Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee want Matt Oczkowski, a former employee of the now defunct consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, to answer questions about how his new company, Data Propria[1], uses consumer data.
In a letter sent to Oczkowski on Thursday, the committee asks whether any of the data that Data Propria now uses was collected by a researcher named Aleksandr Kogan, who amassed data on tens of millions of Facebook users on behalf of Cambridge Analytica[2] in the lead-up to the US election in 2016.
"Given news reports indicating that Data Propria is being led by former Cambridge Analytica employees, including yourself, we believe the American people must be assured that Data Propria is not using consumer data wrongfully obtained by Cambridge Analytica or engaging in other inappropriate practices," reads the letter, which is signed by representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-New Jersey), Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois). (The full letter is embedded below.)
In addition to their questions about Kogan and Cambridge Analytica, the lawmakers are asking Oczkowski to share details about whether Data Propria obtained any data about Facebook users through third-party apps or from Facebook directly; whether it's received data from any data brokers, and if so, which ones; whether it's using that data for political consulting; and whether the company is giving consumers notice about how it uses and shares their information. The committee asks for answers by July 19th. Oczkowski didn't respond to WIRED's request for comment.
In a world where demand is growing for more transparency in data collection, these are crucial questions. Given Cambridge Analytica's reputation, it stands to reason that Congress would be concerned about businesses with ties to it. And yet these are questions that could be asked not just