Who Does Mark Zuckerberg Think He Is?

It seems fairly contradictory — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg calling President Obama to tell him that the American government is not handling the National Security Agency affair particularly well. Facebook? The king of Big Data? The company famed for its indifference toward privacy laws and protection of personal data is calling the government to advise that they need to be more careful with Internet safety? What is going on?

Before Snowden’s disclosures, Facebook ruled supreme in the area of social media. The term “social media” already implies we share everything with each other. And everybody knew that whatever they shared on Facebook would be stored. The public tolerated this because we received something in return — we spoke to people that we had not seen in years and it made us happy. But then Snowden revealed that our data is not only stored by Facebook but also obtained by the NSA. In fact, no database is safe from the tentacles of the NSA. And this made the public think.

Term of the Week

Big Data is the term of the week. It is slowly dawning on us that truly everything is being recorded. And there is no escape, not even when you attempt to intentionally corrupt those databases. Many companies compare their collections of data on a monthly basis to confirm that they have accurate information at their disposal. The consumer is becoming a plaything for profit-making enterprises. In other words, this week even the bank, the business to which we entrust our most personal information, is planning to cash in commercially on our payment data.

Facebook is excellent at gathering Big Data. When Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to this data, it was catastrophic for the social media website’s image. That is exactly what Snowden is worried about. The NSA needs companies such as Facebook for data collection, but now the public either does not trust Facebook’s security, or worse, believes that Facebook knowingly handed over its data to the NSA.

A response from Facebook was inevitable — the affair has been going on long enough. And so Zuckerberg called President Obama with the message: Mr. President, do something! On his Facebook page, he asks for more transparency: “At Facebook we spend a lot of our energy making our services and the whole internet safer and more secure. … When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government. … The US government should be the champion for the internet, not a threat.”

The Mouse and the Elephant

Might Obama listen to Zuckerberg’s message? Could Zuckerberg have said something that Obama was not already aware of? Of course not. This is simply a publicity stunt, an action to boost Facebook’s image [as if saying] “I, Mark Zuckerberg, have a direct line to the president and influence on his policy to boot.” Delusions of grandeur from a mouse on the back of an elephant.

No, Mark, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. The Internet — and with it, social media — is growing up. Now that we are over the initial shock, we are beginning to comprehend the (im)possibilities. It may be taking time, but more and more people are realizing the technical potential and the impact of Big Data. We are getting better at understanding our limitations. There is still a long way to go, but the search for solutions is in full swing. Snowden has achieved what he wanted in the first place: that people would start thinking about how their data is being used. And after the NSA affair, Facebook’s position will never be the same — no matter how often Mark Zuckerberg phones the president.