Hear expert commentary explaining the conclusions drawn by the UK parliament from the very people whose opinions drove the investigation.
On February 18th 2019, the UK Parliament’s DCMS (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) Committee published the final report detailing their 18 month investigation into the emerging field of online disinformation as well as the privacy practices of platforms such as Facebook.
The report drew widespread attention for its most final conclusion: the accusation that Facebook deliberately broke privacy and competition law and should urgently be subject to statutory regulation.
In the investigation, the committee argues that, had Facebook abided by the terms of an agreement struck with US regulators in 2011 to limit developers’ access to user data, the scandal would not have occurred. “The Cambridge Analytica scandal was facilitated by Facebook’s policies,” it concludes.
“Companies like Facebook should not be allowed to behave like ‘digital gangsters’ in the online world, considering themselves to be ahead of and beyond the law,” the report warns.
UpGuard’s Director of Cyber Risk Research, Chris Vickery, has been a key witness to the investigation since his original discovery of the AggregateIQ files in March 2018. Professor David Carroll is in the process of fighting Cambridge Analytica for his personal information and seen favorable rulings thus far, setting a legal precedent critically important in the era of personal data protection.
In this webinar, Chris and Professor Carroll will discuss the DCMS report findings, reviewing the painstaking analysis that was applied to this media giant and what this may mean for data privacy and what Facebook will face in future regulation. In this moderated Q and A discussion, listeners will learn: