UK Parliament Seizes Cache of Facebook Internal Papers (theguardian.com)

Long-time Slashdot reader infolation writes: The UK Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal Facebook documents in an extraordinary attempt to hold the US social media giant to account after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer MPs' questions. The documents are alleged to contain revelations on data and privacy controls that led to Cambridge Analytica scandal. Damian Collins, the chair of the culture, media and sport select committee, invoked a rare parliamentary mechanism to compel the founder of a US software company, Six4Three, to hand over the documents during a business trip to London.
Sunday Facebook's head of public policy told Parliament their actions were "entirely without merit," adding that they believed the move was "more about attacking our company than it is about a credible legal claim."

Comments

Not an attack, an investigation.

[Gravis Zero]

Sunday Facebook's head of public policy told Parliament their actions were "entirely without merit," adding that they believed the move was "more about attacking our company than it is about a credible legal claim."

This isn't about making a legal claim, at least not yet and it's certainly isn't an attack. This is an investigation into Facebook's dealings with a corporation who is paid to undermine democracy. I don't blame the UK Parliament for unusual conduct in doing this considering the bullshit Facebook has pulled already with the EU. Facebook is telling everyone to trust them and when everything goes to shit they claim it's all fixed now when it's clearly not.

Facebook only cares about Facebook and they are terrified that it's users will figure that out.

Re:Not an attack, an investigation.

[jabuzz]

Indeed by refusing to testify in front of the UK parliament Zuckerberg has put himself in contempt of parliament. He has better never set foot on UK sovereign territory ever again. There was some talk of a multinational investigation lead by the UK parliament a bit ago, that included at least Canada. So the list of counties he had better not visit could be growing a lot shorter. Better not infringe their airspace in his private jet either.

Perhaps that's not an issue for him. Perhaps he is fine on spending the rest of his without setting foot outside the USA.

Re:Fingers crossed

[l0ungeb0y]

The US is competent at investigating. But they are more interested in settlements, and now under Trump, aren't interested in investigating anything. Fact is committing "mass fraud for mass profit" has been the de-facto business model of Wall Street for over 20 years now. It's all part of making the US look like it's not failing so that massive debt doesn't get the junk rating it deserves resulting in the collapse of the US economy and most the western economy along with it. Under Trump the Federal Gov't no longer gives a shit and has stopped investigations into the top companies and their corrupt and fraudulent practices, since it's pretty much public knowledge that the US is dead and will no longer lead the global economy after the 2020's, ceding the reins to China and the BRICS. Right now for the GOP and Wall Street it;s the last days and time for getting in as many cash grabs as possible. Hence the GOP Tax Scam and rolling back the financial reforms and regulations Obama put in place after the Housing Market Crises.

Re:Leave FB Alone And BriskIt Already

[GrumpySteen]

Says the astroturf troll.

I want them to gut Facebook like a fish, expose every crime and underhanded tactic the company has ever engaged in and fine them until it bankrupts the company.

Re:Leave FB Alone And BriskIt Already

[Tyger-ZA]

I want them to gut Facebook like a fish, expose every crime and underhanded tactic the company has ever engaged in and fine them until it bankrupts the company.

I thought that, given Facebook is a legitimate threat to democracy (see USA, 2016) and that the cunt in charge of Facebook doesn't want to show up to answer the governments questions unless coerced, the government should have blocked Facebook from the country until the cunt showed up to be interrogated.

Yeah sure there's the VPN option for those who know how, but the average user would be bitching about losing their Facebook access because they don't know how to set up a VPN while Fuckerberg would be losing ad revenue from the regions where he's been blocked

Some of you might want to react to geo blocking as some sort of "big government" agenda that should be resisted, but this is already the norm when it comes to websites that enable piracy. Is enabling piracy a bigger threat than enabling attacks on democracy?

Re:Entirely with merit

[viperidaenz]

The UK didn't break any UK laws.
If you don't like their laws, don't travel to their country.

Re:Despotic actions of a desperate regime

[Zontar The Mindless]

Robbing a business traveler under color of law is exactly why we've come to permanently mistrust you and your media allies.

Nobody was robbed, golubushka.

"Under color [sic] of law". This is a national legislature we're talking about—they ARE the law, idiota.

The media didn't do this. A nation's legislature grew weary of a foreign company's stonewalling (not to mention no small amount of arrogance on the part of its CEO), and went round it using the powers given it by the laws of said nation, zanudyen. If said foreign company doesn't like the country's laws and governmental institutions, it's free to take its business elsewhere, cupcake. (Sorry, I don't have a good translation for that off the top of my head other than "chashka torta" which I suspect doesn't have the desired effect.)

Just like the US House of Representatives is soon going to start exercising its investigative powers on the nest of criminals and traitors who've ensconced themselves in Washington.

You've got... about 6 weeks left. Enjoy your little party while it lasts, nyeuch.

Re: Despotic actions of a desperate regime

[Malc]

You could extend your argument to any law enforcement agency, and this would really expose the fallacy of your argument. This wasnâ(TM)t just any law enforcement agency though, but Parliament itself, and Parliament is supreme. The comments in the article about the San Mateo court are utterly farcical and hypocritical. The fact of the matter is that FB and CA have lied to Parliament, obstructed justice and if I were Mark Z. Iâ(TM)d now be careful about things like which Caribbean Island to holiday on.

Re: Leave FB Alone And BriskIt Already

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually laughed reading that, some people are just insane. May, famously of "Foreigners Go Home" advertising campaign, upholding sharia law? Meanwhile Trump sucking Saudi cock, a real bastion of sharia law, gets a free pass.

Re:Six4Three should be held liable for releasing i

[Uberbah]

Did Daniel Ellsberg commit various sexual assaults and then jump bail to avoid answering those charges? No? Then it's essentially a completely different thing. But you knew that, you disingenuous hack.

Treading the alleged rape as credible at this point involves as much willful stupidity as expecting Saddam's WMD's to surface any day now.....any day now. From being cleared to leave the country by the prosecutor who heard the women's request for an STD test, to Sweden refusing to promise they wont hand Assange over to the United States, to refusing to interview Assange remotely as they've done in dozens of other cases since he sought asylum, it just goes on and on.

So pull your head out of John Brennan's ass already - you disingenuous hack.