What is going on?
Discuss about the Information Communication Technology Ethics for Cambridge Analytica.
There is a huge advancement in Information technology and with this advancement it is followed by some ethical difficulties. Providers make profit and also maintain balance between ethics and profit that is unaware by the users. Information Technology wrong use must be considered by businesses, software developers and individuals. The user information used on applications and email, the user expect privacy of that information and the provider ethical duty to use that responsively. In a recent case it was revealed in the March, 2018 edition of The Guardian, Walladr (2018) states “50 Million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in a major data breach”.
Millions of Facebook users data has been harvested by Cambridge Analytica without the permission of user’s and from that huge marketing database been made on each user likes and interests between 2013 and 2015 (Walladr 2018). The profiling system been offered by Cambridge Analytica to many political campaigns using a personality profiling methodology.
In information technology ethics the Facebook data leak as it can be called a biggest ethical breach of privacy. Loophole in Facebook API from which Cambridge Analytica was able to take this data because of that loophole the user’s data been taken but also the user’s friend’s data also had been collected. This access has the rule that says this access cannot be marketed or sold but Cambridge Analytica violated this rule promptly.
Due to Data breach of Facebook had been blamed huge for allowing Cambridge Analytica to took its data but it’s been reported from various reports that it is a leak of the data or might hacked or a serious violation of Facebook policy but this is wrong. Mobile developers got an access because Facebook has allowed that access. In New York Times the Facebook spokesperson said that “No System was infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information stolen or hacked” (Rosenberg 2018). Until 2015 Facebook did not cared but in 2015 when Facebook blocked access to the third party API to the kind of huge amount of data that Cambridge Analytica was collecting and Facebook blocked API without alerting to its users that their API had been exploited (Rosenberg 2018). A review system has also been initiated where users been asked that any app which has asked for more than the usual amount of data like who has asked for friend list of Facebook and email addresses.
What are the Facts?
The data of Facebook users has been highly affected. Wylie, Canadian analytics expert who worked with Cambridge Analytica showed a dozen of evidences of data information (Kozlowska 2018). They have passed the information to cyber-crime which includes emails, contracts, invoices and bank transfer that showed around 50 million user’s data has been leaked.
Mostly the data has been harvested are registered US voters which is the largest ever breaches of Facebook data. Their data has been used to know who is going to vote and for whom.
The company who has access to Facebook data and that been commercialised by them. They have been facing the litigation charges and also soon it will be closed down. They have used that data in the U.S election campaign (Lecher 2018).
The Facebook users who lose their private data as they also loosed the trust on Facebook.
Cambridge Analytica how it misused the Facebook data challenges the consumer trust and it becomes very necessary to proceed for ethical data collection. “Once you lose trust, you never get it back” said Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Communications. The Companies handles a large amount and they must provide the information that what data they are using and how they gathers that data. The company is run by trust as if users do not have trust on the company that can been disastrous for a company (Romano 2018).
Ethics Analysis by these three perspectives:-
It can be said that if confidentiality comes to the commercialisation than all types of data can been sold for a price and with that commercialisation individual data been suffered and their privacy been directly infringed. Facebook data has also been suffered and that data been commercialised and sold. This type of becomes the business of many small and big companies. Whatever the reason may be but personal data cannot be used for commercial purpose. They should apply good ethics and codes of ethics in their profession.
It throws light on view of traditional philosophical issues and in context to information technology ethics it emphasises on use of information. Today with the technological advancement information is the fundamental component that saves our time. Today the information been send and received has been rapidly increased with the technology increases (Romano 2018). People transmit and generate information very quickly. In this information transformation world it is very necessary to have moral obligations that who has the information and to keep it safe and from that view the Facebook had been a moral obligation to put the data safe with them and not to transform to any third party and should not give access to anyone to use that data.
What are the Issues?
The information technology is a huge advancement but with that advancement the ethical values also added and it is necessary to protect human value such as life, happiness, security. Today the Information Technology has created the reason due to privacy of an individual is not safe. The users private data has been leaked by Facebook is an example that how information communication technology has been misused and from sociological point of view it is not been regarded as ethical because this infringed the society norms and values.
