Cambridge Analytica Files: How Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions

swatkats

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Working with a whistleblower who helped set up Cambridge Analytica, the Observer and Guardian have seen documents and gathered eyewitness reports that lift the lid on the data analytics firm that helped Donald Trump to victory.

The company is currently being investigated on both sides of the Atlantic. It is a key subject in two inquiries in the UK - by the Electoral Commission, into the firm's possible role in the EU referendum and the Information Commissioner's Office, into data analytics for political purposes - and one in the US, as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Trump-Russia collusion.

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How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions



The firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, according to former Cambridge employees, associates and documents, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network’s history. The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social media activity of a huge swath of the American electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Trump’s campaign in 2016.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html
 
I dont agree with headline though. It makes is sound like democrats are saints. they are not. the real culprit here is FB. Also, its not just FB, Google is also the same evil company.
Facebook makes their money by exploiting and selling intimate details about the private lives of millions, far beyond the scant details you voluntarily post. They are not victims. They are accomplices.
https://twitter.com/snowden/status/975106627513729024

Businesses that make money by collecting and selling detailed records of private lives were once plainly described as "surveillance companies." Their rebranding as "social media" is the most successful deception since the Department of War became the Department of Defense.
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/975147858096742405
 
you are failing to see the real issue here. its not republicans or dems, its companies like FB and Google and Equifax. they are the real threat. Btw, There is no exploit here. They simply "purchased" information.
You're the one that mentioned Democrats.
 
You're the one that mentioned Democrats.

I was trying to be not leaning towards either left or right. but then if you want to argue on that. http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/20/friended-how-the-obama-campaign-connected-with-young-voters/ This was from 2012. Does it sound familiar?
But the Obama team had a solution in place: a Facebook application that will transform the way campaigns are conducted in the future. For supporters, the app appeared to be just another way to digitally connect to the campaign. But to the Windy City number crunchers, it was a game changer. “I think this will wind up being the most groundbreaking piece of technology developed for this campaign,” says Teddy Goff, the Obama campaign’s digital director.

 
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I was trying to be not leaning towards either left or right. but then if you want to argue on that. http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/20/friended-how-the-obama-campaign-connected-with-young-voters/ This was from 2012. Does it sound familiar?
There's no need to act like there is some bi-partisan issue. Its an issue of clear subversion& coercion of people's opinions and the democracy.

As for Obama, you might want to hear it directly from the guy who ran the campaign in context of the current Cambridge Analytica & Republican scam -> https://twitter.com/mbsimon/status/975231597183229953
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I ran the Obama 2008 data-driven micro-targeting team. How dare you! We didn’t steal private Facebook profile data from voters under false pretenses. OFA voluntarily solicited opinions of hundreds of thousands of voters. We didn’t commit theft to do our groundbreaking work.


Also check out the secret recordings of meetings of the guy who runs Cambridge Analytica and the whistle blower.





Ads, targeting to convey a message thats important to that particular person (for example if I'm interested in state of education, then telling me what your vision for education is), is totally different, than stealing data and using that to coerce & shape people's opinion, by using their fears & insecurities by means of fake news and propaganda.

Their tag line is "Data driven behaviour change" FFS. Would you want someone to use gathered data on you (without you knowing) to change your behaviour pattern without consent? Its not just malicious, its invasive and evil to the core. So stop with the false equivalence, and stop supporting evil.
 
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Sure please share credible proof. From what's in public, BJP ran a similar campaign in 2014 and was very cozy with Facebook India founders. Spent lots of unaccounted money on ads.
Cambridge Analytica's linked website shows that in 2010 its services were used by BJP-JD(U). Firm's Indian partner Ovlene Business Intelligence (OBI) is being run by BJP ally's MP's son. OBI company's services were used by Rajnath Singh in 2009:
 
I dont agree with headline though. It makes is sound like democrats are saints. they are not. the real culprit here is FB. Also, its not just FB, Google is also the same evil company.
+1 to this comment, all top social media sites including twitter, instagram, snapchat should be put to security/privacy checks by goverment of countries.
This definitely includes all the search engines.. (importantly Google as it shares highest market share for users).
There are already wild debates on internet about Google investing in companies to absorb them or kill them to keep themselves ahead in market..
 
Misreporting and dis-information already started by bjp whatsapp groups and main stream media like money control owned by mukesh ambani.
All out effort by low iq sanghis to twist the truth
 
From what's in public, BJP ran a similar campaign in 2014 and was very cozy with Facebook India founders. Spent lots of unaccounted money on ads.
+1,
It was officially declared on Indian Media, BJP just spent 3 crores only on advertising in India.
Tech websites, claimed BJP ads were made to be seen by ever indian atleast once a day for 3 months or more.. (Google campaigns via various networks as they claimed)..
I am not sure about google ad program, but they might allow multiple ad networks in there business with out without knowledge.

Everyone can find ads of #amazon or #flipkart even on porn sites or torrent sites or any other bad networks..
(It goes nothing wrong with amazon or flipkart even though only there ads might appear entire day....)
Where goes HIGH DATA MONITORING/ANALYTICS ETC. ?

Just ignore FB/Google etc. if you are using base products.. like Chrome/Whatsapp !!!
 
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India's IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has threatened Mark Zuckerberg saying "if any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of FB systems, it will not be tolerated." We would like to inform our learned minister of #Facebook's secret ops in India.

Did you know for rolling out #Facebook's Secret Unit that created India’s Troll Armies for digital propaganda to influence elections a meeting was arranged between Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook with none other than Ravi Shankar Prasad in Delhi?

https://t.co/lNWSsAwjdf

Apart from Ravi Shankar Prasad another meeting was with India’s Information & Broadcasting Secretary Shri Bimal Julka with Katie Harbath who ran #Facebook's secret global govt & politics unit that created India's troll armies for digital propaganda https://t.co/oDIaBga1mH
 
Absolutely correct.

Twitter has a genuine fake profile problems since its not a social network like FB. But facebook has a huge amount of tech in place to weed out fake and troll profiles. They can literally do it in a few days. They dont do that cause most of the fake profiles are used by Right wing political leaders around the world and they dont want a backlash.

Just to give you an idea- If the police requests some details from facebook in any genuine case they take ages to get back. This has been since start. So what do these politicians discuss when they meet officials from FB? There is no progress on citizen centric issues. FB has no support staff here. So its obvious they politics and benefits in form of bribe.

Remember how hard they lobbied for their internet.org shit that violated net neutrality? Suckerberg's Facebook is pure evil. AS someone said on Twitter - "This is the essence of the Facebook debacle. They insist it’s not a “breach.” It’s worse. It’s their business model."
 
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