Facebook shared user data with Apple, other device manufacturers, report says
Social media giant Facebook admits it had data-sharing partnerships with Apple and many other device manufacturers over a period of years, granting third-party access to users' personal data before the company made apps available on iOS and Android.
According to a New York Times report Sunday, Facebook reached data-sharing deals over a period of several years with "nearly 60" device makers, including such major tech companies as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung and BlackBerry/Research in Motion.
Some of the deals remain in effect, although 22 were shut down following this spring's Cambridge Analytica brouhaha.
The Times report also stated that while Facebook had stated previously that the sort of data sharing given to Cambridge was cut off by 2015, electronics hardware makers were exempted. Facebook, however, told the newspaper that it "strictly limited use of the data," and that "they knew of no cases where the information had been misused."
The story does not make clear exactly how much data Apple shared, or how deep the sharing went. An Apple spokesperson stated that Apple "relied on private access to Facebook data for features that enabled users to post photos to the social network without opening the Facebook app, among other things." However, Apple cut off that access last September.
According to the report, Facebook's privacy sharing policies granted certain manufacturers access to individual users data including information on relationship status, events calendar events, religion and political affiliation. Device makers could also access data on friends who declined to share their information with outside parties, the report said.
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Apple's Tim Cook was especially tough on Facebook. In the Revolution: Apple interview that aired on CNBC in March, Cook said that he "wouldn't be in this situation" that Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was in at the time. Cook said in the same interview that Apple doesn't consider consumer data a source of income.
According to a New York Times report Sunday, Facebook reached data-sharing deals over a period of several years with "nearly 60" device makers, including such major tech companies as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung and BlackBerry/Research in Motion.
Some of the deals remain in effect, although 22 were shut down following this spring's Cambridge Analytica brouhaha.
The Times report also stated that while Facebook had stated previously that the sort of data sharing given to Cambridge was cut off by 2015, electronics hardware makers were exempted. Facebook, however, told the newspaper that it "strictly limited use of the data," and that "they knew of no cases where the information had been misused."
The story does not make clear exactly how much data Apple shared, or how deep the sharing went. An Apple spokesperson stated that Apple "relied on private access to Facebook data for features that enabled users to post photos to the social network without opening the Facebook app, among other things." However, Apple cut off that access last September.
According to the report, Facebook's privacy sharing policies granted certain manufacturers access to individual users data including information on relationship status, events calendar events, religion and political affiliation. Device makers could also access data on friends who declined to share their information with outside parties, the report said.
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Apple's Tim Cook was especially tough on Facebook. In the Revolution: Apple interview that aired on CNBC in March, Cook said that he "wouldn't be in this situation" that Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was in at the time. Cook said in the same interview that Apple doesn't consider consumer data a source of income.
Comments
Sounds like people trying to fish for something that’s not there.
Remember when Apple promoted the "deep integration" of Facebook with iOS6? It was a big thing. Generally "partnerships" infer commercial benefits to both partners.
https://techcrunch.com/2012/06/11/facebook-apple-wwdc/
https://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/06/11/apple-announces-deep-facebook-integration-with-ios-6-including-single-sign-on/
It may be simply fishing for clicks... or it may not be. A bit early to declare it to be either one IMO when the story is just a few hours old. My guess is much ado about (almost) nothing and not just concerning Apple, but these data-sharing "partnerships" between companies, especially those with billions of users, are always worth closer inspection. I agree Apple's "among other things" statement on what data they got from Facebook and what they contributed in kind is exceedingly vague as is the article itself.
The more obvious problem IMHO is Facebook even allowing other companies to access private user information including the personal data from those who had not opted in. If you follow the story it indicates Facebook enabled this for these OEM's integrating Facebook into their phones, in Apple's case a persistent connection in iOS itself, which if true is a clear violation of both Facebook privacy declarations and the 2011 Facebook consent decree with the FTC.
I guess we will know soon enough...
According to Facebook those manufacturers who partnered with them such as Samsung, Apple, Blackberry, etc have access to members' "relationship status, religion, political leaning, upcoming events and other data.". Worse than that they could also access the personal information of the "friends" those users had.without explicit permission to do so.
On the surface it seems pretty clearly a violation of Facebook terms of service that prevent the sharing of user's personal information with third parties without explicit consent, and thus a violation of that 2011 FTC consent decree. But Facebook says it was all above board and perfectly permissible according to the contract with their users. How so? None of the OEM's (Sammy, Apple, et al) are third parties, but instead business partners with Facebook and considered 1st parties.
Tricky tricky Facebook.