Harvester of Facebook Data Wants Tighter Controls Over Privacy

Sen. Jerry Moran (R., Kan.), chairman of the Senate's consumer protection subcommittee, said he was considering joining in an effort by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) to pass a privacy bill of rights in Congress. His comments showed that the risks for big internet companies haven't dissipated since Facebook's scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, a political data consultancy that worked with President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and obtained data of millions of Facebook users from an app developer, Aleksandr Kogan. Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), the chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee, added that Facebook "remains under the microscope" and said lawmakers continue to examine potential measures to protect user privacy. But key lawmakers appeared to be far from a consensus on how to proceed. At Tuesday's hearing, Mr. Kogan, a social psychologist and University of Cambridge lecturer, in prepared testimony, called for strengthening the system of obtaining users' consent for subsequent use of their information.