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Facebook Confirms Data-Sharing Deals With Chinese Tech Firms (wsj.com)

Posted by msmash on from the more-you-know dept.

Facebook confirmed this week that it struck data partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics firms, including Huawei, a telecommunications-equipment maker that U.S. officials view as a potential tool for state-sponsored spying. WSJ: The four partnerships are among the roughly 60 that Facebook struck with device manufacturers starting in 2007 so they could recreate the Facebook service on their devices, a Facebook spokeswoman said. As of Tuesday, more than half of those partnerships have been wound down, the spokeswoman added. The social-media company said it plans to wind down its data-sharing partnership with Huawei by the end of the week. It isn't clear when Facebook will end partnerships with the three other companies: Lenovo, the world's largest personal-computer maker; Oppo, a smartphone maker; and Chinese electronics conglomerate TCL.

16 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. am I the only one who's not concerned? by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 2

    When you upload something to the cloud without first encrypting it using the keys only you know, then it automatically becomes public and known by third parties the moment it leaves your PC. So, what's all the fuss about? What kind of privacy did people/authorities actually expect? Or maybe they believed that the engineers in the said companies never pry into their users lives? Oh, wait, they do ...

    In short, you must only upload and share only the things you can show to the entire world. End of story. Oh, it's almost the same for unencrypted email and certain instant messengers.

    1. Re:am I the only one who's not concerned? by XSportSeeker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not about people like you. It's about the aggregate data and what businesses have been doing with all that, plus the underground economy that came out of these sorts of deals.
      Let go of the "I have nothing to hide" mentality and look at the bigger picture.

    2. Re:am I the only one who's not concerned? by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

      Even if it is encrypted, I bet in cloud data centers around the world folks are pulling drives and copy the content down, then have all the time they need to decrypt it. If you do not want others to get their paws on your data then don't put it in the cloud.

    3. Re:am I the only one who's not concerned? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      China now has the keys. Another Western company that thought it could sell into China by handing over its keys.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:am I the only one who's not concerned? by crimson+tsunami · · Score: 1

      unless

    5. Re:am I the only one who's not concerned? by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      The Chinese know that I have weird tastes in music, watch MST3K and think the Demmycrats are corrupt. I'm checking under my bed every night for both the Yellow Peril _and_ the Red Menace.

      I know it's a real concern, but the only options are to avoid social media completely, or try to be reasonable about what I share about myself.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    6. Re:am I the only one who's not concerned? by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      They collected data on the users of phones with Facebook preinstalled, without the users knowing or giving them an opportunity to say no.
      They didn't need to ever open the Facebook app for Facebook to collect and share the data.

  2. Just so people know.... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 2

    Lenovo = Motorola
    TCL = Blackberry

    1. Re:Just so people know.... by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      Motorola used to be American owned. Google bought it then sold it a few years later minus the patents to Lenovo, who were an American company before IBM sold the division to China.

      Blackberry was Canadian before it was sold to China.

  3. People should be concerned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I think when ever you have data being shared to a Chinese company it is most likely accessed by Chinese government. Unlike the US and EU the Chinese government has a lot of control over companies. Much like Russia the Chinese government is very much imposing its power over collecting data about the US. How do you think China has all its technology? Facebook again seem very naive in making these arrangements,

    1. Re:People should be concerned by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

      Sugarmountain has apparently not learned a thing from the CA blowup. No wonder, peddling personal data is the core business model of FB.

  4. I hope they keep it by houghi · · Score: 1

    As a European I hope they keep the deals. The data has already been shared and I look forward to the extra 4% of their annual revenue as income for Europe. At least for the first year. After that they will most likely be asked to shut down operation in Europe. So a win-win for all.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:I hope they keep it by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      So EU companies won't be able to reach non-EU countries and non-EU companies with any presence in EU won't be able to reach EU or non-EU countries.

      I suppose if a non-EU company wanted to cut themselves entirely out of a huge market, they could save a bit on tax at the cost of revenue from nearly a billion people.

  5. I cannot comprehend this summary by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

    Facebook confirmed this week that it struck data partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics firms, including Huawei...partnerships are among the roughly 60...

    So Facebook is making lots of deals, Huawei is one. Got it.

    As of Tuesday, more than half of those partnerships have been wound down

    Wait, are they making deals or ending deals? Oh, maybe the deals ended Tuesday and they are making new deals?

    The social-media company said it plans to wind down its data-sharing partnership with Huawei

    This confirm that they are ending deals, not making them.

    At this point, I have no idea what this summary is saying. The article is paywalled so that doesn't help. The little bit I can read says that the phone manufacturers want your Facebook contacts and stuff. But they already know your phone contacts and location information. What do they want Facebook data on? And why on earth would someone agree to that?

    What the heck is going on?

    1. Re:I cannot comprehend this summary by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      They made deals with everyone they could.

      The word got out and it's bad for publicity that they were giving away everyone's data, if they knew about it or not, so they're now ending the deals.

      I assume they wanted the data via Facebook, because it would be illegal for them to collect it themselves without prior explicit consent. If the users didn't consent they wouldn't get the data. If they could no longer use their device because they said no, they would be entitled to a refund.

  6. Re:Outrage if Republicans get the data!!!! by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    I doubt they sold the data to the Chinese manufacturers. I bet they paid them to take it, in exchange for preinstalling Facebook software on the devices.