Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts
Thursday 23 January 2020
Chromium-6: bushfire temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees can endanger human health long after the flames have gone out
"Fire-induced oxidation of Fe oxide-bound Cr(III) may represent a largely unexplored, yet globally-significant pathway for the natural formation of hazardous Cr(VI) in soil." [Burton E.D. el al, April 2019]
Echo NetDaily, 15 January 2020:
Scientists from Southern Cross University have made a startling discovery about the lethal threat of soils scorched by bushfires.
The team, led by Professor Ed Burton, has found the naturally occurring metal chromium 3 can be converted by extreme bushfire heat into the highly toxic and cancerous chromium 6.
Professor Ed Burton of Southern Cross Geoscience is looking at the levels of a toxic element in bushfire affected soil.
Chromium 6 is the substance spotlighted by renowned American environmentalist Erin Brockovich, who blew the whistle on high concentrations in the water supply of her home town in southern California.
Professor Burton’s breakthrough research has confirmed bushfire temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees can endanger human health long after the flames have gone out.
‘We’ve seen bushfires create conditions in the surface soil that transform the safe, naturally occurring chromium-3 into the toxic, cancer-causing chromium-6,’ Professor Burton said.
‘Chromium-6 can cause lung cancer and leach into waterways.’
Professor Burton, an expert on the geochemistry and mineralogy of soils, sediments and groundwater systems, said frontline firefighters were immediately at risk but the contamination of water within catchment areas posed a wider threat.
‘We know that firefighters have higher incidences of chromium in their urine and are more susceptible to cancer than other groups....
See the following peer-reviewed articles concerning the carcinogen Chromium-6:
Burton, E.D., Choppala, G., Karimian, N., Johnston, S.G. (2019) A new pathway for hexavalent chromium formation in soil: Fire-induced alterations of iron oxides. Environmental Pollution 247, 618-625; and
Burton, E.D., Choppala, G., Vithana, C., Hockmann, K., Johnston, S.G. (2019) Chromium(VI) formation via heating of Cr(III)-Fe(III)-(oxy)hydroxides: A pathway for fire-induced soil pollution. Chemosphere 222, 440-444.
It should be noted that wildfires can also affect and possibly increase the mobility of other minerals naturally found in the soil.
Initial research suggests that an example of this may be the carcinogen, arsenic. Additionally, past research suggests the potential of higher mercury content in freshwater fish after wildfire events.
Labels:
Australia,
bushfires,
climate change,
climate emergency,
health,
pollution,
safety
Wednesday 28 August 2019
Do you know exactly who Medicare, your GP, specialist doctor or local area health service are sharing your personal medical information with?
Electronic Frontiers Australia, media release, 26 August 2019:
Australia, Melbourne — Monday 26 August 2019 — EFA, Future Wise, Digital Rights Watch and APF today call again for a comprehensive review of privacy provisions for healthcare data.
Following the HealthEngine scandal in 2018, and the recent use of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) data to assist recruitment into research on Bipolar disorder, a Twitter user on Friday 23 August shared a SMS message attempting to recruit him into a clinical trial.
This appears to have occurred through the use of Precedence Healthcare’s InCa (Integrated Care) health platform. Research by members of digital rights organisations today revealed that sensitive patient details—including contact details, demographics and complete medical histories—can be shared with a wide range of partners, including, it appears, private health insurers.
Dr Trent Yarwood, health spokesperson for Future Wise and a medical specialist, said “Secondary uses like this are a very ethically murky area. People don’t generally expect to have personal details from their healthcare providers made available to anyone, even if well intentioned.”
The terms and conditions of the application include access to data from myHealthRecord. “While the My Health Records Act includes privacy provisions, once this data is accessed by an external system, these provisions no longer apply,” continued Dr Yarwood. “I’m very concerned that practices making use of this system are not aware of just how widely this data can be shared—and that they are expected to fully inform patients of the nature of the data use,” he concluded.
“This kind of barely-controlled data sharing is only possible because of how little privacy protection is provided by the current legislation,” said Justin Warren, Electronic Frontiers Australia board member.
“People have made it clear time and time again that information about their health is extremely personal, private, and they expect it to be kept secure, not shared with all and sundry,” he said. “What people think is happening is quite different to what actually is, and these companies are risking catastrophic damage to patient trust with their lust for data.”
