Facebook's data scandal: If you want to protect yourself throw out your computer

Legislators reacting to the publicity may try to impose new laws that may cost Facebook, but they probably won't change much

Facebook's stock value plummeted amid a controversy over user data (Reuters)

Facebook eh. It markets itself as your digital pal it’s fun to spend time with. Here’s a cute memory we’ve found// Here’s a video featuring everything you’ve done during your time with us. Here’s a quiz you can play to find out which Game of Thrones character you’re like.

In reality it’s a spy that sits on your phone, tablet and computer, as the scandal over the mining of users’ data by Cambridge Analytica - it sounds like something from one of John Le Carre’s post Cold War novels - for political purposes makes clear.

That scandal wiped $40bn (£29bn) from the company’s market value, which is some hit. There aren’t that many companies worth $40bn, let alone capable of seeing $40bn evaporate.

But data’s powerful stuff. It is the most powerful commodity in the information age, and Facebook has a stack of it. This has made it worth north of $500bn, which puts that $40bn loss into some sort of context.

Here’s the thing. Didn’t we already know that Facebook wasn’t as cuddly as it would have us believe?

Been searching Amazon for the Little Mix CD your younger sister’s after? Kerchow! There are Little Mix ads all over your Facebook feed when you wanted everyone who looked over your shoulder to know that Wolf Alice was your thing.

If Little Mix’s label, and Amazon, can use Facebook like that then should it really come as a surprise that those seeking to sell something rather darker than harmless pop music might see the potential, and might be tempted to cross a few lines to realise it.

Cambridge Analytica’s biggest sin? It has had the whistle blown on it. There are almost certainly others out there doing similar things right now. But they’re still in the shadows.

The problem for Facebook the business is what follows from the publicity being given to their activities.

Lots of Facebook users have long had a jaundiced view of the way the company treats them, hence the (mostly fake) memes detailing nefarious plans on its part that had people declaring that their photos were their copyright (for all the good it did them) a while back.

It’s legislators (and perhaps lawyers) who are reacting to news that may create a business issue for the company, at least if they finally make an attempt to do something about a problem they should have acted on years ago.

If new laws and regulations appear they will impose a cost burden on the firm, hence the $40bn hit, some, if not most, of which Facebook will likely claw back because the market always over reacts to this sort of thing.

In the meantime, the only way to protect oneself from the lesser Cambridge Analytica’s beavering away in the shadows is to is to emulate Ron Swanson from NBC’s gently satirical Parks & Recreation (highly recommended, you can see it on Amazon Prime). When his intern explained how internet cookies worked to try and sell him stuff he picked up his terminal and threw it in the dumpster.

The probably won’t change whatever legislators eventually come up with.