German quiz app leaked data of 120 mn Facebook users: Report
San Francisco, June 29 : In another massive leak, the private data of about 120 million users was compromised by a developer of Facebook quizzes called "NameTests", the media reported.
A security researcher has revealed that the personality quiz app was exposing the details it had amassed to third-parties online since 2016.
The company behind "NameTests", a German app maker Social Sweethearts, created popular social quizzes like "Which Disney Princess Are You?" and distributed them on the social networking site.
"Writing in a Medium post, the security researcher who filed the report -- self-styled 'hacker' Inti De Ceukelaire explains, he went hunting for data abusers on Facebook's platform after the company announced a data abuse bounty on April 10 as it scrambled to present a responsible face to the world," TechCrunch reported late on Thursday.
The researcher said he began his search by noting down what third party apps his Facebook friends were using.
"He already knew quizzes had a reputation for being data-suckers in a distracting wrapper. So he took his first ever Facebook quiz, from a brand called NameTests.com, and quickly realised the company was exposing Facebook users' data to 'any third-party that requested it'," the report added.
The compromised data reportedly included names, date of birth, posts, status, photos and friend lists and kept getting leaked even after users deleted the app.
Ceukelaire attempted to contact Facebook about this multiple times and was told that the company would look into it, according to The Verge.
The social networking giant was hit by a major data scandal in March after Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting company, was accused of harvesting data of up to 87 million Facebook users without permission to help politicians, including US President Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign.
Appearing before the US Congress, the company CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the lawmakers that his own personal data was part of the users' data that was 'improperly shared' with the British political consultancy firm.
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BJP MPs did not mention Indira herself voted to remove many provisions of 42nd Amendment: Ramesh
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his colleagues mounted a "furious attack" on Indira Gandhi for the 42nd Amendment but they did not mention that she, along with other Congress MPs, voted in favour of the 44th Amendment which removed a number of provisions introduced through the 42nd Amendment, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.
Ramesh pointed out that the PM and his colleagues also did not mention the fact that many of the provisions of the 42nd Amendment have been retained ever since it was enacted almost half a century ago.
"During the discussion on the Constitution, the PM and his colleagues mounted a furious attack on Indira Gandhi for the 42nd Amendment that was passed by Parliament in December 1976," he said in a post on X.
"What they did not mention was that Indira Gandhi herself, along with other Congress MPs, then voted in favour of the 44th Amendment in December 1978, when Morarji Desai was PM," he said.
The words "socialist" and "secular" were inserted into the Preamble to the Constitution under the 42nd constitutional amendment moved by the Indira Gandhi government in 1976.
The amendment changed the description of India in the Preamble from a "sovereign, democratic republic" to a "sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic".
Ramesh said the 44th Amendment removed a number of provisions introduced through the 42nd Amendment.
"The PM and his colleagues also did not mention the fact that many of the provisions of the 42nd Amendment have been retained ever since it was enacted almost half a century ago," the Congress leader said.
Ramesh pointed out that the provisions of the 42nd Amendment include the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble that have been recently held by the Supreme Court to be part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
They include Article 39-A that provides for equal justice and free legal aid and Article 43-A that provides for participation of workers in management of industries, Ramesh said.
The provisions retained also include Article 48-A that provides for protection and improvement of the environment and safeguarding of forests and wildlife, he said.
They also include Article 51-A that lists 11 fundamental duties of citizens and Articles 323-A and 323-B that provide for administrative and other tribunals, he said.
Inclusion of education, population planning, environment, and forests in the Seventh Schedule, i.e., the Concurrent list that gives responsibility to both the Union and state governments was also retained, Ramesh said.
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha held a two-day debate on the "Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India" earlier this month that saw acrimonious exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches.