“If you found out your doctor was sharing your full medical history with private health insurers, or the police, would you keep seeing them?” he added.
Robust privacy protections are needed for all Australians, such as by finally giving us the right to sue for breach of privacy, requiring explicit consent for each disclosure of medical or health data to a third party, and proper auditing of record-access that is visible to the patient. It is imperative that the risks of health data sharing receive greater attention. [my yellow highlighting]
Australian Health Information Technology, 25 August 2019:
This Seems To Be A System Of Sharing Personal Health Information That Is Rather Out Of Control.
I noticed this last week: How does Inca collect and share health information?
Updated 1 month ago
Precedence Health Care’s Integrated Care Platform (Inca) is a cloud- based network of digital health and wellness services, including MediTracker mobile application services.
It is important that all users of Inca services understand how the network collects and shares health information (“personal information”) and are aware of their responsibilities for gaining informed consent from patients.
To the extent applicable (if at all), the Health Privacy Principles (or equivalent), which operate in some jurisdictions, should guide your actions. In the absence of applicable Health Privacy Principles, you should refer to relevant Commonwealth, State or Territory privacy legislation, and assistance can also be derived by referring to the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. You should make sure you are familiar with the applicable principles or other relevant guidance, and also with Precedence Health Care’s Privacy Policy.
Inca collects and shares personal information about patients and other persons under care (also called “consumers”) who consent to this information being stored and shared in the network. This information may come from a variety of sources, including the clinical software systems used by GPs (e.g., Medical Director, Best Practice); other members of the patient’s care team (e.g., allied health professionals, medical specialists); the patient themselves; participating health services and pathology services; and the Commonwealth’s My Health Record.
Inca uses this information to provide a range of health care and wellness services to the patient and their care team.
Prior to contributing a patient’s personal information to be stored in or used by Inca, users must obtain informed consent from patients for the collection and sharing of this information. Ensuring that patients are informed about what will happen with the information that is being shared is a fundamental component of best practice in privacy, so it is important that all Inca users and patients know what information is available on Inca and who has access to that information.
When a patient’s GP or other person authorised by the GP uses Inca to collect personal information from their general practice clinical system, Inca will extract and share the following information:
· Patient demographics
· Alcohol consumption and smoking status
· Allergies and adverse reactions
· Family and social history
· Observations and results
· Current medications
· Immunisation history
· Current and past problems
If the patient or the GP does not wish to share some of this information, the GP’s clinical system should provide a means for declaring such data “confidential” and thereby preventing it being sent to Inca.
GPs who do not know how to do this should contact the provider of their clinical software. Inca may also collect and share information obtained from other sources.
These include:
· Information that the GP or any member of the care team or the patient themselves adds to the patient record or to any notes concerning the patient’s care using Inca services, web sites or mobile devices. This information may include contact information, measurements, care plans, assessments, referrals, progress notes, appointments, and other related personal and health information.
· Information from participating Health Services, including discharge summaries and emergency department attendance.
· Information obtained from My Health Record. This information may include some or all of the data stored in the patient’s My Health Record.
It is the responsibility of the provider of information stored in or used by Inca, or the person who grants access to such information, to inform the patient of the type of personal information that is so provided or made accessible.
Inca will provide access to a patient’s personal information with the patient’s GP and care team, the patient (or their carer as authorised by the patient), participating Health Services, and some others as necessary to provide the services of Inca. Precedence Health Care may share de-identified data (that is, data from which it is impossible to ascertain who you are) to persons or organisations who are engaged in research, trials and analyses relating to improvements in health and the management of health services. The way Inca shares and protects this information is described in the Precedence Health Care Privacy Policy.
It is important that patients understand what information is being shared, who it is being shared with, and for what purpose. It is the responsibility of the persons providing this information to ensure that each patient is aware that their personal and health information is being stored on a computer system hosted on a secure site in Australia, as described in the Precedence Health Care Privacy Policy.
It is also important for all users of Inca to be aware that this information may not be complete, up to date, or accurate.
In seeking informed consent to participate, patients should be advised that any measurements or notes that they enter into Inca are not continuously monitored and will be available to members of the patient’s care team only when the provider next logs in to Inca.
Patients who are concerned about any condition should contact their GP or other health care provider using their normal means (e.g., phone) and should not use Inca for this purpose.
