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Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today joined her peers from three dozen states and territories in demanding answers from Facebook in the wake of news that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica surreptitiously extracted data from 50 million Americans.
“Facebook apparently contends that this incident of harvesting tens of millions
of profiles was not the result of a technical data breach,” the letter says. “However, the reports allege that Facebook allowed third parties to obtain personal data of users who never authorized it, and relied on terms of service and settings that were confusing and perhaps misleading to its users.”
The letter includes a series of questions about what Facebook allows third parties to do with user information, when it learned developers were using information without people’s knowledge or permission and what it will do to prevent such breaches in the future.
“Just because they use Facebook, and sign-up for apps, does not mean consumers have signed a lifetime agreement to give up their privacy,” Rosenblum said in a statement. “We take seriously our responsibility to make sure that personal information is not used for unintended purposes. We have asked Facebook several important questions and we expect clear answers from them. We must be assured that a “breach” or “leak” of this nature will not happen again.”