The ethical issues which have been raised are very complex in the increasing technological advancement where information been stored, retrieved and transmitted at any speed and scale. The privacy of information as when revealing any private information than what are the safeguards been provided to make that privacy secure. Another issue is raised is who owns that information and how they are accessing that information. The responsibility of the information accuracy and its authenticity if it’s been misused than who will be liable for that? What is the right to a person to access that information?
The ethical implication on the above issues it is required due to it is very necessary to make a difference between ethics, morals and laws. Morals make it belief what is right conduct and what is wrong conduct. Ethics guide ideals and standards. Laws are the formal rules made by sovereign authority such as government imposed on its citizens. Ethical implication is required because society is feared of their privacy. It is necessary to establish an ethical culture by the firms for their employees. Laws should been made and they are easy to implement because they are written whereas ethics are not clearly defined so they are not accepted by all.
There is a need to change the policies of Facebook. A strong data protection security will have to adopt that in future no type of data misuse can be done by anyone (Nicholls 2018). Those third parties like Cambridge Analytica who has the data of around 50 million Facebook make sure that they have destroyed all that data. It will help the Facebook to regain the trust again among users.
- One option is that users must be careful while using Facebook and reset their privacy settings in which they have the option that who can access their information and they can change that to only me.
- Facebook do not allow access to any application that uses user data as Facebook profit will go down but the user’s privacy will be safe.
- User stops sharing their private information on Facebook from which they can maintain their privacy.
The best option is that Facebook should stop allowing access to third party apps who uses private information. If this option been implemented than user trust can be gained and they have not to fear to share private information.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, due to loophole in Facebook API around 50 million user’s data has been leaked by Cambridge Analytica. The inquiry has been carried out by cyber-crimes on the evidences. From various reports it can be concluded that it is not a leak or a hack but the Facebook only allowed access to mobile developers. After 2015 the Facebook has blocked API without alerting to their users and they had reviewed through various ways from user’s that who had accessed their information. In the article the Guardian reveals that there is huge user’s data of Facebook has been leaked. In the end it can be concluded that the strict ethical and legal implication should be implemented to stop this type of data breach in future.
References
Channel 4 News. (2018). Exposed: Undercover secrets trump’s data firm. Retrieved from https://www.channel4.com/news/exposed-undercover-secrets-of-donald-trump-data-firm-cambridge-analytica
Nicholls, S. (2018). The facebook data leak: What happened and what’s next. Retrieved from https://www.euronews.com/2018/04/09/the-facebook-data-leak-what-happened-and-what-s-next
Zurkus., K. (2018). How to navigate business ethics in a data-Hungry Digital World. Retrieved from. https://securityintelligence.com/how-to-navigate-business-ethics-in-a-data-hungry-digital-world/
Walladr, C., & Harrison, E. (2018). How Cambridge Analytica turned Facebook into a political lucrative tool. Retrieved from. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/17/facebook-cambridge-analytica-kogan-data-algorithm
Walladr, C., & Harrison, E. (2018). Revealed: 50 Million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach. Retrieved from. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election
Rosenberg, M., & Sheera, F. (2018). Facebook’s Role in Data Misuse Sets Off Storms in Two Continents. Retrieved from. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/us/cambridge-analytica-facebook-privacy-data.html
Rosenberg, M., Confessore, N., & Cadwalladr, C. (2018). How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html
Lecher, C. (2018). Cambridge Analytica is shutting down. Retrieved from. https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/2/17311892/cambridge-analytica-us-offices-shutting-down-facebook-scandal
Kozlowska, I. (2018). Facebook and data privacy in the age of Cambridge Analytica. Retrieved from https://jsis.washington.edu/news/facebook-data-privacy-age-cambridge-analytica/
Romano, A. (2018). The Facebook data breach wasn’t a hack. It was a wake-up call. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/17138756/facebook-data-breach-cambridge-analytica-explained
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