Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has at least one person in his corner amid the company’s massive data row.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, expressed sympathy for the Facebook boss, but believes Zuckerberg can still fix things.
In a series of tweets, Berners-Lee said he believes Zuckerberg is likely ‘devastated that his creation has been abused and misused.’
The comments come just hours after Zuckerberg appeared on US television to discuss Facebook’s ongoing privacy scandal, which led to 50 million members’ data being harvested without their knowledge.
In a series of tweets, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee (pictured) spoke out about Facebook’s data scandal, which led to 50 million members’ data being harvested without their knowledge
Zuckerberg apologized for the ‘major breach of trust’ and outlined several steps Facebook would take to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Berners-Lee expressed his own ideas for what needs to be done to make the internet safer, while also acknowledging the gravity of the situation.
‘This is a serious moment for the web’s future,’ Berners-Lee said.
‘But I want us to remain hopeful.’
‘The problems we see today are bugs in the system. Bugs can cause damage, but bugs are created by people and can be fixed by people,’ he explained.
To prevent future misuses of data, Berners-Lee said it will require more responsibility on the behalf of tech giants, researchers, governments and other parties.
At the same time, he said web users must become empowered and advocate for the internet they wish to see.
The famed computer scientist also said users should speak to their local representatives and inform them that their data matters.
In the wake of Facebook’s data harvesting scandal, the public discourse has zeroed in on the possibility of regulating big tech and how it manages user data, as well as the lack of transparency around online advertising.
Zuckerberg suggested in his televised interview that he’d be open to some kind of regulation.
‘I am actually not sure we shouldn’t be regulated,’ the Facebook boss explained.
‘I think in general technology is an increasingly important trend in the world’
‘I think the question is more what is the right regulation rather than ‘yes or no should we be regulated?,’ he added.
Berners-Lee suggested that users reclaim some control over their own data.
‘General rules for all: any data about me, wherever it is, is mine and mine alone to control,’ he said.
‘If you are given the right to use data for one purpose, use it for that purpose alone’
He went to say that if researchers are given access to certain user data, it is ‘really important’ to use it solely for research purposes.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) appeared on US television on Wednesday night to discuss his company’s massive data scandal, saying he was ‘really sorry’ for what happened
Earlier on Wednesday, Zuckerberg published a lengthy post on his personal Facebook describing the timeline of events that led to the ‘massive breach of trust’
The comment seemed to be an apparent reference to the actions of Aleksandr Kogan, a psychology researcher at Cambridge University, who designed a ‘personality quiz’ app as a research project.
He passed the data to Cambridge Analytica, a British data firm, whose boss Alexander Nix was suspended on Tuesday after Channel 4 broadcast footage of him bragging about the firm’s role in Donald Trump’s campaign.
Kogan, who gathered the data by running a survey app on Facebook, also said that he was being made a scapegoat by Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
In response to the scandal, Facebook has said it will crack down on ‘abusive apps,’ like the one Kogan created.
Zuckerberg said the firm will conduct an investigation of apps that had greater access to information prior to the more recent limitations, which were rolled out in 2014.
Berners-Lee noted in an interview on Channel 4 that Facebook and other tech firms need to be more cognizant of ‘what people are building’ on the internet.
In response to the scandal, Facebook has said it will crack down on ‘abusive apps’ that brazenly share users private information without their knowledge
He said: ‘Look at the systems people are using, like the social networks, and look at are they actually helping humanity?’
‘Are they constructive or are they being destructive?’
When asked whether we can still reign in Silicon Valley giants given how big they’ve gotten, he said he still thinks it’s possible.
‘To a certain extent the genie is out of the bottle,’ Berners-Lee explained.
‘It’s a question of putting toothpaste back in the tube — and actually, it is possible. You can put the toothpaste back in the tube if you try hard enough.’
However, Berners-Lee believes there need to be some limitations over how people handle users’ personal information in the future.
‘You, as my friend can’t give away my data,’ Berners-Lee said on Channel 4.
‘That, in this situation, would have made a big difference,’ he added.