Skip to main content

Congress questions Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg over privacy concerns again

facebook-privacyTwo members of Congress have issued a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, questioning the social media giant’s recently suspended plans to allow third-party developers to access users’ current addresses and cell phone numbers, reports Paid Content.

The Congressmen, Massachusetts Rep. Edward Markey (D) and Texas Rep. Joe Barton (R), serve as co-chairmen of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus.

Recommended Videos

“Facebook needs to protect the personal information of its users to ensure that Facebook doesn’t become Phonebook,” said Rep. Markey in a statement. “That’s why I am requesting responses to these questions to better understand Facebook’s practices regarding possible access to users’ personal information by third parties. This is sensitive data and needs to be protected.”

In the letter, Rep. Markey and Rep. Barton pose 11 different questions to Zuckerberg. They include:

•    Would any user information in addition to address and mobile phone number be shared with third party application developers under the feature as originally planned, and was any of this information shared prior to Facebook’s announcement that it would suspend implementation of the feature?
•    What user information will be shared with third party application developers once the feature is re-enabled?
•    What was Facebook’s process for developing and vetting the feature referenced above before the feature was suspended, and what was the process that led Facebook to decide to suspend the rollout of this feature? What is the process Facebook is currently employing to adjust the feature prior to re-enabling it?
•    What are the internal policies and procedures for ensuring that new features developed by Facebook comply with Facebook’s own privacy policy, and does the company consider this a material change to its privacy policy?
•    What consideration was given to risks to children and teenagers posed by enabling third parties access to their home addresses and mobile phone numbers through Facebook when designing the new feature?
•    What are the opt-in and opt-opt option for this new feature?
•    Why is Facebook, after previously acknowledging in a letter to Reps. Markey and Barton that sharing a Facebook User ID could raise user concerns, subsequently considering sharing access to even more sensitive personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers to third parties?

The full letter can be viewed here (PDF).

Obviously, this isn’t the first time Facebook has been questioned over privacy concerns. But this isn’t even the first time these two Congressmen have questioned Facebook. Last October, the pair penned another letter questioning Facebook over the privacy breach that affected “tens of millions” of users.

As Facebook continues to grow, and expand into a wider variety of online capacities — and thus, seeps further into the lives of its users — greater public scrutiny will be brought upon the company’s actions, especially those which deal with privacy.

Reps. Markey and Barton have given Zuckerberg until February 23 to respond to their letter.

Andrew Couts
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Apple loses AI whiz to Meta with an offer that will make your eyes water
Meta AI widget on Home Screen.

It was just last month that OpenAI boss Sam Altman claimed that Meta had been trying to poach his top AI engineers by offering hiring bonuses of as much as $100 million.

There was renewed interest in the matter earlier this week when it emerged that Ruoming Pang, an esteemed AI engineer who oversaw Apple’s AI models, had jumped ship to Meta.

Read more
I found the best Prime Day deal on a tablet hidden beyond Amazon
Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch, stylus, and keyboard.

A good tablet can take your productivity to the next level, but a boring one will find a niche use and eat dust on a table or couch for most of its time. I love iPads and have been pushing them – as far as I can — to act as my primary computing machine for nearly half a decade now. It has never managed to replace a proper laptop, like a MacBook Air or a Windows machine. 

Why not buy a Windows laptop, you might ask? Well, Windows-powered tablets, especially those Surface devices sold by Microsoft, are pretty expensive. I love the new 12-inch Surface Pro, but at $799, it felt like a steep purchase despite its impressive specifications. 

Read more
Prime Day is over, but this powerful Dell laptop is still at its lowest price
The Dell Vostro 3530 laptop on a white background.

Prime Day is already over, but that doesn't mean that there are no more laptop deals for you to shop on Amazon. Here's one that caught our eye -- the Dell Vostro 3530 with 32GB of RAM for its lowest-ever price of $649, following a 28% discount on its original price of $899. This limited-time offer of $250 off may not last much longer though, so if you want to take advantage of this bargain, we highly recommend that you finalize your purchase for this device as soon as you can.

Buy Now

Read more