Govt and Gibtelecom not using data to harvest citizens’ personal information

PANORAMA put the question to government following the revelation that UK-based political and data research firm Cambridge Analytica had used a third party to harvest over 50 million Facebook profiles.

The data analytics firm, backed by the US billionaire Mercer family, ran US President Donald Trump’s election campaign and is said to have used ‘fake news’ to manipulate voters.

Undercover Channel 4 News reporters captured the company’s chief executive, Alexander Nix, boasting using honey traps, fake news campaigns and operations with ex-spies to swing election campaigns around the world.

“The Gibraltar Government can confirm that it has had no contact and no dealings with Cambridge Analytica,” a government spokesman said. “No6 does not spend anything on Facebook or any other social media. However, the Gibraltar Tourist Board has occasionally paid Facebook to boost tourism posts.”

<b>STRONG PROTECTION</b>

Gibtelecom, Gibraltar’s Data Provider, also denied any contact whatsoever with Cambridge Analytica and said that it would only release data subject to a judicial or law enforcement warrant.

“The only information that may be released by the Company would be as a result of a search warrant served by a judicial authority for a law enforcement agency,” a company spokesman said. “The only subscriber information collected on behalf of the Company is for the telephone directory and customers’ surveys.”

When asked, as Gibraltar’s data provider, what Gibtelecom will do in order to provide more security to its users in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the spokesman said:

“Gibtelecom is one of several locally licensed communications companies. Gibtelecom’s systems, processes and procedures are designed to safeguard any subscriber’s information held, and there is no need for the company to ‘provide more security to the users in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal’ as we have no engagement with data mining companies,” the spokesman said. “Indeed, the security of the data is covered by Gibraltar’s data protection legislation which is policed by the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority.”

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26-03-18 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR