I'm more baffled that this is a surprise to be people. We've comodified basic human interaction. We've turned what should be a free private affair into a public global money maker because it made life easier and we didn't even stop to think about the consequences very much like every other technogolical development we've had inn the last two decades.
It's rather horrifying that this is not only not a surprise but that I'm expecting them to at least somewhat succeed.
I can see why someone would be reminded of Project Veritas here. Although Project Veritas does fake and misleading stories and uses unethical methods, there is one example they've done that's very reminiscent of this. That one time they caught some protesters who were recorded openly talking about their plans to use butyric acid 'stink bombs' at a Trump inaugural ball, their defense was essentially the same as Cambridge Analytica's here: "We knew the guy was untrustworthy, that's why we decided to make ourselves look like giant villains basically for fun". Cambridge Analytica is doing a better job wording that defense, but they're essentially saying the same thing; they're confirming that they did say those things, but want us to believe that they routinely make self incriminating statements to people they think are untrustworthy. It's just such an implausibly stupid idea, and especially considering Nix' supposed reasoning was that he wanted to avoid embarrassing the guy they suspected had unethical and illegal intentions...
https://twitter.com/tiffanycli/status/976177950000369664
Trump hires the best people.
Someone please help me understand, why at such a time of crucial evidence gathering, WAS A MEDIA BLACKOUT NOT ENFORCED?
In most cases, it could be unlawful, but knowing that allowing the public to know is a double whammy, since the company could start incinerating any evidence of sensitive information at the moment the news goes live.
Dear god, not only are they corrupt businessmen, they're sovereign citizens too?
Nix is, or was, the UK chief of Cambridge Analytica.
He's not a sovereign citizen, he's a fucking moron that doesn't even know how jurisdictions work. His company was US-based but because he was physically located in the UK he assumed their UK operations were immune.
The hole obviously goes very deep. Zero surprise if the prime minister herself contracted this company for their services, the ICO is dragging their feet, they can't NOT be involved. Destroying evidence wouldn't be punishable yet as nothing has been issued yet IIRC. This should have happened 24 hours ago.
Now the million dollar question: Would having used something like TOR or VPNs actually helped.
If you mean would it have helped protect Facebook users from CA's data collection, no, because your user account is what gathers all the data and it's based on things like tracking cookies and Facebook "beacons" on webpages, letting FB essentially track parts of your browsing history and form analytical profiles of you from that. And, well, that user profile of you is what Facebook is built to gather, because that's the product it sells to advertisers...and places like Cambridge Analytica (although they lied and claimed they were using the data for educational purposes).
Not using Facebook would have helped, and using extensions that explicitly block Facebook tracking (for example, Disconnect) would help more.
If you're using your real info on your profile ? No. The IP and geolocalisation might be errorneous but they can make up for that with your circles to find your real location.
But in the case of CA, all they wanted was your vote, so that's pretty irrelevant.
Oh no, how else will I be reminded that my little brother is a holy-roller gay-bashing Islamaphobe who keeps telling me that if I just accept Jesus then I won't hate myself to the point that I want to die anymore?!
I, unfortunatly, cannot remove myself from Facebook due to frat brothers/sisters being incredibly annoying and not wanting to use anything else. Sooo I'm installing Disconnect now.
Not having an FB is seen as pretty weird these days.
I keep my social media presence to a minimum, and I learned long after I was hired that some bosses were skeptical or thinking I was trying to hide something because they couldn't stalk me.
I barely use my Facebook account at all. Like one update every few months. When I want to contact my friends I have my phone and I have my car.
The only thing Facebook is good for is for getting in touch with people that you wouldn't be able to find otherwise. Long lost childhood friends, people you met in another country, etc. And of course the fact they pump millions into VR research (Oculus), greatly progressing that technology.
I'm not talking about people like you or me, but other less technically informed people. How can we tell them why they should give up on a website that have all their contacts within the reach of a button, and where they enjoy the content that we so snarkily/condescendingly reject? They don't care and they far outnumber us. So should we just let them be there all exposed to this vector of mass manipulation?
'Cause the little jack-ass has a kid who's been born with a rare genetic condition that means he, at the age of 2+, can't even hold his own head up and doesn't really speak or otherwise communicate. He's basically like Stephen Hawking, but with a HUGE head-start, but it's not ALS, if that makes sense (I think it was called CAS). IIRC only 60 other people in the world are diagnosed with it. I love the poor kid to death, but at the same time I'm so clumsy I'm afraid to hold the poor kid because I'm afraid I'll damage him, and I could never forgive myself if that ever somehow happened.
I already un-followed him once when he posted some shit-lord meme about how the girl who died at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville deserved it because she was dumb enough to "stand in the road/antagonize them", and defended his view-point with resolute stubborness when I pointed out that the protestors had every right to protest, too, and the street was closed off to traffic because of the protests.
But gosh heckit all, I love that poor kid to death, and since my brother never talks to me otherwise (if he ever shows up in town, unless it's Christmas, Thanksgiving, I'm never notified that he's here) then I have to put up with his holy-rolling "I found Jesus and you're a screw-up who doesn't believe so fuck your opinion" ass-hattery to keep updated on the kid. (his wife already unfriended me because I asked them why they wanted to see the rainbow flag banned after the Charleston shooting she's a nice lady though?)
Sorry man, didn't realise it was so personal for you. :/
I wonder what this means for Zuckerberg's 2020 run lol. Leaking data to a third party that then targets people is unethical, but how would that work when the facebook man himself is a candidate.
https://www.apnews.com/08032361b7df4600acc73e89c4a18252/The-Latest:-Cambridge-Analytica-links-to-Blackwater-founder
Cambridge Analytica is connected to the founder of blackwater
DCMS Committee has recalled Nix to explain why the shit he said last time has now been proven false, and warned that "giving false statements is a very serious matter"
https://twitter.com/DamianCollins/status/976846501455581184?s=19
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