Article URL: https://www.pcmag.com/news/366250/the-apple-facebook-feud-hits-a-breaking-point
According to the article, most recently, Facebook was utilizing Apple's Developer Enterprise Program to bypass the app store, so Facebook could invite users to download an app that gave Facebook basically every bit of data on the person's phone by offering the user $20 with the app being targeted at the 13-35-year demographic. 5% of the users were teenagers. This alone raises questions regarding ethics and minors. The app gave root access to the iPhone and gave to Facebook text messages, location data, contacts, browsing history and app-usage data (Marvin, 2019).
Apple's Developer Enterprise Program is meant for businesses to use internally so a business can utilize internal apps that are not meant to be used by the public. This app goes against Apple’s policies, so it would not have been allowed on the iOS store to begin with (Marvin, 2019). As a response, Apple has revoked Facebook's enterprise certificate in response. By doing so, the app is no longer useable.
This also removed Facebook's ability to use any of their internal programs on iOS devices. Facebook currently cannot create new apps for internal iOS users nor will the apps they created work internally as a result (Marvin, 2019).
Curious to see how this all works out. This is quite an escalation between the two and really creates opportunities for dialogue regarding big data. I personally have no issue with the data Facebook has on me, because anything I put online I consider public even if I put something online with private settings. I also know that Facebook uses my data with pretty much reckless abandon anyways so I’m always cautious. Nothing is truly safe online so anything I put online is of no personal consequence to me. That is just me, however, I would wager many, many people do not think in that same light.
Facebook has done some shady, shady things in the past to get data and this is just a recent example. Facebook wants more, and more and more. While big data will revolutionize the world as machine learning and artificial intelligence develop, it’s easy to misuse big data. This is a new frontier in many regards and it raises questions of ethics. What is too far? Perhaps more conversations on regulations and accountability need to be had.
Some interesting articles below for those interested in learning more about some of the sketchy data gathering and use steps Facebook has taken as of recent.
Report: Facebook Let Amazon, Others Skirt Its Privacy Rules.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/365559/report-facebook-let-amazon-others-skirt-its-privacy-rules
Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, explained.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/facebooks-cambridge-analytica-scandal-explained/
References
Marvin, R. (2019). The Apple-Facebook Feud Hits a Breaking Point. Retrieved from https://www.pcmag.com/news/366250/the-apple-facebook-feud-hits-a-breaking-point