Putting All The Blame On Facebook Regarding Users Privacy Scandal Is Pointless, And This Is Why

• Facebook is getting a lot of bad attention for its data privacy practices.
• The fast pace of software development always trumps users' safety. 
• The companies are usually self-regulating themselves when these incidents happen.

After everything that's been going on with Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook is still getting a lot of bad mouthing for its data privacy practices. Even though this business model of giving people a free service while the companies are collecting their user data, became the usual practice over the last several years, many experts are constantly disapproving them while putting all the blame on companies themselves. It is important to remember that although Facebook is currently in the center of the attention, almost any other software company is working in the same way. All of the social media services out there, cellular networks, email providers, and others are constantly collecting their users' data. And we are all agreeing on these terms right before we tap on that "Sign-up" button.

Image Courtesy Of Softonic

The main problem, as The Next Web says, is lying deep down in the nature of software development. It is the fastest growing field, especially now with the boom of AI implementation. These companies are all racing each other on who will create a faster algorithm, better data collection, etc. In that process, users' safety comes in the second place. Especially since the consequences of these methods are almost never seen immediately. We can all recall the Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto to "move fast and break things". And as we can see from the Zuckerberg's testimony in front of Congress, U.S. government is eager to regulate these companies but at the same time don't want to limit them in order for U.S. economy to stay competitive with other countries like China.

As the result of these contradictory agendas, companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple always tend to self-regulate themselves. We saw it with Facebook's latest reaction to the privacy scandal, we saw it with Microsoft stopping their software development in order to focus on security and we saw it with Google hiring thousands of security professionals after the Aurora attacks. The solution to these problems is yet to be found. In the meantime maybe these software companies will implement additional security measures for users who are willing to pay for them. One thing is for sure, user privacy is getting a lot more attention than before.