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Facebook Shuts Off Access To User Data For Hundreds of Thousands of Apps (theverge.com)
In a blog post, Facebook said that it's shutting off access to its application programming interface for hundreds of thousands of inactive apps. This interface is what lets app developers access user data. The Verge reports: The company had set an August 1st deadline back in May, during its F8 developer conference, for developers and businesses to re-submit apps to an internal review, a process that involves signing new contracts around user data collection and verifying one's authenticity. The goal is to ensure third-party software on Facebook was in line with the company's data privacy rules and new restrictions put in place in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a third-party developer siphoned user data and sold it to another firm in violation of Facebook's terms of service. Now, after it identified numerous apps that were either inactive or from developers who had not submitted the software for review, Facebook is cutting off those apps' access to its Platform API.
Cambridge Analytics failed because they couldn't find a way to make money off of the user data it collected, so where's the value in making user data collection apps?
Seems like FB is doing the right thing by requiring app-store like code review... and shutting off the apps that don't comply with new rules... a rare move on their part.
facebook's business is selling user data, gathered in site and off site, in both open and sneaky ways, to third parties.
they may alter their contracts and engage in spin campaigns giving the impression they wont, but they will still sell the data.
instead of vaguely pretending otherwise, facebook needs to admit it openly, and be open about the ways they gather and sell data, and about to whom they sell.
they should also give users full access to data gathered about them. they should not gather data about people not registered with facebook.
in that case, it would be clear, if you choose to use facebook, you are giving zuck power to sell your data.
and as long as 3rd parties pay for data and are acting legally, there is nothing wrong with such data being used for political or commercial campaigns.