Today I want to talk more about how companies utilize the data they gather on us at large, a fun and scary conversation piece. Questions about legality and ethics are at the forefront of this topic because of how data can be utilized with technology today. While I’m a proponent of big data collection and application, I’m also highly skeptical of this relatively new, digital frontier given how easily it can be abused and misused.
I'm starting to sound like a broken record at this point, but I just can’t seem to let it go with Facebook because I feel this company is really at the front and center in the debate about the legality and ethics of big data. Facebook collects data, learns from that data, and then sells those insights; Facebook is essentially an advertising and marketing company. What puts Facebook at front and center for me, is the type of data it has access to.
Facebook as a platform is deeply personal and human. Users of Facebook share everything from personal images, to status updates about important and personal issues in their lives and Facebook collects all of this data. From a big data perspective, Facebook has so much “human” raw data that I would not be shocked if Facebook was able to eventually utilize this data to create the first truly “human-like” A.I. as Facebook just has so much “human” data to draw from – 2.2 billion humans to be precise (Disparte, 2018).
The ethical questions to ask are, should a company be allowed to collect such deeply personal and possibly intimate information on someone? While Facebook does not sell direct personal data, only the insights gained, the question still requires reflection and debate because of what type of data Facebook is uniquely able to track.
Some data is more intimate than others. I’m just going to blurt this out here in the open as it something that needs to be addressed, “sexting”. This is a practice where people send intimate, nude images to each other. Not the brightest idea to partake in given how often data can be leaked, but regardless, the practice has found its way into this conversation if the platform utilized to sext, was a Facebook product.
In a survey conducted by Emily Stasko, MS, MPH, of Drexel University; and Pamela Geller, PhD, associate professor of psychology, OB-GYN and public health at Drexel University; 88% of all adults have sexted at one point in their lives with 82% reported having sexted within the past year (Sliwa, 2015). This is deeply private data, how ethical is it for Facebook to have and maybe use this data and then sell it? And even more worrisome, what happens if Facebook has a security issue and this data is leaked? Lives can be completely ruined by this data which most people assume is private.
This topic also encompasses underage sexting which is a serious problem given 14.8% of teenagers under 18 actively send sexts and 27.4% actively receive them (Lee, 2018). For teenagers who do this with Facebook products, Facebook now has this data and that is another can of worms entirely for so many reasons. The rabbit hole with minors and Facebook goes much deeper, however. In a prior article I posted, I noted how Facebook was caught intentionally circumventing Apple’s terms of service by utilizing Apple’s internal data testing platform known as the Apple Developer Enterprise Program. Facebook invited and paid people $20 a month to let this app run wild on iOS devices and collect data on just about everything.
The app gave root access to the iPhone giving Facebook data on text messages, location data, contacts, browsing history and app data usage (Marvin, 2019). Facebook specifically wanted minors in this test and downright targeted children as young as 13 – the youngest a person can be to use Facebook according to Facebook’s user agreement. Facebook never reached out to the parents to ask for consent because they didn’t have to. While Facebook did “require” parental consent from minors, in truth it was a simple checkbox that essentially stated “My parents give consent” (Osborne, 2019).
This raises serious questions on morality and ethics because its highly likely that Facebook was counting on parents not actually being aware their children were invited into this program. After all, parents that are of legal age and mature mind might be spooked by all the data tracking the app does and not give the consent that Facebook “asked” for. But because Facebook put that checkbox “I have parental consent”, the company protected themselves from any legal recourse due to there being so little protection and regulation in place for consumers when it comes to data collection.
Data collection and data science is truly a new frontier; the wild west of the digital world and because of this, the industry is very anti-consumer. By putting in strict, legal text in user agreements that all users must agree to before using a product or service, companies protect themselves from essentially any legal recourse. These companies do not make it clear and intuitive that data is being collected or used. The information is burrowed in a 20-page user agreement that most companies probably hope no one actually reads so said companies can continue to monetize data unabated.
We as society need to come up with ways to be more consumer-friendly in this regard. I’m not sure of strict regulation regarding data collection is the way to go as I fear too much regulation will stifle growth of the industry and for all the bad that comes with data science, so much more good comes from it too. It’s easy to come up with penalties for companies that have security lapses and leak personal data at the very least and I feel that is a good start. Strict, expensive penalties need to be in place with possible prison sentences for said negligence. A company should not be able to have a million or more names, addresses and social security numbers leaked or hacked and not face serious, serious repercussion.
References
Disparte, D. (2018). Facebook and The Tyranny of Monthly Active Users. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/dantedisparte/2018/07/28/facebook-and-the-tyranny-of-monthly-active-users/#268f70f66aea
Lee, B. (2018). Here Is How Much Sexting Among Teens Has Increased. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2018/09/08/here-is-how-much-sexting-among-teens-has-increased/#afea62d36f1f
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
Osborne, C. (2019). Facebook slammed over covert app that pays teenagers for data. Retrieved from https://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-slammed-over-vpn-research-project-that-rewards-teens-for-data/
Sliwa, J. (2015). How Common Is Sexting? Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/common-sexting