Information Regulator (South Africa) 316 Thabo Sehume Street Pretoria For the attention of: Adv. P Tlakula 18 April 2018 Dear Adv. P Tlakula RE: Reported misuse of Facebook user data by Cambridge Analytica I am writing on behalf of Facebook Ireland Limited (“Facebook Ireland”). Representatives of Facebook South Africa passed…
Cambridge Analytica
Everything you need to know about Facebook data harvesting
Facebook makes most of its money from advertising, and – as the Cambridge Analytica scandal continues to haunt Mark Zuckerberg’s company – users are demanding to know how their data is being wrangled and harvested. But while concern about Facebook user privacy has spiked, it’s been clear since Facebook’s…
Facebook knows about you even if you’re not registered on it
Facebook’s founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced two days of grilling before US politicians this week, following concerns over how his company deals with people’s data. But the data Facebook has on people who are not signed up to the social media giant also came under scrutiny.…
No electronic voting for Nigeria's 2019 elections
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairperson of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has stated that there will be no electronic voting in the western Afrikan country's upcoming 2019 general elections. Professor Yakubu said this at the three-day International Conference of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in West and Southern African countries in…
There are ways to overcome surveillance capitalism
In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, many people are questioning whether or not to delete their Facebook accounts. It’s not the first time this has happened. I can’t recall how many times I have seen calls to boycott Facebook – on Facebook – ever since I started using…
It’s unlikely that regulation would cement Facebook’s market power
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a four-hour grilling from the US Senate Commerce and Judiciary panels yesterday in response to a number of revelations – that Russian operatives had targeted Facebook users to influence the US election, that Cambridge Analytica had gained personal information on 87 million users, and that “malicious…
Facebook to reward anyone who reports app developers who abuse users data
Just in time as Mark Zuckerberg said his final words in front of the US Congress on 10 April 2018, Facebook announced their bounty program to reward anyone who reports on data abuse on their platform. The company said that that this is a fulfillment on a promise they made…