Overnight Tech: Dem presses FTC for tougher rules on Facebook data | Poll: Americans want more regs on tech | DOJ reportedly looking into AT&T, Verizon collusion | Twitter bans Kaspersky ads

DEM PUSHES FTC OVER FACEBOOK: Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in a letter Friday urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look at ways to limit Facebook’s sharing of consumer data.

Blumenthal provided the FTC with the user agreement from the app “This is Your Digital Life,” through which consulting firm Cambridge Analytica was able to improperly harvest the data of 87 million Facebook users.

Blumenthal urged regulators to consider the information from the agreement in the FTC’s probe into whether Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree on privacy. The agency opened the probe after the Cambridge Analytica revelations, which sparked controversy over tech companies’ data collection.

The stakes are high for Facebook. It’s unclear if the FTC will take action, but if it does, it could be severe. Should the FTC find that Facebook broke the rules that it agreed to in 2011, the social media company could see record fines totaling over $1 billion.

The evidence: Blumenthal sent the FTC two attachments, thatterms of service that users signing up for the “This Is Your Digital Life” app agreed to and a letter from former Facebook employee Sandy Parakilas alleging negligence and poor safeguards for securing user data.

Some highlights from Parakilas’s letter:

–“In my first week on the job, I was told about a troubling feature of the App Platform: there was no way to track the use of data after it left Facebook’s servers. That is, once Facebook transferred user data to the developer, Facebook lost all insight into or control over it.”

–“During my sixteen months at Facebook, I called many developers and demanded compliance, but I don’t recall the company conducting a single audit of a developer where the company inspected the developer’s data storage. Lawsuits and outright bans for data policy violations were also very rare.”

-“Despite the fact that executives at Facebook were well aware that developers could, without detection, pass data to unauthorized fourth parties (such as what happened with Cambridge Analytica) little was done to protect users.”

 

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POLL FINDS AMERICANS WANT TOUGHER TECH REGULATIONS: A survey conducted by the research firm HarrisX found that a vast majority of Americans want tougher regulations for tech giants and for platforms to be held liable for the content they host.

Eighty-three percent of those polled said the U.S. needs “tougher regulations and penalties for breaches of data privacy,” while 84 percent agreed that “technology companies should be legally responsible for the content they carry on their system.”

 

The big picture: Earlier this month, President Trump signed a bill making it easier for websites to be held liable for sex trafficking conducted on their platforms. And with the controversy over Facebook’s handling of user data expect more efforts at policing tech companies.

 

TWITTER BANS KASPERSKY: Twitter has banned the Russian cybersecurity company, Kaspersky Lab, from advertising on its platform over its purported relationship with the Kremlin.

In a post, Twitter explained its decision to bar Kaspersky from purchasing ads was “based on our determination that Kaspersky Lab operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter ad practices.”

Kaspersky is still permitted to have Twitter accounts and post organically on the platform.

At the end of last year, President Trump signed into law legislation banning the use of Kaspersky Lab products by the federal government.  

 

COMEY WILL SPEAK AT AMAZON HQ: Amazon confirmed to The Hill that former FBI Director James Comey will speak at the company’s Seattle headquarters to promote his new tell-all.

“We regularly host a wide range of musicians, actors, public officials and authors on campus as part of our Fishbowl program,” an Amazon spokeswoman said.

Amazon will not be paying Comey for the appearance, Axios reported.

 

GOP CHAIR HAMMERS FDIC OVER CYBERSECURITY: The chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee blasted a federal agency with oversight of U.S. financial institutions after a watchdog investigation revealed “systemic issues” plaguing the agency’s handling and disclosure of data breaches.

Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is accusing leaders of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) of orchestrating a plan to “withhold information from Congress” after the inspector general found that the agency did not accurately report breaches to Congress or respond to document requests in 2016.

 

DOJ SAID TO BE LOOKING INTO AT&T, VERIZON OVER COLLUSION: The New York Times is reporting that the Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into possible collusion by AT&T and Verizon to suppress technology that would make it easier for consumers to switch wireless providers.

Regulators are also targeting the GSMA, a wireless trade group.

A Verizon spokesman told the Times that the inquiry was “much ado about nothing,” and that the company had been cooperating with the Justice Department because of “a difference of opinion with a couple of phone equipment manufacturers regarding the development of eSIM standards.”

 

LONG READ OF THE DAY: Bloomberg Businessweek does an investigative deep dive into the secretive Peter Thiel-founded data analysis company, Palantir.

The story looks into the massive scope of data that the company has on all of us, and examines some the projects it’s behind.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

New Yorker: Silicon Valley’s six-year love affair with the word “tool”

TechCrunch: Facebook starts its facial recognition push to Europeans

TechDirt: Sex workers set up their own social network in response to FOSTA/SESTA; and now it’s been shut down due to FOSTA/SESTA

The Wall Street Journal: A U.S.-China trade war would reshape tech investment

CNN: ‘Westworld’ creators: Tech has taken control of culture