Please contact Precedence Health Care’s Privacy Officer on (03) 9023 0800 or email privacy@precedencehealthcare.com if you have any questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy, or if you wish to suggest improvements. You may also contact your State’s Privacy Commissioner or Ombudsman to get advice about privacy or make a complaint.
Here is the link: https://phc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021090952-How-does-cdmNet-collect-and-share-health-information-
For background Precedence Health run a shared patient data base which is accessible to GPs, Specialists and Allied Health Staff for the purpose of care planning and co-ordinating care. Using their system allows GPs to claim a Medicare Item No for this service. They also provide patient access to the data and have services such as reminders etc in an app.
All that said this system, on its own statements, just sucks information from everywhere (GP systems, health services and the myHR) and pops it into one database. One user, who is now switching it off, revoking consent and getting out has described to me a collection of erroneous and mis-sorted data on their record.
More they seem to be happy to hand out the data to others claiming it is de-identified – and we all know how in-effective that can be!
The rather loose way consent rules for disclosure appear to be enforced is also a worry.
They even have the legendary myHR disclaimer that “It is also important for all users of Inca to be aware that this information may not be complete, up to date, or accurate.” Doh!
You can see the Privacy Policy here if you wish! https://phc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021091012-Privacy-Policy-
Don’t know about you but none of my information would go anywhere near this if I could help it! It looks like a serious unthought through shambles to me.
What do you think?
David. [my yellow highlighting]
Labels:
big data,
data retention,
data theft,
health,
Health Services,
human rights,
privacy,
safety
Sunday 25 August 2019
Barnaby Joyce has all the tact and grace of a lumbering hippo (apologies to all hippopotamus amphibius )
Disgraced former Deputy Prime Minister & MP for New England Barnaby Joyce isn't finding many allies in the NSW Northern Rivers region....
The Daily Examiner, 21 August 2019, p.3:
Chris Gulaptis has delivered a clear message to Nationals counterpart Barnaby Joyce over his controversial foray into the NSW abortion debate.
On Monday, Clarence Valley residents received anti-abortion robocalls from Mr Joyce, the Federal member for New England.
In the pre-recorded message Mr Joyce makes a number of false statements regarding the abortion bill including that it would allow “sex selective abortions” and “abortion for any reason right up until the day of birth”.
He then urges members of the community to contact their local member to voice their opposition to the bill.
However, Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis said he was “disappointed” by the actions of his National Party colleague.
“We certainly don’t interfere with federal matters and I encourage him not to interfere with NSW state parliamentary matters.”
Mr Gulaptis re-iterated his support for the private members bill which would remove abortion from the state’s Crimes Act, which he voted for as it went through the lower house last week 59-31, after a marathon debate.
Mr Gulaptis voted for some of the amendments to the bill and was “interested to see what amendments come down from the Upper House” but was as “happy as I can be” with it.
“The intent of the bill is to remove abortion from the criminal code and put it into health where it should be,” he said.
“Our primary concern is to support women who have to make these decisions which will be with them for the rest of their lives.”
And Barnaby is rather upset......
EXCLUSIVE – Barnaby Joyce's threat to quit the Nationals Party – he tells #7NEWS he WILL resign and sit on the crossbench IF at least 4 state Nationals members publicly declare they have lost support in him. Full story at 6pm. #auspol— Jennifer Bechwati (@jenbechwati) August 22, 2019
Labels:
health,
law,
safety,
women and girls
Wednesday 22 May 2019
The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Federal Government still hasn't made personal health data secure
Since about 2014 it has been known that the personal details of Medicare
cardholders has been for sale on the dark web.
Despite an April
2014 report by the Australian
National Audit Office that the Consumer
Directory - which contains all Medicare customer records - was not secure
and that cardholder
details were for sale, the federal Liberal-Nationals
Coalition Government does not appear to have comprehensively acted act on
the issue of database security.
It was not
unknown that Medicare cardholder details were being used fraudulently.
When contacted
by the mainstream media in July 2017 the Liberal MP for Aston and then Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge denied
any prior knowledge of cardholder details being offered for sale.
It was not reported that at the time if he was asked about instances of Medicare cardholder details being used to commit fraud or identity theft.
In August 2017 eHealth Privacy Australia was telling
the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee that:
•
There are fundamental weaknesses in both the HPOS (Medicare card data) and My Health
Records systems, which make them vulnerable to illegal access.
