Cambridge Analytica

[bainbridge]

I always suspected that dodgy dealing went on but not on this scale.

This firm really does appear to be a scourge on democracy.

Hard to see how they can wriggle out of this, given the findings of the undercover investigation.

 

[FrenchTart]

On the face of it it seems pretty damning.

Please can I remind everyone to keep Brexit and Trump talk in the appropriate SC threads.

 

[bainbridge]

Indeed. Facebook are meeting at Cambridge Analytica right now, before the authorities have investigated. Who know what they're concocting?

 

[Nate--IRL--]

Potential fines in the Trillions for facebook lol

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...risk-of-massive-fines/?utm_term=.faa0364d6f49

Vladeck, now a professor at Georgetown Law, said violations of the consent decree could carry a penalty of $40,000 per violation, meaning that if news reports that the data of 50 million people were shared proves true, the company’s possible exposure runs into the trillions of dollars. Vladeck said that such a fine is unlikely but that the final penalty still could be very large.

“That’s the maximum exposure, though it’s not clear to me that the agency would insist on that kind of a penalty,” he said.

Nate

 

[Randomface74]

Prediction: None of us are using Facebook in 2025.

 

[dowie]

well they don't need to have stored the personal data themselves tbh... the firm owned by the academic they contracted could have done that. Cambridge analytica could then have made use of the resulting model...

surprisingly it is basically just linear regression applied to a big data set, they didn't do anything particularly complicated and they got some very good results from it + plenty of media attention from the original research/paper...

 

[Jono8]

It looks pretty bad and VERY shady. The undercover video especially.

 

[Randomface74]

They'll just hire VW's lawyers.

 

[Nate--IRL--]

This is worth a watch......

Nate

 

[Jono8]

**** is going down now -

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...rch-cambridge-analytica-offices-idUSKBN1GV2OQ

 

[Diddums]

Politics is full of ****? Say it isn't so!

 

[asim18]

Nothing to see here. No such thing as a conspiracy, no psychological warfare, no mind control, no propaganda.

 

[dowie]

This is worth a watch......

Nate

I think those two guys were big timing it a bit in their pitch... they're just a data analytics firm AFAIK, they can contract out to other firms who handle the rather more salacious examples the press is now going crazy over - I'd suspect that sort of thing is actually a lot less useful than say targeting voters on Facebook unless they hit the jackpot and find some real dirt that completely demolishes a candidate (or so they think at the time) - even then they could end up with egg on their faces like Christopher Steele/Orbis.

 

[asim18]

I've been warning about EPSIS for about 5 years now lol.

 

[RaohNS]

Very interesting things knocking around. Amazing how immediately certain branches are asking for elections to be re-cast, while forgetting their own methods meet these used by SCL/CA.

Waiting to see what comes out in the wash with this one but CA has actually been knocking around in the alternative media for many, many months now. The question I think as needs considering beyond this is, what evidence is there that these methods are and have been carried out as a direct result of their advice...

Another reason why I hate Facebook and will never have it.

Time for politicians to be called in on their favours and instigate some serious damage control.

 

[dowie]

Just to lighten the thread up slightly, the research showed that liking curly fries was associated with a high IQ!

other Facebook likes associated with a high IQ were "the Daily Show", "Lord of the Rings" and "Morgan Freeman's voice"
Facebook likes associated with low IQs: "I love being a mum", "Harley Davidson" and "Jason Aldean"

Waiting to see what comes out in the wash with this one but CA has actually been knocking around in the alternative media for many, many months now. The question I think as needs considering beyond this is, what evidence is there that these methods are and have been carried out as a direct result of their advice...

Another reason why I hate Facebook and will never have it.

It is hardly just the alternative media, the Daily Mail, Telegraph etc.. were kicking off about the Facebook data being used to accurately predict a whole range of things about people a while ago.

 

[RaohNS]

It is hardly just the alternative media, the Daily Mail, Telegraph etc.. were kicking off about the Facebook data being used to accurately predict a whole range of things about people a while ago.

The data collection and influencing has been well known for many moons indeed. Alternative media gives more information and usually sooner. Somewhere broke this CA story this afternoon according to a blog I've just clicked on from one of the #CambridgeAnalyticaUncovered.

 

[asim18]

Who know what they're concocting?

Probably another mind control campaign.

 

[m4rmite]

The crap collected won't make sense anyway.

 

[Jono8]

A very good post on reddit about this:

"So it WAS an effort to corner the financials to a select few people, manipulate, bribe and influence for the sake of their fascist dreams for themselves! By destroying sentiment for public knowledge for key things-- expertise, education, and rational inquiry checks and balances-- that are the linchpins of Western Democracy. The job of government is to tangle the human spirit in a web of transparency and regulation, to prevent some people from cheating, as they almost certainly will do should those checks go away. Supporting reasonable checks and balances is the only way freedom survives. Read history books...that's what they always tell."