to do is go to :Quick Help button in the top right corner and type “How can I tell if my information was shared with Cambridge Analytica” and it should tell you if you or a friend downloaded the app if so your information was shared if it said neither of you did than your information was not shared. I happened to be one of the few who were not affected by the data sharing.
You can also go to your “ad preferences” [go to Facebook, settings, Ads, Your Information, Your Categories] to see what data Facebook is basing the ads you see on, from: Political Affiliation to what type of phone you have.
Mark Zuckerberg posted on his facebook page just an hour before he testified in front of the senate on April 10th. He wrote “In an hour I’m going to testify in front of the Senate about how Facebook needs to take a broader view of our responsibility — not just to build tools, but to make sure those tools are used for good. I will do everything I can to make Facebook a place where everyone can stay closer with the people they care about, and to make sure it’s a positive force in the world.”
The best part of Mark Zuckerberg’s senate testimony was watching him try to explain technology to the senate members. The Senate member have receiving a lot of backlash from the questions they asked. Most of the questions could not get past what facebook actually does to get anywhere close to the data situation. At one point during the testimony Zuckerberg clarified that “we do not sell out users data to advertiser…what we allow is the advertisers to tell us who they want to reach and than we place the ads” I think that this comment alone should help relieve some tension other facebook users might have.
There are a lot of people are up in arms about the whole situation….But I feel like we all secretly knew that other companies could get our data. Besides we are all a little at fault. I know a great percentage of users did not and will not read the terms of service on facebook or any other apps we download. When we click to agree to the terms and services we probably agree to a lot more then what we think.
Soon we will all go back to sharing pictures of our animals without a care about what company is going to see it.