Developer of the ‘This Is Your Digital Life’ personality quiz app that was involved in the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, Professor Aleksandr Kogan, has opened up to defending his involvement.
The Cambridge University professor developed the personality quiz app with which over 87 million users account on Facebook were compromised when he shared the data harvested by the app with Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm.
TheNewsGuru reports it has been a tumultuous time for both Cambridge Analytica and the founder and chief executive officer of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, as authorities have sought to know what transpired and if people’s privacy are safe on the social media, especially on Facebook.
Zuckerberg said the Kogan’s app was downloaded by 270,000 people, which gave Kogan access to their friends amounting to the over 87 million users that were affected.
According to confessional statements, the data was then passed to the data analytics firm and was eventually used to influence US 2016 presidential election.
While Facebook has blamed Kogan for misusing the app and the data it harvested, Kogan defended his role on Sunday.
He said he “never heard a word” of opposition from the social media giant when he was running the personality quiz app, and that he is being used as a scapegoat.
The Cambridge professor told CBS’s 60 Minutes he was “sincerely sorry” for the data mining, but insisted there was a widespread belief that users knew their data was being sold and shared.
“Back then we thought it was fine… I think that core idea that we had that everybody knows and nobody cares was fundamentally flawed. And for that, I’m sincerely sorry,” he said.
The psychologist also accused Facebook of framing him as a “rogue app” and insisted that while he was not sure that he read Facebook’s developer policy banning the transfer or sale of users’ data, the social network failed to enforce it in any case.
“I had a terms of service that was up there for a year and a half that said I could transfer and sell the data. Never heard a word,” he said, referencing his app’s user agreement.
“Facebook clearly has never cared,” he told AFP.
“The belief in Silicon Valley and certainly our belief at that point was that the general public must be aware that their data is being sold and shared and used to advertise to them.”
On the issue of harvesting the information of friends of app users without explicit permission, Kogan said that capability was “a core feature” of Facebook for years and he estimated “tens of thousands” of apps had engaged in similar practices.
“This was not a special permission you had to get. This was just something that was available to anybody who wanted it who was a developer,” he said.
On Tuesday Kogan is set to appear before a British parliamentary committee probing the scandal, where he will discuss his ties with Cambridge Analytica.