The author, who was counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018, reflects on planning Mark Zuckerberg's testimony regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where up to 87 million Facebook users' data was mishandled. The article contrasts this with current technology trends, specifically Meta’s AI agent Muse, which can access and act upon personal data like emails, calendars, and health information, raising new privacy concerns beyond just data collection.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
In April 2018, I was counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and helped plan the hearing where Mark Zuckerberg testified before nearly half the Senate.
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Zuckerberg → help → Senate
About 300,000 people had used a personality quiz that ultimately gave the developer access to information on as many as 87 million Facebook users, most of whom had never taken the quiz themselves.
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most → use → quiz
The story dominated the news, Zuckerberg spent five hours answering questions from senators, and the whole thing even made it into a Saturday Night Live skit.
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thing → dominate → skit
That hearing helped set off years of debate about what technology companies should be allowed to know about us and what they should be allowed to do with that information.
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they → set → information
States passed privacy laws.
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States → pass → laws
Congress spent years negotiating a federal privacy bill that never quite made it into law.
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that → spend → law
The Federal Trade Commission eventually imposed a $5 billion penalty on Facebook.
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Commission → impose → Facebook
On Oct. 9, Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, a companion to The Social Network (2010), arrives in theaters.
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Reckoning → arrive → theaters
It picks up a few years after that hearing, with the events behind the Wall Street Journal’s “The Facebook Files” and whistleblower Frances Haugen.
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It → pick → Files
It is a reminder of how recent that era is and of how quickly the technology has moved since.
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technology → move → ?
Over the past week, I’ve been using Meta’s latest product, Muse, a personal artificial intelligence agent released in the United States in September.
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I → use → September
To make it more useful, you can connect it to your email, calendar, financial information, health and fitness data, and other services.
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you → make → email
But the important difference is that Muse doesn’t just collect or organize information.
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Muse → collect → information
It can do things with it.
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It → do → it
It can send an email, make a reservation, fill out a form, or buy something on your behalf.
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It → send → behalf
I understand the appeal because I’ve used it.
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I → understand → it
An agent that can find subscriptions you forgot about, coordinate dinner around several calendars, or deal with a canceled flight can give you back real time.
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you → find → time
Muse is only one example of where the industry is headed.
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industry → head → ?
Still, it is worth noticing how far the baseline has moved.
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baseline → notice → ?
In 2018, Washington erupted over an app that obtained Facebook likes, profile information, and friend data.
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that → erupt → likes
In 2026, consumers are voluntarily giving a single piece of software access to their own and their families’ inboxes, calendars, financial information, and health data.
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consumers → give → inboxes
The amount of information alone would have been hard to imagine in 2018, but the larger change is that the software can act on it.
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software → imagine → it
The Cambridge Analytica app collected data about people.
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app → collect → people
An agent can use far more of that data to send messages, make purchases, and sign you up for things.
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agent → use → things
Privacy has traditionally been about information: Who has my data? What can they learn from it?
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they → have → it
Who can they share it with?
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they → share → it
Agents add another question: What can they do with it?
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they → add → it
An agent with access to your inbox can understand a remarkable amount about your work, finances, relationships, and daily life.
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agent → understand → work
Give that same agent the ability to send messages, navigate websites, and spend money, and the room for costly mistakes grows considerably.
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room → give → mistakes
The industry understands this.
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industry → understand → this
Muse, for example, separates some permissions, asks for approval before sensitive actions, and provides users with an activity log.
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Muse → separate → log
But protections vary from product to product, and most consumers have no practical way to know which ones they are getting.
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they → vary → ones
I now lead the Agentic Futures Initiative, a coalition of companies building and deploying this technology.
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I → lead → technology
I believe in what agents can do.
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agents → believe → what
I also think we should be honest about how quickly our comfort level has shifted, and about the questions that shift raises.
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shift → think → questions
Congress never passed a federal privacy law after 2018, and the country has been left with a patchwork of state laws.
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country → pass → laws
A single agent working for someone in Virginia might book a hotel in Texas, pay a vendor in California, and email a colleague in New York in the same afternoon.
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agent → work → afternoon
Which state’s rules apply, and does it make sense for the answer to change with every task?
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answer → apply → task
If an agent makes a purchase you didn’t want, did you authorize it?
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you → make → it
Who is responsible when an agent follows a malicious instruction hidden in an email?
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agent → follow → email
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
