Facebook的Cambridge Analytica丑闻：10大疑问解答

Facebook引发公众不满已不是什么新鲜事，如今正经历史上最严峻的危机。一家分析公司获取了8700万Facebook用户个人信息，其中大多是美国用户，而这家公司的“业绩”之一就是助推现任总统唐纳德·特朗普赢得大选。这一惊人消息公开后，美国和英国的立法者和监管部门加大了对社交媒体巨头Facebook的审查力度，还有部分用户注销了Facebook账户。随着各方密切关注2016年美国大选期间Facebook如何成为俄罗斯宣传和虚假新闻扩散渠道，全公司及首席执行官马克·扎克伯格面临的压力愈加沉重。

1. 谁从Facebook那里得到了什么？

2014年夏天，美国政治咨询公司Cambridge Analytica的英国联营公司聘请了在苏联出生的美国研究人员亚历山大·科根来收集Facebook用户的基本个人信息以及他们点赞内容。约30万Facebook用户下载了科根名为“This Is Your Digital Life”的app，他们中的大多数或全部都得到了一点报酬，这款app也向他们进行了一系列调查。科根收集的不光是这些人的信息，在用户隐私设置允许的情况下，他还收集了这些人的Facebook朋友的信息。涉及人数最初估计为5000万，后增至8700万人。该app在服务条款中表示它将收集用户及其朋友的信息。

2. 科根得到了Facebook的允许吗？

从一般意义上讲，他得到了。Facebook允许外部开发者自行制作app并在Facebook上使用。科根推出他的app时，Facebook还允许开发人员在用户隐私设置允许的情况下收集用户朋友的信息。在彭博获取科根的3月18日的电子邮件中这样写道：“我们清楚地表明用户授权我们大范围地使用这些数据，包括将其出售或许可别人使用。”

3.问题在哪里？

Facebook称，科根曾声称收集数据是为了研究，所以“说了谎”，后来将数据转交给Cambridge Analytica也违反了Facebook的政策。科根辩称app的条款与细则已经写明允许“商业用途”。Facebook则表示，2015年了解到相关情况后移除了科根的app，同时要求科根“以及曾接收数据的各方”将数据销毁。

4.数据销毁了吗？

和《伦敦观察家报》（The Observer of London）一起捅出此事的《纽约时报》3月18日报道，电子邮件和文件显示Cambridge Analytica“仍持有大多数或全部数据”。Cambridge Analytica则坚持说已经删除了所有数据。在Facebook要求下，科根提出并“实施了一次内部审计，以确保所有数据、衍生和备份数据均已被删除”。4月5日，Facebook首席技术官迈克尔·斯科洛普夫在接受采访时说：“我们还不知道他们究竟掌握着什么”，这要看调查结果。

5. Cambridge Analytica为什么想要这些数据？

它用这样的数据来锁定诉求格外具体的选民，这其中既有Facebook用户，也包括其他在线服务商，此举已经远远超出仅基于党派身份发送信息的传统做法，被称为“心理因素细分”定向或建模。

6. Cambridge Analytica给科根钱了吗？

《泰晤士报》称，公司电邮和财务记录显示，Cambridge Analytica承担了这款app逾80万美元的开发成本，并允许科根为自己的研究保留该app。

7. Cambridge Analytica是何方神圣？

Cambridge Analytica的网站自称为在商业和政治两方面都能“利用数据来改变受众行为”。它设在伦敦的联营公司SCL Group以前就曾在世界各地的选举中搞过暧昧的把戏。Cambridge Analytica在2016年大选中的工作是支持特朗普、泰德·科鲁兹和本·卡森，三人均来自共和党。Cambridge Analytica成立于2013年，创始人罗伯特·默瑟曾在文艺复兴科技公司（Renaissance Technologies）担任联合CEO。在2016年大选中，默瑟是特朗普的主要支持者，特朗普的竞选经理史蒂夫·班农则在文艺复兴科技公司担任董事。有关Facebook“数据门”的首批报道刚出现了几天，Cambridge Analytica就表示已将CEO亚历山大·尼克斯停职，因为后者鼓吹Cambridge Analytica愿意用贿赂、联合性工作者下套以及其他可能的非法战术来打压参选者的过程被拍了下来。

8. Facebook数据帮特朗普登上了总统宝座？

Cambridge Analytica坚决否认它在2016年选举中使用了来自科根所在公司的Facebook数据，或者代表特朗普的竞选班子使用了心理因素细分建模技术。但还不清楚它是否把Facebook数据用在了其他方面，以便更好地了解并锁定投票者。Cambridge Analytica的模型是否真的奏效就存在争议；甚至有部分Cambridge Analytica用户表示他们认为该模型几乎没有价值可言。

9.上述情况有任何违规之处吗？

这还有待观察。英国的数据保护法禁止在未经允许的情况下出售或使用个人数据。2011年，Facebook和美国联邦贸易委员会（U.S. Federal Trade Commission）就隐私投诉问题和解，Facebook同意在分享用户资料时首先要获得明确同意。该委员会目前正在调查Facebook是否违反了2011年同意判决书的条款。如发现有违该同意判决书，Facebook就可能面临数百万美元的罚款。美国和英国国会议员正在分别进行调查。

