Twitter under fire for profiting from millions of UK users’ data sold to advertisers - Kaspersky comment
October 2019 by David Emm, Principal Security Researcher, Global Research Analysis Team (GReAT) chez Kaspersky Lab
Following today’s news that ‘Twitter under fire for profiting from millions of UK users’ data sold to advertisers’, the comment from David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky, on the moral questions this incident has raised around large organisations and ethical data management.
“Many of us are so used to entrusting our personal information to large organisations that we rarely question how this data is actually being managed. Today’s news shows how this trust can be misplaced and will likely have left many UK Twitter users outraged at the social media platform. After all, it has raised some pressing questions about ethical data management and whether organisations like Twitter have access to too much of our sensitive data? What’s particularly troubling in this case is that personal information provided to further secure the authentication process when logging in has been used for advertising purposes. With Twitter already notifying the Irish Data Protection Commissioner about this incident, and the watchdog now confirming it is investigating the incident, it will be fascinating to see what unfolds next. In a time of clear ambiguity surrounding responsible data management, perhaps this could provide a benchmark for future codes of conduct.”