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Jury finds Facebook liable for deceiving users in Cambridge Analytica case

423 points · 107 comments · pseudolus

  1. sxp · · focus · HN ↗
    Since these articles tend to actually bury the data that was scraped:

      > .. the information likely included one's "public profile, page likes, birthday and current city" ..
    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal#Data_characteristics" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Ana...

    This information was limited to what was publicly accessible on the site rather than some private data as many outlets tend to claim.

    1. ElProlactin · · focus · HN ↗
      The data wasn&#x27;t &quot;scraped.&quot; Here&#x27;s the part you left out describing what really happened:

      &gt; Aleksandr Kogan, a data scientist at the University of Cambridge, was hired by Cambridge Analytica, an offshoot of SCL Group, to develop an app called &quot;This Is Your Digital Life&quot; (sometimes stylized as &quot;thisisyourdigitallife&quot;).[15][16] Cambridge Analytica then arranged an informed consent process for research in which several hundred thousand Facebook users would agree to complete a survey for payment that was only for academic use.[15][17] However, Facebook allowed this app not only to collect personal information from survey respondents but also from respondents&#x27; Facebook friends.[15] In this way, Cambridge Analytica acquired data from millions of Facebook users.[15]

    2. deathanatos · · focus · HN ↗
      Is that not parsed as,

      &gt; (public profile), [private] page likes, [possibly private] birthday and [possibly private] current city

      ?

      (I&#x27;ve put in my best understanding of the other elements. AIUI, you can make the latter two public, but if I recall the scandal, that wasn&#x27;t what occurred.)

    3. smallerize · · focus · HN ↗

      [dead]

    4. dofm · · focus · HN ↗
      I am not sure that this is the case.

      The app had access to data about the friends of its participants.

      AFAIR that included attributes that were set “friends-only”.

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