Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal: Quality Management

Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal Quality ManagementExecutive SummaryThis taradiddle is prep bed to study the issue Facebook recently faces. It is in news because of the Cambridge Analytica information scandal in which the personal information of Facebook users have been improperly dual-lane with Cambridge Analytica a data mine and political strategy firm. When the scandal exposed the CEO and Chairman of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg had to apologize publically for the data breach and said that it was a mistake made by Facebook for not constructing a puzzle out to restrict third party developers to work on Facebook API. He also promise to make changes in the design and reform the privacy policy. This study gives an understanding of loopholes in Facebooks timbre management agreement and how it could have been prevented if they have followed the theories of attribute management gurus. By understanding different theories described by these gurus, a strong shade management system can be placed from the design stage itself. It also states that node loyalty is a rattling distinguished value which can be gained by continuous improvement in quality management system. A poor system result in red of company reputation, customers and monetary value. 1.0 IntroductionFacebook is an American social media company providing social ne dickensrking go to lot around the world. It was founded in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg is the Chairman and CEO of the company. It has more than 2.2 billion active users. People use Facebook to stay connected to their friends and family and to share and mouth their views.2.0 Issue of data breach Recently Facebooks data privacy scandalcame into limelight where Facebook members data were improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a data mining and politicalstrategy firm. These data were accessedduring Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Cambridge Analytica accessed thedata for more than 2 course of studys. This is the biggest public relat ion crisis Facebookhas faced. In April 2010, Facebook launched aplatform called undefendable Graph to third party apps. This allowed the externaldevelopers to reach out to Facebook users and request permission to accesstheir personal data(CNBC, 2018). In the year 2013, Cambridge Universitys police detective named Aleksandr Kogan created an App called thisisyourdigitallife.The app prompted users to answer questions for a psychological profile. About270,000 people downloaded the app and shared their personal information. Thisgave Aleksandr Kogan to access data of not only Facebook users but also of theusers friends. These information were shared with Cambridge Analytica and usedto know about the personality of the people and to effectively target politicaladvertising on people. Cambridge Analytica obtained the information in total trespass of Facebooks rule and didnt tell anybody that the data depart be usedfor political campaigning. (Casey, 2018)In the same year Facebook was made a wareabout this violation of accessing data of not only who installed this app butalso of their friends. Facebook demanded Cambridge Analytica to delete all thedata and they agreed to delete all the data. Aleksandr Kogan in reality neverdeleted the data and later on Facebook never investigated whether they havedeleted the data as promised (Casey, 2018).In 2014 Facebook changed their rules forexternal developers and restricted them from accessing users friends datawithout taking permission from them.With the draw near 2016 Presidentialelections, Cambridge Analytica did not have time to create its own data forelection campaign. It went to Aleksandr Kogan who created Facebook app thatpaid users to take a personality test(The Guardian,2018).In the year 2016 The Guardian reported thatCambridge Analytica is helping Ted Cruzs presidential election by sharingpsychological data based on their previous research. Facebook waited for morethan two years before suspending Cambridge Analytica even after knowing aboutthe data breach. In mid March 2018, this scandal wasexposed by The Guardian and The unseasoned York Times. Facebook admitted that it did not read theterms of the app that accessed the data of 87 million people and apologised forthe breach of trust. Facebooks CTOMike Schroepfer told U.K. lawmakers that Facebook did not notify the U.K.s data vindicationwatchdog after it learned of the sharing of data with Cambridge Analytica andit was their mistake. (Ryan, 2018).According to U.K.s data protection law,sale or use of personal data without users consent is banned. In 2011, afterFederal Trade Commission complaint, Facebook agreed to get clear consent fromthe users before sharing their data. The FTC now started put whetherFacebook violated privacy protection of their users. The U.S.A. and U.K.lawmakers are investing in their own way. Mark Zuckerberg apologized on behalfof Facebook by publishing a personal letter in all major newspapers and makechanges and reform the privacy policy to prevent such kind of breaches. By doing this Facebook has breached the trustof users and privacy policy law. Acustomer or user shares information with a company trusting that personaldetails are safe. A companys name and reputation makes people to trust onthem. Quality of the brand is veryimportant in building and growing a company. Facebook is a very well know networking localize and it has monopoly in the market. People joined Facebook and disclosedtheir personal details knowing that whatever information they share aboutthemselves and their friends bequeath be confidential and will not be disclosedanywhere outside without their consent. 