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TWO THINGS CONGRESS SHOULD DO NOW ABOUT FACEBOOK - DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 04/12/2018 (Patreon)
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I'm taking a break from hot takes this week to address the elephants in the room. And the donkeys. And whatever Bernie Sanders is. Here are the two things congress and every company should consider right now that will directly address things brought up in the Facebook hearings and be good for the whole Internet.
TOM'S TAKE -
There are two notable trends in the many questions that Mark Zuckerberg fielded in Washington, DC this week. One was the constant verbal acrobatics legislators engaged in to get around the fact that Facebook's terms of service informed users of what they were doing and that users had control of sharing their data. Legislators had to excuse these two facts by saying the terms were hard to read and the controls hard to understand. They're not wrong. In fact, if they focused on this problem-- one that is not unique to Facebook-- I think they could do a world of good for the Internet. Make clear language the norm. And on the matter of the privacy controls, take a cue from the only legislator that I noticed got to the heart of the matter.
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. asked the question many of us have asked of Facebook since the mid-2000s. Why doesn't Facebook set data sharing options to minimum and ask users to opt-in to sharing more, rather than the current practice of making the users opt-out?
Representative Pallone asked Zuckerberg if he would commit to an opt-in approach. Zuckerberg said "That is a complex issue that deserves more than a one word answer." Pallone responded that he was disappointed by that. Me too.
This is a principle of the Internet many people have known for a long time. When you force users to opt-out you will eventually run into trouble. But of course marketers don't like opt-in because it inevitably lowers participation. The answer I always gave was that high participation from people who don't want to or didn't know they were participating, is not worth it.
The best compromise I've ever encountered is forced answers. Instead of opting people in or making them opt out, you force people to answer one way or another. So in Facebook's case, when a new user signs up you would make them answer the privacy questions. And when new options become available you make all users pick their setting. That way they know what's being collected and feel they have control over the answer, not Facebook.
That's probably not going to happen. Among the hours of testimony, most of the time was spent with legislators saying things they could later uses in campaigns. Senator Cantwell can tell her constituents she nailed Facebook about Palantir. Senator Cruz can proudly talk about how he pinned Zuckerberg on the problem of bias against conservatives.
That's great for them.
Not so great for us the users of the Internet.
But those two points I raised above, about simplifying terms and making and changing to opt-in on privacy issues are right in front of everyone. Almost every legislator referenced them in one way or another whether they realized it or not.
If Congress wants to do more than score points (which yes, I know they probably don't) they will focus on those two issues.
1. Make it clear to average users, not just the tech savvy, what a website or service is going to do based on the use of the site or service.
2. Make personal data collection opt-in or at least forced answer.
NEWS
Samsung says it expects Q1 revenue to rise 18.7% to 60 trillion won. The earnings are driven by chip sales and strong mobile phone sales led by the Galaxy S9. However NAND prices have been falling and an expected increase in RAM supply may also drive prices down leading analysts to expect Samsung's earnings to slow or fall in Q2. Samsung reports its actual Q1 earnings in April. Meanwhile South Korean prosecutors searched Samsung's offices Friday investigating allegations that the company undermined workers' efforts to strengthen unions. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-elec-results/samsung-electronics-tips-record-first-quarter-profit-as-chip-boom-winds-down-idUSKCN1HC30R
LG sent out invites for its G7 announcement event for its G7 ThinQ phone in New York and Seoul on May 2nd. Previous leaks point to a Snapdragon 845, notched screen, and plenty of built-in AI. LG's managing director said "We will show the convenience that we have not seen until now by concentrating the accumulated AI technology." https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/10/lg-g7-thinq-launch/
LG expects its Q1 operating profit to rise 20% year over year to its highest in 9 years. LG is the number 2 TV maker in the world behind Samsung, so TV sales as well as home appliances are likely to be the driver, though LG did not give details in its filing. However, mobile phones are expected to post a loss for LG. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lg-elec-results/lg-electronics-tips-highest-first-quarter-profit-since-2009-idUSKCN1HD0N5
Uber said Monday it has agreed to buy dockless bike-sharing service JUMP which offers service in San Francisco and Washington. Bike-sharing is popular and successful in China and parts of southeast Asia, but has yet to catch on widely in the US. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-bikeshare/uber-agrees-to-buys-electric-cycle-sharing-startup-jump-bikes-idUSKBN1HG21B
The W3C and FIDO Alliance announced WebAuthn, a password-free open standard supported by the latest version of Firefox and in upcoming versions of Chrome and Edge. WebAuthn replaces passwords with more secure login methods like biometrics and USB tokens, and already works with major services like Google and Facebook, where you can log in using a Yubikey token built to the FIDO standard. The standard is built on a zero-knowledge proof so there’s no single string of characters that guarantees access to an account, which means phishing attacks are harder to pull off. https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17215406/webauthn-support-chrome-firefox-edge-fido-password-free
ESPN launched ESPN+ Thursday, a $4.99 per month subscription service built into ESPN's redesigned app for Android, iOS, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and the web. The service promises to deliver “thousands” of hours of live soccer, boxing, golf, tennis, rugby, cricket, and college sports to subscribers https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/12/17226998/espn-plus-preview-hands-on-features-disney-streaming
