This article goes into the investigation launched by the information commisoner on the ways in which UK political parties target voters through social media. The information comissioners have warned about political messages being sent to people based on their individual data and how this could mean they could be breaking the law. The "data revolution" has resulted in many companies using the habits of their consumers to create an ideal experience for them while also targeting their target audiences. The information commisoner has staed that "it is understandable that political campaigns are exploring the potential of advanced data analysis tools to help win votes,” but this has to take place in accordance with the law as it "relates to data protection and electronic marketing". The Information Commissioner’s Office have met representatives of the political parties in London, where they reminded them that the law applies to the collection of data even when it is on Facebook feeds and Twitter feeds. The General election this year has seen Labour and the Conservatives setting aside about £1m each to spend on advertising directly to voters through Facebook where they can target specific messages to groups of voters defined by data collected from their activity on the platform.
I believe that the combination of campaigning and social media does come with its risks, and that the information comissioners have made the right decision to launch an investigation to make sure that no laws are being breached.
This article discusses a recent claim of President Donald Trump’s suggesting that the FBI should “consider putting reporters in prison”. Many journalists and publishes consider this to be a new dangerous assault on press freedom and journalists who have been jailed in the US for their work have called for action to be taken. Donald Trumps claim has been viewed as deteriorating the relations between the White House and the media. The article goes into various similar cases, where the government have attacked journalists. New York Times journalist, Judith Miller, spent more than two months in jail in 2005 under the Bush government for refusing to appear before a grand jury investigating a government leak involving CIA operative Valerie Plame. Similarly, the Bush and Obama administrations spent seven years trying to force New York Times reporter and author James Risen to reveal his confidential source in another government leak case.
I believe that government intervention in the media is becoming a serious issue as it is a violation of the freedoms that journalists hold. Trumps presidency has also seen a lot of criticisms towards the news industry, an example being the whole "fake news" case.
This article goes into the recent fine Facebook had to pay (£129,000) by France’s data protection watchdog. The social networking site is also being investigated by Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain for data privacy violations around the tracking of users and non-users and the use of user data for advertising. Facebook had been fined by the French Watchdog because they did not stop tracking non-users’ web activity without their consent, and an order to stop some transfers of personal data to the US. However, Facebook has argued that the Irish data protection authority, not the CNIL or any other EU data regulator, could give out such orders, as the social media company’s European headquarters are located in Dublin. Various other data watchdogs around Europe have been taking similar action. The Netherlands found that Facebook violated Dutch data protection law, Germany has taken issue with Facebook’s combining of WhatsApp user data with Facebook data, and the Spanish data protection authority has opened two infringement procedures against the social network.
I believe that this is a sign of governments across the world taking action against various infringements of privacy by Facebook, and that as the power of Facebook continues to grow the more it will continue to be attacked by various institutions.
No comments:
Post a Comment