Privacy on Facebook : sugar mountain, escape to the front of the

Who loses within one year of 8.7 billion dollars of his assets, the need to do something. You could say that, just so it is with Mark Zuckerberg currently. Because not two days after the annual Forbes revealed Rankings, he has slipped to eighth place in the richest people in the world, announced by the Facebook chief privacy improvements in his social network.

That the two are directly related, may be doubted. Indirectly, however, already. Finally, in 2018, was not a good year for Facebook and also for the wealth of Zuckerberg, which consists mostly of shares of Facebook. The promised innovations mean a significant u-turn. So far, his Credo was, the Trend would lead then, that people always want to make it more about themselves in public. Consequently, he took it with the privacy.

In a Wednesday evening (Central European time) published a blog post that sounds different now. "I believe that the communication will shift in the future increasingly on confidential, encrypted services, in which the people can rely on what they tell each other, remains secure," Zuckerberg wrote here. And he is clear: "I don't understand that a lot of people believe that Facebook would build such a privacy-focused platform, or wanted to." An Online network does not have the reputation to develop on the protection of privacy-oriented services.

in the Future, he wants to install additional encryption features to the communication. He sat on the End-to-End technology, when the content of a conversation only between the sender and the receiver can be viewed. Other services, such as video chats, E-Commerce, Payment Services should build on this safe Basis, explained Zuckerberg.

daily mirror Background of digitalization & KI

digital policy, regulation, Artificial intelligence: The Briefing on digitization & KI. For decision-makers & experts from industry, politics, associations, academia and NGOs.

try it Now for free! the

criticism of the Federal government

This change of direction is not without reason. Indeed, the business figures of Facebook in the past year, with a view on the confidence of the users and of the state institutions, the company, however, faces major problems. Again and again, Facebook got activists targeting data, still the Cambridge Analytica scandal after. Even if the loss could be stopped, lost the social network in comparison to the 2017 15 million users, as a recent analysis shows. And there are no ongoing problems which could in the long term, have a far greater impact than a short-term good record.

A major point of criticism is the integration of Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook. Also the Messenger service, and the photo App group, and Zuckerberg had originally planned to link the user accounts of all three Apps. Media reports indicate that engines of the founders of the project personally, and the Disposals of the former CEOs of Instagram and Whatsapp are also associated with these plans.

But the called not only data protection, but also competition authorities on the Plan. As Federal Minister of justice Katarina Barley (SPD), criticised the plans in the daily mirror as "try to create a monopoly". A possible Integration to throw "large antitrust and privacy law issues".

Also in this point, Zuckerberg has steered in his blog post. The various users-will Could thus for the User it is not required. Much more you had to agree to active. "If you want to, you can operate his accounts, of course, more separately," said the Facebook CEO.

In the United States threatens a multi-billion-penalty

Also in the US, Facebook is in Trouble. The U.S. trade authority, the FTC determined, because of privacy infringements of Facebook. According to a report in the Washington Post, an agreement in view - is, however, only against a penalty payment of several billion dollars. In sum, both sides could not agree, according to the report.

That Facebook is currently gathering all the assurances, in Spite of continued data that was clear this week by a study of the UK data protection organization Privacy International (PI). The organization, according to a number of Android sends Apps still data automatically to Facebook, regardless of whether or not the user has consented or not. And so the question of whether Zuckerberg is implementing are actually in the current announcements of what he promises. It wouldn't be the first Time that the words of the Facebook leaders are not followed by deeds. As Facebook had announced in March 2018, users could, in the future, delete your Tracking History with Facebook, how to delete the history in browsers. To date, the User will be waiting in vain.

The reluctance of the group's concessions on the protection of privacy is justified in the business model. Because hardly a penalty payment for Facebook could be dangerous, but what follows from it. Finally, the business model of the social network, using user data to target based switch advertising. The data transfer should be restricted sensitive, is likely to mean big consequences for the revenue of Facebook.

More about

criticism of the remodeling plans, Facebook boosts revenue and problems

Oliver Voß

Against this Background, Zuckerberg's paradigm shift is likely to be an escape forward. According to the Motto: I would Rather be determined, as the data protection looks at me, as I wait until my dishes measures require. On the stock exchange this strategy impressed. The stock, which had lost in the second half of 2018, around 35 percent of their value since the beginning of the year but the ascendant has moved since Wednesday.