Facebook Denies Collecting Call and SMS Data Without Permission

The vast majority of Internet users have lost their trust in Facebook, according to polls published today in the USA and Germany, at the same time that the owner of the company, Mark Zackerberg again apologized for the recent scandal involving the embezzlement of personal data, full-page listings in British and American newspapers.

As of 1700 GMT, Facebook shares had lost 2.81% to $154.91 per share.

Cambridge Analytica, a political data-mining firm, is accused of lifting data from some 50 million Facebook users to influence voters in the 2016 election which saw Donald Trump win the U.S. presidency.

The company also faces rising discontent from advertisers and users.

Stephen King, CEO, Ixanos, is advising T&T nationals to be cautious while they use Facebook and other forms of social media.

Facebook has denied collecting people's call and text histories without their permission.

"If you chose to turn this feature on, we will begin to continuously log this information", the post said. "If we can't, we don't deserve it", said the advertisement, which appeared in plain text on a white background with a tiny Facebook logo.

Of course, Facebook is not now regarded as a haven for data privacy.

Russian Federation attacks 'poisoned' Boris Johnson over comparison with Hitler
When asked about Mr Johnson's remarks by the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Pritsepov said that "maybe it is time for him to go".

Facebook says he passed this to Cambridge Analytica without its knowledge.

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Facebook's privacy practices following a week of privacy scandals including whether the company engaged in "unfair acts" that cause "substantial injury" to consumers.

He said the user term and conditions of Facebook are wide open.

Meanwhile, the chief law enforcement officers for 37 USA states and territories are demanding to know when Facebook learned of the breach.

What are the Cambridge Analytica files? "I know a lot of people are shutting down their accounts, but there are many others who are afraid to cut off the relationships they've built over the network", said Kim So-jung, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul who has been using Facebook for the past 14 years.

Ars Technica writer Sean Gallagher picked up the story and confirmed that his own Facebook data archive contained call, SMS, and MMS metadata from an Android device he used in 2015 and 2016.

Before Android 4.1 (a.k.a. Jelly Bean), which was released in 2012, when an Android user gave Facebook access to phone contacts, Facebook also got access to actual call and text data by default. "We're taking a break from Facebook", the company which runs the Firefox web browser said in a statement last week. In that 2011 decree, Facebook agreed to certain privacy protections to users' data on the network.

The social network has announced on its website that it never sells the data and does not collect the content of the emails or conversations.