As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants

Internal documents show that the social network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people’s data than it has disclosed.

For years, Facebook gave some of the world’s largest technology companies more intrusive access to users’ personal data than it has disclosed, effectively exempting those business partners from its usual privacy rules, according to internal records and interviews.

The special arrangements are detailed in hundreds of pages of Facebook documents obtained by The New York Times. The records, generated in 2017 by the company’s internal system for tracking partnerships, provide the most complete picture yet of the social network’s data-sharing practices. They also underscore how personal data has become the most prized commodity of the digital age, traded on a vast scale by some of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley and beyond. read more »

Facebook: Washington DC sues tech giant over Cambridge Analytica data use

DC attorney general alleged in lawsuit the company’s ‘misleading privacy settings’ allowed firm to harvest information.

Washington DC has sued Facebook for allowing the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to gain access to the personal data of tens of millions of the site’s users without their permission.

“Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data and how it was used,” the city’s attorney general, Karl Racine, said in a statement released on Wednesday.

“Facebook put users at risk of manipulation by allowing companies like Cambridge Analytica and other third-party applications to collect personal data without users’ permission.”

The Washington DC lawsuit comes as Facebook faces new reports that it shared its users’ data without their permission, giving the streaming giants Netflix and Spotify the ability to read and even delete users’ private messages. It also faces fresh claims that it targets users with location-based adverts even if they block the company from accessing GPS on their phones. read more »

Santander fined for keeping dead customers' money

Bank failed to treat customers and their next of kin fairly – Financial Conduct Authority

Santander UK has apologised after being hit with a £32.8m fine for holding millions of pounds back in deceased customer accounts up to 21 years after their deaths.

City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority said the the high street bank failed to treat customers and their next of kin “fairly”, having stalled or failed to complete the probate process despite being informed of their death.

Probate refers to settling debts of a person who has died and distributing their assets in line with their will. read more »

SEC Charges Additional 13 Unregistered Brokers Who Sold Woodbridge Securities to Retail Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against an additional 13 individuals and 10 companies for unlawfully selling securities of Woodbridge Group of Companies LLC to retail investors. Woodbridge collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2017 and the SEC previously charged the company, its owner and others with operating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme and charged five of the top Florida-based sales agents for securities and broker-dealer registration violations. read more »