•
Those weaknesses mean that fraudulent users of the systems can assume the
identity of legitimate users to gain illegal access.
•
It is not sufficient to mitigate these weaknesses in the My Health Records system.
By 1 January
2019 IT
News was
reporting that Medicare cardholder details fraudulently obtained had been used to access an individual’s My Health Record:
The number of data
breaches involving the My Health Record system rose from 35 to 42 in the past
financial year, new figures show.
The Australian Digital
Health Agency (ADHA) said in its annual report [pdf] that “42 data breaches (in 28
notifications) were reported to the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner” in 2017-18.
As with previous years,
the agency said that “no purposeful or malicious attacks compromising the
integrity or security of the My Health Record system” were reported in the
period.
Of the 42 breaches, one was the result of “unauthorised
access to a My Health Record as a result of an incorrect Parental Authorised
Representative being assigned to a child”, the agency reported.
A further two breaches were from “suspected fraud against
the Medicare program where the incorrect records appearing in the My Health
Record of the affected individual were also viewed without authority by the
individual undertaking the suspected fraudulent activity”, ADHA said.
In addition, 17 breaches were the result of “data
integrity activity initiated by the Department of Human Services to identify
intertwined Medicare records (that is, where a single Medicare record has been
used interchangeably between two or more individuals)”, the agency said. [my
yellow highlighting]
Despite this
knowledge the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison
Government has still not grasped the nettle, because on 16 May 2019 The
Guardian reported:
Australians’ Medicare
details are still being illegally offered for sale on the darknet, almost two
years after Guardian Australia revealed the serious privacy breach.
Screenshots of the
Empire Market, provided to Guardian Australia, show the vendor Medicare Machine
has rebranded as Medicare Madness, offering Medicare details for $US21.
Other vendors charge up
to $US340 by offering fake Medicare cards alongside other fake forms of
identification – such as a New South Wales licence.
The Medicare Madness
listing suggests the Medicare details “of any living Australian citizen” have
been available since September 2018.
Guardian Australia first
reported patient details were on sale in July 2017, verifying the listing
by requesting the data of a Guardian staff member and warning that Medicare
card numbers could be used for identity theft and fraud.
The revelation
prompted a
review lead by former secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
Peter Shergold.
The report did not
identify the source of the Medicare data leak but suggested that people could
use publicly available information about healthcare providers – including their
provider number and practice location – to pass security checks and obtain a
Medicare card number through the Department of Human Services provider hotline.
The review panel warned
the “current security check for release of Medicare card information provides a
much lower level of confidence than the security requirements” for Health Professional
Online Services, the portal that allows providers to make rebate claims.
An IT industry source,
who refused to be named, said the re-emergence of the data breach brings into
question government assurances around the privacy of medical data “when those
responsible cannot even manage the security of Medicare cards”.
The source said there is
a “concerted effort at the moment by law enforcement to curtail darknet market
activity”.
“In reality the darknet
markets, while disrupted momentarily when their sites are brought down, easily
relocate and continue business.”
Darknet markets can
simply private message existing clients with a new link to resume business
elsewhere. [my yellow highlighting]
Thus far the federal government has failed to recognise where Medicare cardholder details may be being accessed unlawfully, as this 2 August 2018 ABC online article indicates:
Privacy experts have warned that the system
opens up health records to more people than ever before, thereby increasing the
threat surface — the number of vulnerabilities in a system — dramatically.
Dr Bernard Robertson
Dunn, who chairs the health committee at the foundation, says once the data is
downloaded into the health system, the My Health record system cannot guarantee
privacy.
"Once the data has
been downloaded to, for instance, a hospital system, the protections of the
hospital system apply, and then the audit logs apply to the hospital system —
not to My Health record.
"So there is no way
the Government would know who has accessed that data, and it is untraceable and
untrackable that that access has occurred."
Labels:
big data,
data breach,
information technology,
Medicare,
My Health Record,
privacy,
safety
Thursday 2 May 2019
Dozens of Centrelink clients have had their names published on Facebook by a Commonwealth-funded work-for-the-dole provider
ABC
News, 26
April 2019:
Dozens of Centrelink
clients have had their names published online in what has been described as a
"shocking" abuse of privacy.
