Facebook数据泄密丑闻继续发酵

Facebook is set to face questions from US regulators about how user data were leaked to Cambridge Analytica, the UK company that worked for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

对于用户数据怎么会被泄露给英国剑桥分析公司(Cambridge Analytica)，Facebook势必将面对美国监管者的提问。剑桥分析曾为唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的总统竞选团队效力。

Global pressure on the technology group is mounting over revelations about the data leak to the secretive political consultancy, which have prompted a slide in Facebook’s shares.

目前全球对Facebook的压力越来越大，起因是有爆料称，其用户数据被泄露给上述行事隐秘的政治咨询公司。这起丑闻已造成Facebook股价下滑。

According to people familiar with the matter, the Federal Trade Commission is writing to Facebook to ask for more information about how Cambridge Analytica obtained data from more than 50m Facebook users, mostly US voters.

据熟悉此事的人士透露，美国联邦贸易委员会(FTC)致函Facebook，要求进一步了解剑桥分析究竟如何获得逾5000万Facebook用户(主要是美国选民)的数据。

The information was gathered from a survey of 270,000 users, who gave access to their data for research. But it was then used for political purposes without Facebook or the users’ consent or knowledge.

这些信息是在一项对27万用户进行的调查中收集的，这些用户让研究者获取自己的数据。但这些信息之后在没有征得Facebook或用户同意、亦未让其知情的情况下被用于政治目的。

Shares in Facebook fell 5.4 per cent to $163.20 in mid-morning in New York. The stock has fallen more than 12 per cent since the leak was first reported in The New York Times and The Observer.

截至纽约周二上午交易中段，Facebook股价进一步下跌5.4%，至163.20美元。自《纽约时报》(New York Times)和《观察家报》(The Observer)首次报道数据泄密事件以来，该股已累计下跌逾12%。

The social network risks being found in violation of a 20-year user privacy settlement it signed with the FTC in 2011, designed to make it clearer how user data were shared.

该社交网络面临的风险在于，它可能被认定违反了其在2011年与美国联邦贸易委员会签署的20年用户隐私协议，该和解协议旨在更清楚地规定分享用户数据的方式。

David Vladeck, a former director at the US regulator who oversaw the settlement, said Facebook could face fines of up to $40,000 per affected user if it had violated the agreement. If it had to pay a fine for all 50m whose data might have been compromised, it would cost $2tn.

原美国联邦贸易委员会消费者保护局主任、曾领导这家美国监管机构与Facebook达成上述和解的戴维•弗拉德克(David Vladeck)表示，如果Facebook违反了协议，该公司可能面临每位受影响用户4万美元的罚款。如果它不得不按照这个标准为数据可能被泄露的所有5000万用户支付罚款，它将需要破费2万亿美元。

Rob Sherman, Facebook deputy chief privacy officer, said: “We remain strongly committed to protecting ­people’s information. We appreciate the opportunity to answer questions the FTC may have.”

Facebook副首席隐私官罗布•谢尔曼(Rob Sherman)表示：“我们仍然坚定致力于保护人们的信息。我们感激有机会回答联邦贸易委员会可能提出的问题。”

Facebook said it would brief lawmakers in Washington this week on the Cambridge Analytica revelations.

Facebook表示，本周将在华盛顿向立法者介绍有关剑桥分析公司事件的情况。

The FTC declined to comment on whether it was investigating. But it said: “We take any allegations of violations of our consent decrees very seriously.”

联邦贸易委员会拒绝评论它是否已展开调查。但它说：“我们非常认真地对待有关违反我们同意令的任何指控。”

Facebook discovered that Cambridge Analytica had obtained the data in 2015 from Global Science Research, a company run by Aleksander Kogan, a Cambridge university psychology lecturer. The tech group asked the data analytics firm to delete the data but did not report it as a leak. Cambridge Analytica said it deleted the data and did not use them in work for the Trump campaign.

2015年，Facebook发现剑桥分析公司从全球科学研究公司(Global Science Research)获得了相关数据，后者是剑桥大学(Cambridge University)心理学讲师亚历山大•科根(Aleksander Kogan)经营的。Facebook当时要求剑桥分析删除相关数据，但并未将此事报告为泄密事件。剑桥分析表示，它删除了相关数据，并没有将它们用于特朗普的竞选活动。

The UK Information Commissioner is seeking a warrant to probe its systems. The head of a British parliamentary committee has written to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive, calling for a senior executive to account for a “catastrophic failure of process”.

英国信息专员(UK Information Commissioner)正在申请法庭搜查令，以便追查该公司的系统。英国议会一个委员会的负责人已致函Facebook首席执行官马克•扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)，要求该公司派出一位资深高管来解释这场“灾难性的流程失败”。

Ireland’s data commission, acting for the EU, said it would examine Facebook’s oversight of third-party apps.

代表欧盟的爱尔兰数据委员会表示，它将审查Facebook对第三方app的监督。