Amnesty slams Facebook, Google for rights abuse

Amnesty International has accused Facebook and Google of violating privacy rights of people with their surveillance systems.

Frank Bajak had the news for the AP:

Amnesty International issued a scathing indictment of the world’s dominant internet corporations, arguing in a new report that Google and Facebook should be forced to abandon what it calls their surveillance-based business model because it is “predicated on human rights abuse.”

The London-based global rights group said in the 60-page report published Thursday that the business model of what it calls the “Surveillance Giants” is “inherently incompatible with the right to privacy.” Google and Facebook likewise threaten a range of other rights, including freedom expression and the right to equality and non-discrimination, the group said.

The report said the company’s practice of vacuuming up personal data in order to feed voracious advertising businesses represents an unprecedented assault on privacy rights. It says the companies force people to make a “Faustian bargain” to share their data in order to access Google and Facebook services that have grown to dominate the global public square.

CNet’s Queenie Wong reported:

“Google and Facebook chipped away at our privacy over time. We are now trapped,” Amnesty International Secretary General Kumi Naidoo said in a statement. “Either we must submit to this pervasive surveillance machinery — where our data is easily weaponized to manipulate and influence us — or forego the benefits of the digital world. This can never be a legitimate choice.”

The scathing analysis of the two Silicon Valley giants and their business models comes as politicians, activists and even tech company founders call for the breakup of big tech companies, arguing they’ve become too powerful. Facebook and Google face an antitrust probe from multiple state attorneys general. The US Department of Justice is looking into how online platforms achieve market power. Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has also called on governments to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook. 

At issue are the troves of data Facebook and Google collect on the billions of people who use their services. The data allows businesses to precisely target users with ads based on their interests, buying habits and other characteristics. 

Zoe Schiffer from The Verge noted:

The report points out that Google now controls 90 percent of search engine usage around the world, while one third of the globe uses a Facebook-owned service every day. “Billions of people have no meaningful choice but to access this public space on terms dictated by Facebook and Google,” said Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“This isn’t the internet people signed up for,” said Naidoo. The companies have made people reliant on their services and now monitor every message and search query. “We are now trapped. Either we must submit to this pervasive surveillance machinery – where our data is easily weaponized to manipulate and influence us – or forego the benefits of the digital world.”

In a statement emailed to The Verge, a Google spokesperson said the company is working to give people more control over their data. “We recognize that people trust us with their information and that we have a responsibility to protect it,” they said. “Over the past 18 months we have made significant changes and built tools to give people more control over their information.”