A Commonwealth-funded
work-for-the-dole provider uploaded lists of people who were required to attend
client meetings to a public Facebook page.
"We are at a loss
as to why anyone would post about workers' appointments online," union
official Lara Watson said.
"We were shocked at
the publication of names on a social media platform."
The incidents are the
latest to emerge from the Government's flagship remote employment scheme, the
Community Development Programme (CDP).
Nearly 50 people from
the Northern Territory community of Galiwinku, located 500 kilometres east of
Darwin, were affected.
The job service
provider, the Arnhem Land Progress Association (ALPA), established the social
media page apparently with the intention of uploading such lists.
"Welcome to our
Facebook page where we will be posting appointments, courses and CDP
information," it wrote last month.
The two sheets of names
were posted to the Galiwinku CDP page on March 11 and 12.
Both images were shared
to another local Facebook group titled Elcho Island Notice Board, which has
more than 2,000 members.
One CDP insider
denounced the online uploads, saying they were unprecedented and could have
placed job seekers at risk.
"If a person has a
family violence order in place to protect them, then perhaps the perpetrator
would know where she was," said the source, who requested anonymity.
"It advertised that
a person is accessing welfare services, and unfortunately in Australia there's
discrimination against people accessing welfare services.
"People can be
bullied for being unemployed."
The Galiwinku CDP page
appears to have since been removed from the internet but the organisation
denied any wrongdoing.
"We do not believe
that this is a breach of confidentiality," an ALPA spokeswoman said.....
"All ALPA CDP
participants give … media consent when they commence as a participant."......
Wednesday 1 May 2019
Facebook spends more than a decade expressing contrition for its actions and avowing its commitment to people’s privacy – but refuses constructive action
“It is
untenable that organizations are allowed to reject my office’s legal findings
as mere opinions. Facebook should not get to decide what Canadian privacy law
does or does not require.” [Canandian Privacy Commissioner Daniel
Therrien, 25 April 2019]
Facbook Inc. professes that it has taken steps to ensure the intregrity of political discourse on its platform, but rather tellingly will not roll out transparency features in Australia that it has already rolled out in the US, UK, Eu, India, Israel and Ukraine.
The only measure it commits to taking during this federal election campaign is to temporarily ban people outside Australiabuying ads that Facebook determines are “political”.
So it should come as no surprise that Canada issued this three page news release…….
Office of the Privacy Commission of
Canada, news
release, 25 April 2019:
Facebook refuses to
address serious privacy deficiencies despite public apologies for “breach of
trust”
Joint investigation
finds major shortcomings in the social media giant’s privacy practices,
highlighting pressing need for legislative reform to adequately protect the
rights of Canadians
OTTAWA, April 25,
2019 – Facebook committed serious contraventions of Canadian privacy laws
and failed to take responsibility for protecting the personal information of
Canadians, an investigation has found.
Despite its public
acknowledgement of a “major breach of trust” in the Cambridge Analytica
scandal, Facebook disputes the investigation findings of the Privacy
Commissioner of Canada and the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British
Columbia. The company also refuses to implement recommendations to address
deficiencies.
“Facebook’s refusal to
act responsibly is deeply troubling given the vast amount of sensitive personal
information users have entrusted to this company,” says Privacy Commissioner of
Canada Daniel Therrien. “Their privacy framework was empty, and their vague
terms were so elastic that they were not meaningful for privacy protection.
“The stark contradiction
between Facebook’s public promises to mend its ways on privacy and its refusal
to address the serious problems we’ve identified – or even acknowledge that it
broke the law – is extremely concerning.”
“Facebook has spent more
than a decade expressing contrition for its actions and avowing its commitment
to people’s privacy,” B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy
says, “but when it comes to taking concrete actions needed to fix transgressions
they demonstrate disregard.”
Commissioner McEvoy says
Facebook’s actions point to the need for giving provincial and federal privacy
regulators stronger sanctioning power in order to protect the public’s
interests. “The ability to levy meaningful fines would be an important starting
point,” he says.
The findings and
Facebook’s rejection of the report’s recommendations highlight critical
weaknesses within the current Canadian privacy protection framework and
underscore an urgent need for stronger privacy laws, according to both
Commissioners.
“It is untenable that
organizations are allowed to reject my office’s legal findings as mere
opinions,” says Commissioner Therrien.
