DC Attorney General Sues Facebook Over Alleged Privacy Violations From Cambridge Analytica Scandal (washingtonpost.com)

The attorney general for the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Facebook for allowing Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, to gain access to the names, "likes" and other personal data about tens of millions of the social site's users without their permission. From a report: The lawsuit filed by Karl Racine [PDF], confirmed Wednesday by two people familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak on record, marks the first major effort by regulators in the United States to penalize the tech giant for its entanglement with the firm. It could presage even tougher fines and other punishments still to come for Facebook as additional state and federal investigations continue.

The lawsuit comes as Facebook continues to face criticism around the world for mismanaging its users' personal information. On Friday, for example, the company admitted that some users' photos may have been improperly accessed by third-party apps. On Tuesday, new details emerged about Facebook's extensive data-sharing arrangements with corporate partners including Amazon and Spotify. The report from The New York Times quickly triggered another round of calls from Capitol Hill for the tech giant to be penalized. To that end, a person familiar with the new D.C. lawsuit said it is likely to be amended in the future to include more recent allegations of improper data collection and use.

Comments

Cannot disagree at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

The very reason why facebook exists is to sell the personal information of its users. Cambridge Analytica wasn't a failure of the system but rather the system working exactly as designed. What could the AG have to gain by winning a lawsuit against a company that was doing exactly what they were telling their users - and customers - they were going to do?

There's all this focus on facebook and Cambridge Analytica and the Russian influence etc ..... I've seen some of the Russian ads. It was pretty lame. And the rhetoric was just eye-rolling pathetic - but I have to tell ya, as someone who lost his job because of off-shoring and H1-bs, it did sound good - I'm not gonna lie!

IF it actually worked (I'm not so sure all that fb and CA bullshit was THAT effective ), it says more about our electorate than it does about facebook and CA.
I mean, it did feel good. And when Democrats say shit like, "I'm gonna hold my nose and vote for Hillary." (I did so myself because I do not like what Trump or the Republicans stand for.), I CAN NOT blame anyone for voting for Trump.

Guys, most Trump supporters I know (yeah, pls. don't lecture me samples and stats :) ) are old people who are glued to Fox News and others who really do want to go back to when "America Was Great" and are susceptible to anyone who preaches on that.

Re:Search and seizure (yeah its a stretch)

[Rob Y.]

The court jumped head first into a purely political issue rather than allowing voters and legislatures decide it through the political process.

Well, if you think requiring someone to carry a pregnancy to term because some people's religions insist that a fertilized egg is deserving of personhood is a 'purely political issue', then I guess you have a point. You're wrong, but in your warped universe, you're at least consistent. If you don't think that, then you're just wrong.