Cambridge Analytica took my data - here's how you find out if they took yours

Thursday, 12 April 2018

Julie Iles won't be deleting her Facebook profile, but is selling her single Facebook stock.

OPINION: I was one of the people who had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica, a company that has become notorious for using Facebook to target voters.

Yet there had been nothing on my newsfeed or notifications to suggest I was one of them.

It was not until I checked it out here that I discovered one of my friends installed the personality quiz app 'This Is Your Digital Life' before 2014, and some of my data would have made it to the servers of Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook Australian and New Zealand spokeswoman Antonia Sanda said: 'Since 2014 [accessing the data of friends] hasn't been a feature, that particular permission was locked down years ago.'

* Mark Zuckerberg's own data was swept up, he says on day 2 of grilling by US lawmakers

* Cambridge Analytica 'misuse' may affect nearly 64,000 Kiwis, Facebook says

Some New Zealand Facebook users that had their information shared with Cambridge Analytica have yet to be notified.

* Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak sees no fix for Facebook, closes his account**

The Intercept reported Cambridge Analytica used harvested data to construct about 30 million 'psychographic' profiles of voters.

Sanda said that on Monday, US time, Facebook began notifying the millions of users impacted.

But if you haven't seen anything on your newsfeed yet, you might not be in the clear.

Sanda said those that had not yet been notified on Facebook could expect something on their newsfeeds in the next few days as to whether or not their data had been 'misused'.

On Facebook's help page, I read:

Edwards said earlier this week 63,724 people in New Zealand may have been caught up in the data breach.

_'Based on our investigation, you don't appear to have logged into 'This Is Your Digital Life' with Facebook before we removed it from our platform in 2015. However, a friend of yours did log in.

As a result, the following information was likely shared with 'This Is Your Digital Life':_

Your public profile, Page likes, birthday and current city.

A small number of people who logged into 'This Is Your Digital Life' also shared their own News Feed, timeline, posts and messages which may have included posts and messages from you. They may also have shared your hometown.'

At Tuesday's congressional hearing, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin asked Mark Zuckerberg if he'd be comfortable sharing the name of the hotel he stayed at the previous night.

Senator Dick Durbin asked Zuckerberg if he'd be willing to give up some of his own private information to the hearing.

'Uh - no,' Zuckerberg replied.

'If you messaged anybody this week would you share with us the names of the people you messaged?' Durbin asked.

'Senator, no I would probably not choose to do that publicly here.'

Yet before 2014, Facebook didn't offer some of the estimated 87 million victims, whose shared data could have include private messages, the courtesy of refusal.

The message on Facebook's help page that notified me I was a victim of the breach.

It's something that Zuckerberg apologised for on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Sanda said the incident was not a 'hack' or 'data breach'.

'Hacked is not the right word to use … there's no hack there's no data breach, it's really important to use that messaging because that's really what's it's all about.'

But it felt a lot like being hacked, I told her. Cambridge Analytica accessed my public profile, page likes, birthday and current city. It also could have accessed posts I made and private messages I sent - all without my consent.

The New Zealand Privacy Commissioner John Edwards refers to the incident as 'the Cambridge Analytica data breach'.

His spokesman, Charles Mabbett, called it 'semantics' to argue whether or not to call it a data breach.

Edwards said earlier this week that 63,724 people in New Zealand may have been hit.

His office is in the process of requesting more information from Facebook, but has not made a decision to launch an investigation.

'We are also awaiting the result of the processes currently being undertaken by UK's Information Commissioner's Office, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the US Federal Trade Commission and the Australian Privacy and Information Commissioner,' Edwards said.

Though the Cambridge Analytica scandal is still making headlines, it's not the only app that harvested data between 2008 and 2014. Even former US president Barack Obama's campaign made one that accessed the friend lists of those who used it.

As for me, I have purged many of my apps, even Farmville had to go, and tightened the permissions I've granted to the ones I've kept, but I won't be deleting my profile.

But in following the advice, 'don't invest in companies you wouldn't want to run', I'm selling my Facebook stock.

* Full disclosure I own a single share