Data Privacy & Security Data Privacy & Security

Comment: Facebook-BrandTotal dispute highlights hazy boundaries of data scraping and hacking

By Mike Swift
  • 28 May 2021 16:33
  • 28 May 2021 16:38
A legal battle between Facebook and advertising metrics company BrandTotal has the potential to draw a boundary in the gray area where legal data portability shades into illegal hacking, in a dispute invoking the US Federal Trade Commission’s landmark $5 billion enforcement action against Facebook.
At a hearing today from

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Mike Swift

Chief Global Digital Risk Correspondent


Mike Swift is an award-winning journalist who has been at the forefront of covering data, privacy and cybersecurity regulatory news for more than a decade. As the Chief Global Digital Risk Correspondent for MLex, in addition to reporting, he coordinates MLex’s worldwide coverage in the practice area. Formerly chief Internet reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and SiliconValley.com, Mike has covered Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and other tech companies and has closely tracked technology and regulatory trends in Silicon Valley. He has wide ranging expertise from the business of professional sports to computer-assisted reporting. A former John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, he is a graduate of Colby College.

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