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    Cambridge Analytica

    Couldn't find a dedicated thread on this but after watching Channel Four News there needs to be.

    #2
    I've been following this over the weekend. It's going to be one of those where we've only just scratched the surface.

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      #3
      https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/975816438933049344

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        #4
        They'll have to be quick - it's been reported that Facebook is already on its way, possible armed with cleaning products.

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          #5
          That would clearly be whatever you call obstruction of justice, no?

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            #6
            Damian Collins was just on C4 News earlier to suggest it might not be a good idea.

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              #7
              An Old Etonian at the head, I wonder if he knows Boris and Cameron?

              Listening to them speak it reminded me of Simon Mann, the Old Etonian who led the coup in Equatorial Guinea with Thatcher's money.

              The implications for what they've done in Kenya are huge, I wonder what insight VT can give us our they reaction there.

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                #8


                Here's Channel Four News from tonight.

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                  #9
                  I enjoyed this:
                  https://twitter.com/MarinaHyde/status/975834746768052224

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                    #10
                    I've followed this with interest - I did my MSc in social media and data privacy - and "all" CA are doing is what Google, Facebook et al are doing but to shift opinion and not advertising. There is an absolute ton of personal information out there which can either be inferred or straight out given away. People have no clue what their apps or phones are doing, and stopping it requires an incredible amount of hoops to jump through which make it all but useless.

                    But then, give someone a shiny on their phone and they'll tell you everything anyway. Because people are idiots.

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                      #11
                      Update:
                      https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/975844154361221121

                      I think this story is as much about Facebook as it is CA. This is generally being called a data breach, but it's worth pointing out that nothing was hacked and the data was made available through systems that Facebook themselves provide to developers. The above is a neat reminder that there are few things Facebook won't try to ride roughshod over.

                      While people who took the personality tests did so knowing their data was being shared with the app's developers, they had no idea what was happening to that data. And their networks of friends, whose data was also provided, had no idea they were part of the bargain at all. Nothing about this can be classed as a 'breach', it's just how Facebook works.

                      The next most alarming thing is the academic who provided the data to CA. I'm sure there's a fairly obvious answer to the question: who else did he sell it to?

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                        #12
                        Worth pointing out that some of this stuff would be illegal under GDPR, which the Brexiters are desperate to keep us out of.

                        I haven't read the whole story, I thought that there was a breach, in that the data was being used for a purpose different for what it was agreed to be gathered. I saw someone mention elsewhere that CA were very cagey about how they cross-referenced the FB data to voter files.

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                          #13
                          I deactivated my Facebook account today over this. Had been thinking about doing it for a couple of years anyway. Why should we support these lying, exploitative, corporate cunts? I urge you all to do the same.

                          No World Cup, no Facebook - at this rate I run the risk of getting a life.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                            I haven't read the whole story, I thought that there was a breach, in that the data was being used for a purpose different for what it was agreed to be gathered. I saw someone mention elsewhere that CA were very cagey about how they cross-referenced the FB data to voter files.
                            Effectively, that's true - the data was used for a different purpose. According to Christopher Wylie, however, Facebook heard about this at least two years ago and responded by asking those involved to sign a form saying they definitely hadn't done the dirty and that was enough to satisfy them.

                            This is worth a watch - Alexander Nix at a marketing conference discussing their work on the Trump campaign, in which he clearly references the personality tests during the closing Q&A. What he describes in his presentation isn't especially shocking to anyone in marketing, provided it's being used to sell TVs or holiday packages.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by imp View Post
                              I deactivated my Facebook account today over this. Had been thinking about doing it for a couple of years anyway. Why should we support these lying, exploitative, corporate cunts? I urge you all to do the same.

                              No World Cup, no Facebook - at this rate I run the risk of getting a life.
                              I closed mine about a year ago, and right now I'm glad I did. However, deactivating does not remove the data - there's a (shock!) tucked away process for actually deleting an account. If you deactivate, you can log in again a month later and everything will be as you left it.

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                                #16
                                This is good on the details of just how they got access to the Facebook data

                                Despite Facebook’s claims to the contrary, everyone involved in the Cambridge Analytica data-siphoning incident did not give his or her “consent” — at least not in any meaningful sense of the word. It is true that if you found and read all the fine print on the site, you might have noticed that in 2014, your Facebook friends had the right to turn over all your data through such apps. (Facebook has since turned off this feature.) If you had managed to make your way through a bewildering array of options, you might have even discovered how to turn the feature off.

                                This wasn’t informed consent. This was the exploitation of user data and user trust.

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by SouthdownRebel View Post
                                  I closed mine about a year ago, and right now I'm glad I did. However, deactivating does not remove the data - there's a (shock!) tucked away process for actually deleting an account. If you deactivate, you can log in again a month later and everything will be as you left it.
                                  The Guardian has this helpful article, with appropriate link, telling you how to delete your account permanently. Have now done that, with the option to change my mind in the next 14 days still there. No way.

                                  It's a good feeling.

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                                    #18
                                    I have the problem that I run a facebook page for a voluntary organisation that I am the coordinator of. I can't delete my account without deleting that too, which would be a problem. (Even if I do the temporary deactivation thing - as I have in the past - that page disappears too).

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                                      #19
                                      On the "signed up because of friends" thing, that sharing with "friends of friends" was the default when I was doing my research. FB stated that the average number of friends each user has is around 100, so when I told them that their post was viewable by potentially 10,000 people (100 * 100) then some people started taking it seriously. However, FB at the time had a bit of a habit of switching options back on during "privacy reviews".

                                      The problem is, ultimately, the internet has outpaced legislation. AFAIK, the ICO don't have the power to shut Facebook down and the biggest fine they can give is £500k or so. Additionally, the people who are benefitting from this are the ones in charge, so they have no incentive to stop it. And even if the PM did, she is too shit scared of Ress-Mogg (advised by Bannon, ex owner of CA) to actually do it.

                                      In fact, a certain ex-Home Secretary kept wanting to make information less private and even more readable.

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                                        #20
                                        Julie's found the real culprit.

                                        WikiLeaks
                                        ‏@wikileaks
                                        Follow Follow @wikileaks
                                        More
                                        Facebook scandal widens: Obama campaign's Carol Davidsen admits Democrats sucked out "the entire social network of the US", kept the data and still have it.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                                          Worth pointing out that some of this stuff would be illegal under GDPR, which the Brexiters are desperate to keep us out of.
                                          I thought we were in and it starts imminently?

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                                            I thought we were in and it starts imminently?
                                            We have adopted the guidelines into our own DPA, but because it is UK legislation at heart underpinned by the HRA then it can always be changed.

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                                              #23
                                              Courtesy of E10 (on facebook, natch)

                                              http://novaramedia.com/2018/03/19/ch...m-not-kidding/

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                                                #24
                                                … that surveillance companies rebranding themselves as "social media" was the most successful deception since the Department of War was rechristened the Department of Defence.
                                                I'm sympathetic to that view, but the likelihood of a Facebook-like portal funded by subscription, without any data harvesting, is very low indeed.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by ad hoc
                                                  I have the problem that I run a facebook page for a voluntary organisation that I am the coordinator of. I can't delete my account without deleting that too, which would be a problem. (Even if I do the temporary deactivation thing - as I have in the past - that page disappears too).
                                                  Create a dummy account, switch your group privileges over to that account, delete your real one?
                                                  Last edited by HeavyDracula; 20-03-2018, 11:37.

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