On Tuesday, April 10, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress and address how the social media giant intends to ensure that its users’ private data is protected from third parties. Just a few weeks ago, a striking story broke that chronicled how Cambridge Analytica, a British data mining and analysis firm, harvested information from 87 million Facebook users without their consent for commercial purposes.
The revelations have reinvigorated a global discussion about how governments and private companies use and abuse “big data,” which is often collected without the knowledge of private citizens to influence elections, suppress internal dissent, and surveil individuals.
The Government Accountability Project (GAP), in collaboration with peer institutions committed to transparency and whistleblowing such as the ACLU, Demand Progress, and Fight for the Future, has supported a Security Pledge that pressures influential companies to reform and become more accountable to those who use their services.
The five-part Pledge would commit data giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft to limit the amount of data they collect on private citizens; protect that data from unlawful breaches by individuals, groups, or nation-states that wish users harm; support increased pro-privacy legislation; and ensure all communities receive equal protections to avoid undue discrimination.
As the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization, GAP remains committed to supporting those who speak truth to power – especially in our current Orwellian environment that has spawned a host of unprecedented and complex challenges. With your help, we can eradicate these injustices, as we have for over 40 years, and restore the power to the people.
Consider donating to GAP so that we can put pressure on Mark Zuckerberg and leaders of other prominent companies to rethink the ways they collect and use personal data.
View the Pledge here.
You can donate to GAP securely here.