Daily Times

Sir: The ongoing Cambridge Analytica-Facebook scandal has revealed to the world that all is not as it seems on social media. Despite not having permission to do so, the data brokerage Cambridge Analytica was able to use a cleverly disguised quiz application to infiltrate tens of thousands of Facebook accounts and gain access to private information, which was then used to manipulate the American electoral process.

People should see this as a warning and restrict their use of social media. Furthermore, they should be careful about what they download. Each and every free application people download, uses private information taken from the user’s device, which is sold to third parties. People’s private lives are essentially being used as currency.

HASSAN SHAHZAD

Islamabad

Published in Daily Times, April 7^th 2018.