3.0 Referring to statements made by Quality management GurusIt is very important for a company to havea well defined quality management system in place. For a company like Facebook,where the personal data of people are at risk, there is a continuous risk ofhijacking the data for misuse. How a good quality management system canb e placed, has been described by galore(postnominal) Quality management gurus. Mentioned beloware some of the points stated by these gurusAccording to quality management guru W. Edwards Deming there are seven deadly diseases that are described as barriers in understanding the basic quality management system statistical principals. One of the diseases says that A company runs on visible figures only. Deming argued that apart from the visible figures there are many costs and figures that are not know and cannot be calculated. Customer loyalties gained as a result of continuous quality improvement are the numbers that are unknowable and management has to consider this(Deming, 2012). It is also very important to gain confidence of the customers by building trust. In case of Facebook data breach scandal, it was very important for the company to monitor and improve the system. Once Aleksandr Kogan accessed the data of the Facebook users and their friends, it was important for Mark Zucke rberg to monitor and improve the system putting a barrier for third party developers to access data. This would have resulted in maintaining the confidentiality of the users data.Based on the quality management guru J M Jurans trilogy, it is very important to plan, improve and control quality. Quality Planning A proper quality planshould be in place. This involves creating a process that will be able to meetthe goals .Once the process is in place it will not be difficult to respond tocustomer needs.Quality Improvement It is important to continuouslyimprove the quality and run the process with optimal effectiveness. Quality Control To control and maintain good quality it is important to create a process that required minimal monitoring. This will help in running the operations in accordance with quality plan (Juran, 1986).Facebook should havecreated a process to maintain the privacy of their users information. Thisprocess should have barred the third party developers to run their app inFacebook API. Quality guru Genichi Taguchi emphasized on ameliorate the quality of the crop and process at the design stage kinda than achieving quality through inspection. Taguchi also developed a concept of quality loss and worked on it rather than just quality. He defined quality loss as loss to the company cost such a reworking on design, scrapping and maintenance and also loss to customer through poor product or service and low reliability. (Taguchi, n.d)After the scandal exposed, Facebook has faced huge loss in terms of its reputation, fault customers trust and monetary value. Many users deleted their Facebook account feeling that their personal information are not secured and can be misused by the company. 4.0 Conclusion It is very important for a company to develop a quality system at its designing stage and to control and improve the quality system with minimal inspection requirement. It is also important to know and understand the unknown costs and figures lik e customer loyalty that can be gained by continuously improving quality. A proper system should be in place with zero defects. A poor quality management system will result in loss of reputation, customers and monetary value.5.0 References(2018, March). Retrieved from The Guardianhttps//www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/19/facebook-data-cambridge-analytica-privacy-breach(2018,April). Retrieved from CNBC https//www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/facebook-cambridge-analytica-a-timeline-of-the-data-hijacking-scandal.htmlCasey, N.(2018, April). Retrieved fromhttps//www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17165130/facebook-cambridge-analytica-scandalDeming, E.(2012, Janauary). Retrieved from https//www.qualitymag.com/articles/88324-quality-management-2-0-deming-s-7-deadly-diseases-of-managementJuran, J.(1986, May). Retrieved from The Quality Trilogyhttp//app.ihi.org/FacultyDocuments/Events/Event-2930/Presentation-16071/Document-12762/Tools_Resource_C7_Juran_trilogy1.pdfRyan, B.(2018, April). Retrieved f rom CNBChttps//www.cnbc.com/2018/04/26/facebook-cto-admits-firm-didnt-read-terms-of-aleksandr-kogans-app.htmlTaguchi, G.(n.d). Retrieved from British Library https//www.bl.uk/people/genichi-taguchi