Cambridge Analytica Archives

Ursula Smartt, a lecturer at NCH at Northeastern in London, on Dec. 4 will be launching the fourth edition of <i>Media & Entertainment Law</i> Photo by Suzanne Plunkett for Northeastern University

A lawyer’s guide to navigating the clickbait era

LONDON—Ursula Smartt, a lecturer at NCH at Northeastern in London, on Dec. 4 will be launching the fourth edition of Media & Entertainment Law, widely considered one of the most comprehensive textbooks on the subject.

by Josie Cox - contributor November 26, 2019

Celebrities and ordinary people alike are flocking to FaceApp. Photo via Instagram

You gave away the rights to your face. The one you use to unlock your phone.

“The obvious privacy concern is it’s your face that is now in the hands of a company that can go and use that face however they want, according to their terms and conditions,” says David Choffnes, an assistant professor at Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences who designs solutions to internet security and privacy.

by Khalida Sarwari July 19, 2019

Northeastern researchers are working to determine how fake news ends up in the news feeds of Facebook users. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

How does fake news spread on Facebook?

Four Northeastern professors have been selected to receive access to closely guarded Facebook data that could shed light on how people share fake news on social media.

by Molly Callahan May 14, 2019

03/23/18 - BOSTON, MA. - Stock photography of Facebook on an iPhone on March 23, 2018. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

Worried about your Facebook data? Read this.

Last weekend, The New York Times revealed that data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica misused data from as many as 50 million Facebook profiles to aid messaging tied to the Trump campaign in the 2016 presidential election. We spoke with assistant professor David Choffnes to see what social media users should learn from this, and what steps they can take to keep themselves safe online.

by Shannon Nargi March 26, 2018

Photo illustration by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

With no clear liability against Facebook, professor calls for stronger data privacy laws

The Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday that it is investigating Facebook after millions of users’ personal data was harvested and passed along to a campaign analytics firm. Professor Woodrow Hartzog specializes in privacy and data protection law, and says that while there’s ‘no clear-cut’ liability case against Facebook, the case may be enough to spur Congress to pass much-needed privacy laws.

by Danny Hajjar March 22, 2018

Professor David Lazer presents at the NULab annual conference. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Fake news. Real research.

The concept of “fake news” has been in the real news almost daily for more than a year. While separating fact from misinformation has always been critical, the current social and political climate made research on the topic especially pertinent for this year’s NULab conference, which showcased the work researchers are doing to understand and combat the spread of fake news.

by Molly Callahan March 21, 2018

Selling Facebook data to a third party and failing to destroy it afterward is helping to shine a light on two of the murkier areas of data collection: weak enforcement of security measures; and to whom, exactly, our personal information belongs, say Northeastern researchers. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Cambridge Analytica, Facebook data collection a ‘breach of trust’ not security

Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica had obtained data on 50 million Facebook users—information it used in the 2016 presidential campaign. We spoke to three computer and information scientists about what exactly happened, and how it’s helping shine a light on some of the murkier areas of data collection.

by Molly Callahan March 20, 2018

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