Sources tell Bloomberg that because of lagging sales for the Homepod, Apple lowered sales forecasts and cut some orders with Inventec Corp., one of the Homepod's manufacturers. The HomePod’s first 10 weeks of sales gave it 10 percent of the smart speaker market, compared with 73 percent for Amazon’s Echo devices and 14 percent for the Google Home, according to Slice Intelligence. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-12/apple-s-stumbling-homepod-isn-t-the-hot-seller-company-wanted
The Wall Street Journal reports Paypal's rolling out FDIC insurance, debit cards and direct deposit to select customers in partnership with small banks. Paypal does not have a banking license in the US so partnerships like this allow the company to avoid FDIC regulations on deposit insurance and Visa and MasterCard rules on card issuance. PayPal COO Bill Ready told the WSJ the new services are targeted at people without bank accounts. Paypal also announced a deal letting its users link their Paypal accounts with Kenya's M-Pesa mobile payments system. http://fortune.com/2018/04/09/paypal-banking-business/
The US FTC sent warning letters to six companies who market and sell automobiles, cellular devices and video gaming systems.The letters addressed concerns about the companies telling consumers that thyey must use specified parts or service providers to keep their warranties intact. "Unless warrantors provide the parts or services for free or receive a waiver from the FTC, such statements generally are prohibited by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act." In other words warranty warning stickera are not enforceable. The companies have 30 days to update their websites and comply with the law. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/04/ftc-staff-warns-companies-it-illegal-condition-warranty-coverage
Google Home and Home Mini are on sale now in India through Flipkart. Google Home costs ₹9,999 (about US$154) and the Mini sells for ₹4,999 (about US$77). Both come with 6 free months of Google Play Music. While Google Assistant supports Hindi, Hindi support on the Google Home will roll out later this year." https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17218462/google-home-india-price-release-date-announcement
HP announced a tablet running ChromeOS called the Chromebook x2. The 12.3-inch tablet comes with a keyboard cover and stylus for $599. It has 4 GB of RAM, 32GB of storage two USB-C ports, a microSd card slot and 10.5 hours of battery life. HP says it should become available sometime in June. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/9/17208064/hp-chromebook-x2-chrome-os-tablet-detachable-keyboard-stylus
Market analyst IDC says PC shipments were flat during the first quarter but supported by business sales. Globally, PC deliveries were unchanged in the first three months of the year compared with a year earlier, with HP leading sales. In a separate report, research firm Gartner Inc. said it found global shipments declined 1.4 percent in the period. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-11/global-pc-shipments-remain-stagnant-as-hp-holds-on-to-top-spot
Facebook launched a data abuse bounty program Tuesday.
Payouts range from $500 to $40,000.
Facebook's bug and data abuse bounty team will check that Facebook isn't already aware of the issue, that it involves 10,000 or more Facebook users and shows data abuse not just collection.
-- https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17220534/paid-facebook-ad-free-version-mark-zuckerberg-testimony
Facebook confirmed that approximately 1,500 users gave Professor Aleksandr Kogan's personality test app permission to access their messages inbox. Kogan later improperly shared data he collected in the app with Cambridge Analytica. Facebook stopped allowing users to give permission to access messages in 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43718175
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent his second day of testimony in front of the US House Tuesday. Zuckerberg has been questioned on Facebook's handling of user data, its effect on US elections, its advertising business model and monopolistic traits. Zuckerberg told the House committee that his own data was included in the data sold to malicious third parties. Zuckerberg also admitted Facebook collects data on non-users as a security measure to prevent malicious actors from repeatedly accessing Facebook to harvest public information. This is a practice often called "Shadow profiles" that could let Facebook make accurate friend suggestions to new users as well. It's the first public comment on the practice by Facebook. https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17222444/mark-zuckerberg-senate-hearing-highlights-cambridge-analytica
-- http://fortune.com/2018/04/11/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-data-testimony/
Here are some of the allegations facing Facebook
- Brazil has fined Facebook $33 million for failing to hand over data from the WhatsApp application which Facebook says it can't hand over since WhatsApp messages are fully encrypted.
- Facebook has halted discussions with hospitals about using data to improve patient health and health research.
- Six organizations in Myanmar signed a letter that Facebook's response to hate speech there, used as an example by Zuckerberg in an interview with Vox, was slow and largely powered by local reporting, not Facebook's system.
- Privacy protection agencies in Canada and its province of British Columbia are combining their investigations into ad-targeting company AggregateIQ and Facebook.
- In addition to an appearance at the US House of Representatives April 11, Zuckerberg will appear before a US Senate joint committee April 10.
- Also
Facebook announced that any entity buying an ad about 'issues' will have to be verified, and their ads will be labeled ""Political Ad"" with a disclosure about who paid for it.
Three sources told TechCrunch that old messages from Mark Zuckerberg were removed from their messenger accounts. Facebook told TechCrunch that messages from executives have a limited retention time as a security measure put in place after the Sony Pictures hack in 2014. Facebook says all users will soon get the ability to unsend Messages and Zuckerberg will not use the feature himself, again, until it is available to everyone.
-- https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/zuckerberg-deleted-messages/
-- https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/06/facebook-unsend-messages/
-- https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/05/facebook-fined-33-million-fail-help-brazil-authorities/
-- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43668607
-- https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/06/zuckerberg-testify-joint-senate-hearing-april-10/
-- https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/06/facebook-label-political-ads-and-note-who-paid/
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