2030Plus with Mal Fletcher - A Facebook Apology Doesn't Go Far Enough

Article by Mal Fletcher
Chairman of 2030plus

A FACEBOOK APOLOGY DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to the US Congress for "corporate failings".

Yet he still doesn't seem to recognise the ethical problems inherent in the notion that any one private company can control and potentially pass on the personal data of 2.2 billion people.

Facebook should not own the data of its users. Individual users should retain ownership of their data, selling it only if and to whom they wish.

Imagine a country larger than the US and India combined owning (and being potentially free to share) the same type and amount of data.

Facebook needs to be regulated properly at government level - with binding international agreements - and via a sector-driven code of practice, with clear accountability and enforceability in law.

Self-regulation is not enough. Our attitudes to it may have changed, but privacy is not dead (yet). A reasonable degree of privacy is a human right.

Mal Fletcher (@MalFletcher) is the founder and chairman of 2030Plus. He is a respected keynote speaker, social commentator and social futurist, author and broadcaster based in London.

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