10.此事有何影响？

3月17日“数据门”消息曝光，Facebook股价在随后10天里几乎下跌了18%。网上的“卸载Facebook”（#DeleteFacebook）运动得到了一些高调支持，但扎克伯格说Facebook的业务未受到“重大影响”。Facebook表示已经移除了允许用户通过电话号码或电邮地址在Facebook上搜索其他人的功能。它还打算让用户更方便地改变隐私设置。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

No stranger to public discontent, Facebook Inc. is digging out of one of its biggest crises yet. The personal data of up to 87 million users, mostly in the U.S., was obtained by an analytics firm that, among its other work, helped elect President Donald Trump. In response to that revelation, lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. and U.K. increased their scrutiny of the social media giant, and at least some Facebook users canceled their accounts. The uproar has only added to the pressure on Facebook and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg over how the company was used during the 2016 presidential campaign to spread Russian propaganda and phony headlines.

1. Who took what from Facebook?

During the summer of 2014, the U.K. affiliate of U.S. political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica hired a Soviet-born American researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, to gather basic profile information of Facebook users along with what they chose to “Like.” About 300,000 Facebook users, most or all of whom were paid a small amount, downloaded Kogan’s app, called This Is Your Digital Life, which presented them with a series of surveys. Kogan collected data not just on those users but on their Facebook friends, if their privacy settings allowed it — a universe of people initially estimated to be 50 million strong, then upped to 87 million. The app, in its terms of service, disclosed that it would collect data on users and their friends.

2. Did Kogan have Facebook’s permission?

In a general sense, yes. Since 2007, Facebook has allowed outside developers to build and offer their own applications within its space. When Kogan offered his app, Facebook also allowed developers to collect information on friends of those who chose to use their apps if their privacy settings allowed it. “We clearly stated that the users were granting us the right to use the data in broad scope, including selling and licensing the data,” Kogan wrote in a March 18 email obtained by Bloomberg.

3. Then what’s the issue here?

Facebook says Kogan “lied to us” by saying he was gathering the data for research purposes and violated the company’s policies by passing the data to Cambridge Analytica. Kogan says his app’s terms and conditions specifically allowed “commercial use.” Facebook says that after it learned of the situation in 2015, it removed Kogan’s app and demanded that he “and all parties he had given data to” destroy the data.

4. Has the data been destroyed?

The New York Times — which broke the story along with The Observer of London — reported on March 18 that emails and documents suggest the firm “still possesses most or all of the trove.” Cambridge Analytica has maintained that it deleted all the data Kogan provided and, at Facebook’s request, “carried out an internal audit to make sure that all the data, all derivatives, and all backups had been deleted.” Facebook’s chief technology officer, Michael Schroepfer, said in an interview on April 5 that pending the results of investigations, “we don’t know exactly what they have.”

5. Why did Cambridge Analytica want the data?

It uses such data to target voters with hyper-specific appeals, including on Facebook and other online services, that go well beyond traditional messaging based on party affiliation alone. This is known as “psychographic” targeting or modeling.

6. Did Cambridge Analytica pay Kogan?

It covered his costs in creating his app — more than $800,000 — and allowed him to keep a copy for his own research, the Times reported, citing company emails and financial records.

7. Who is Cambridge Analytica?

It’s a company that “uses data to change audience behavior,” both commercially and politically, according to its website. Its London-based affiliate, SCL Group, has a history of dubious tricks in elections around the globe. Cambridge Analytica worked in support of the 2016 campaigns of Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, all Republicans. It was founded in 2013 by former Renaissance Technologies co-CEO Robert Mercer, a major supporter of Trump in 2016; Trump’s campaign manager, Steve Bannon, served on the firm’s board. Days after the first reports about Facebook data, Cambridge Analytica said it had suspended its chief executive officer, Alexander Nix, who caught on camera boasting about the firm’s willingness to use bribes, entrapment with sex workers and other possibly illegal tactics to undermine political candidates.

8. Did the Facebook data help Trump win the presidency?

Cambridge Analytica flatly denied using Facebook data from Kogan’s firm in the 2016 election or employing psychographic modeling techniques on behalf of Trump’s campaign. But it’s not clear whether the firm used the Facebook data in other ways to better understand and target voters. Whether Cambridge Analytica’s models really work is itself a point of contention; even some of the firm’s clients have said they saw little value in it.

9. Did any of this violate any rules?

That remains to be seen. The U.K. has data-protection laws that ban the sale or use of personal data without consent. And in 2011, Facebook settled privacy complaints by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by agreeing to get clear consent from users before sharing their material. The FTC is now investigating whether Facebook violated the terms of that 2011 consent decree. The company would face millions of dollars in fines if it were found to have violated that pact. Lawmakers in the U.S. and U.K. are conducting their own inquiries.

10. What’s been the fallout?

Facebook shares dropped almost 18 percent in the 10 days after the news broke on March 17. An online “#DeleteFacebook” movement drew some high-profile support, though Zuckerberg says there’s been no “meaningful impact” on Facebook’s business. Facebook said it removed a feature that let users enter phone numbers or email addresses into Facebook’s search tool to find other people. The company also will make it easier for users to adjust their privacy settings.