In addition to the power
to levy financial penalties on companies, both Commissioners say they should
also be given broader authority to inspect the practices of organizations to
independently confirm privacy laws are being respected. This measure would be
in alignment with the powers that exist in the U.K. and several other countries.
Giving the federal
Commissioner order-making powers would also ensure that his findings and
remedial measures are binding on organizations that refuse to comply with the
law.
The complaint that
initiated the investigation followed media reports that Facebook had allowed an
organization to use an app to access users’ personal information and that some
of the data was then shared with other organizations, including Cambridge
Analytica, which was involved in U.S. political campaigns.
The app, at one point
called “This is Your Digital Life,” encouraged users to complete a personality
quiz. It collected information about users who installed the app as well as
their Facebook “friends.” Some 300,000 Facebook users worldwide added the app,
leading to the potential disclosure of the personal information of
approximately 87 million others, including more than 600,000 Canadians.
The investigation
revealed Facebook violated federal and B.C. privacy laws in a number of
respects. The specific deficiencies include:
Unauthorized access
Facebook’s superficial
and ineffective safeguards and consent mechanisms resulted in a third-party
app’s unauthorized access to the information of millions of Facebook users.
Some of that information was subsequently used for political purposes.
Lack of meaningful
consent from “friends of friends”
Facebook failed to
obtain meaningful consent from both the users who installed the app as well as
those users’ “friends,” whose personal information Facebook also disclosed.
No proper oversight over
privacy practices of apps
Facebook did not
exercise proper oversight with respect to the privacy practices of apps on its
platform. It relied on contractual terms with apps to protect against
unauthorized access to user information; however, its approach to monitoring
compliance with those terms was wholly inadequate.
Overall lack of
responsibility for personal information
A basic principle of
privacy laws is that organizations are responsible for the personal information
under their control. Instead, Facebook attempted to shift responsibility for
protecting personal information to the apps on its platform, as well as to
users themselves.
The failures identified
in the investigation are particularly concerning given that a 2009
investigation of Facebook by the federal Commissioner’s office also found
contraventions with respect to seeking overly broad, uninformed consent for
disclosures of personal information to third-party apps, as well as inadequate
monitoring to protect against unauthorized access by those apps.
If Facebook had
implemented the 2009 investigation’s recommendations meaningfully, the risk of
unauthorized access and use of Canadians’ personal information by third party
apps could have been avoided or significantly mitigated.
Facebook’s refusal to
accept the Commissioners’ recommendations means there is a high risk that the
personal information of Canadians could be used in ways that they do not know
or suspect, exposing them to potential harms.
Given the extent and
severity of the issues identified, the Commissioners sought to implement
measures to ensure the company respects its accountability and other privacy
obligations in the future. However, Facebook refused to voluntarily submit to
audits of its privacy policies and practices over the next five years.
The Office of the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada plans to take the matter to Federal Court to
seek an order to force the company to correct its privacy practices.
The Office of the
Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C. reserves its right under
the Personal Information Protection Act to consider future actions
against Facebook.
Related documents:
* Note: my yellow highlighting
Nor should this alleged 'mistake' made by Facebook cause surprise.......
The
New York Times,
25 April 2019:
SAN FRANCISCO — The New
York State attorney general’s office plans to open an investigation into
Facebook’s unauthorized collection of more than 1.5 million users’ email
address books, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The inquiry concerns a practice
unearthed in April in which Facebook harvested the email contact lists of a
portion of new users who signed up for the network after 2016, according to the
two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiry had not
been officially announced.
Those lists were then
used to improve Facebook’s ad-targeting algorithms and other friend connections
across the network.
The investigation was
confirmed late Thursday afternoon by the attorney general’s office.
“Facebook has repeatedly
demonstrated a lack of respect for consumers’ information while at the same
time profiting from mining that data,” said Letitia James, the attorney general
of New York, in a statement. “It is time Facebook is held accountable for how
it handles consumers’ personal information.”…
Users were not notified
that their contact lists were being harvested at the time. Facebook shuttered
the contact list collection mechanism shortly after the issue was discovered by
the press…..
Facebook Inc's rapacious business practices has been the death of online privacy and now threatens the democratic process.
Labels:
data breach,
data mining,
Facebook,
information technology,
Internet,
law,
privacy,
safety
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