There may be more than 87 millions Facebook users whose personal data was shared with the research firm Cambridge Analytica, and they deserve a cut of the money Facebook made off ads using that information, a former employee of the research company said Wednesday in an interview with Cheddar.
“Facebook allowed companies all around the world to do this,” said Brittany Kaiser, a former director of business development at Cambridge Analytica. “They were definitely encouraging it.”
Kaiser was the second whistleblower to speak about her former employer and [testified](https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/culture-media-and-sport/Brittany%20Kaiser%20Parliamentary%20testimony%20FINAL.pdf) about the scandal in the British Parliament on Tuesday.
Facebook has acknowledged that an app by a third-party developer had harvested the personal data of millions of users, most of them in the United States, and shared it with Cambridge Analytica without users' consent and in violation of Facebook's terms of service. The research firm had worked with President Trump’s campaign team in 2016 to help the campaign target political ads.
The ensuing scandal prompted Facebook to make changes to its policies as far back as 2014, to protect users' personal information, the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress last week.
But Kaiser said the changes weren't designed to protect users, they were intended to protect Facebook. “They didn’t close the data API to protect their users, they closed the data API because they realized how valuable personal data is and they wanted to monetize it for themselves,” she said.
“The closing of the API started something called the ‘Walled Garden,’ which means you can’t buy raw data, you can only purchase advertising that uses the data that they have on file in order to target you,” said Kaiser.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal has heightened scrutiny of Facebook and other Silicon Valley firms, including Google, which Kaiser said could be sitting on 35 times the user data that Facebook has.
Lawmakers in the U.S. and Britain are scrambling to figure out what kind of regulation, if any, should be used to rein in the tech industry. Kaiser said giving users a cut of the money that the technology companies make off their information would be a start.
“I believe individuals should have access to their data as their property,” she said. Since technology companies get most of their profits from their users they should, “share some of that with the people creating the value.”
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/top-facebook-analyst-bullish-ahead-of-q1-earnings).
*Correction: An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the timing of Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before Congress. He testified last week, not last month.*
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
At the core of the ongoing government shutdown is a fight over the decision to end subsidies that let some 12 million Americans get health coverage.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
