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Cambridge Analytica/Social Media


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I think this needs its own thread.  This isn't just about what Trump's campaign did.  This is something that has been happening in politics for a long time.

I'm going to ask a Mod to please move posts on this subject to this thread.  I think it's that important.  

 

Washington Post

 

Quote

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook last week suspended the Trump campaign’s data consultant, Cambridge Analytica, for scraping the data of potentially millions of users without their consent. But thousands of other developers, including the makers of games such as FarmVille and the dating app Tinder, as well as political consultants from President Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, also siphoned huge amounts of data about users and their friends, developing deep understandings of people’s relationships and preferences.

 

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What did Snowden say about it?  

 

Found it: Facebook is a surveillance company rebranded as social media.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/edward-snowden-facebook-is-a-surveillance-company-rebranded-as-social-media

 

That applies to all the data harvesting tech companies you know of and tons of them that probably most people don't know even exist.  The fact that people give them so much detail about their private lives is nuts, because they just turn around and sell it.  Of course it's going to be abused and it just depends on the customer's agenda as to how they will use it.

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Eh. Most of the FB data in question wasn't given freely by its users. E.g. if a website has a private mode it should actually mean what it says.

 

The FB data used was stuff found on user profiles and things that they clicked/liked.

 

I wonder what FB gets more of their $ from - ads or data.

Edited by Moiraine
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2 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

Eh. Most of the FB data in question wasn't given freely by its users. E.g. if a website has a private mode it should actually mean what it says.

 

The FB data used was stuff found on user profiles and things that they clicked/liked.

 

I wonder what FB gets more of their $ from - ads or data.

 

I'm actually more interested in what exactly Cambridge Analytica and companies like them do.  This is the reason why I specifically put "social media" in the title and not Facebook alone.

 

The videos that have been posted are extremely troubling to me.  CA gathers information on what fears people have and exploits it by putting out propaganda on various social media websites that is blatantly untrue and "fake news".  

 

I thin we are only starting to learn the extent of how these tactics have been used in US politics for a long time.  

I'm hoping the entire industry is exposed.

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9 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

Eh. Most of the FB data in question wasn't given freely by its users. E.g. if a website has a private mode it should actually mean what it says.

 

The FB data used was stuff found on user profiles and things that they clicked/liked.

 

I wonder what FB gets more of their $ from - ads or data.

Ads.  They are making money hand over foot from advertising

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5 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

I'm actually more interested in what exactly Cambridge Analytica and companies like them do.  This is the reason why I specifically put "social media" in the title and not Facebook alone.

 

The videos that have been posted are extremely troubling to me.  CA gathers information on what fears people have and exploits it by putting out propaganda on various social media websites that is blatantly untrue and "fake news".  

 

I thin we are only starting to learn the extent of how these tactics have been used in US politics for a long time.  

I'm hoping the entire industry is exposed.

 

Then again, if we could get the money out of politics, then most of these politicians wouldn't be able to afford the services of folks like Cambridge Analytica to begin with...and it sounds like politics has been Cambridge Analytica's bread and butter...

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3 minutes ago, VectorVictor said:

 

Then again, if we could get the money out of politics, then most of these politicians wouldn't be able to afford the services of folks like Cambridge Analytica to begin with...and it sounds like politics has been Cambridge Analytica's bread and butter...

Other than the motivation of one government hiring them to influence another government's elections.

 

I honestly don't think any of us fully understand how we are being influenced right now by companies like this.  And...I include myself in this.

 

It's an extremely scary issue.

Edited by BigRedBuster
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50 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

I'm actually more interested in what exactly Cambridge Analytica and companies like them do.  This is the reason why I specifically put "social media" in the title and not Facebook alone.

 

The videos that have been posted are extremely troubling to me.  CA gathers information on what fears people have and exploits it by putting out propaganda on various social media websites that is blatantly untrue and "fake news".  

 

I thin we are only starting to learn the extent of how these tactics have been used in US politics for a long time.  

I'm hoping the entire industry is exposed.

 

 

What they actually do isn't that complicated (it's what I used to do for a living - not the advertising but finding the people to advertise to). It's the kind of data that matters. 

 

I think the guy with the pink hair has a bit of a big head. He didn't do something thousands of analysts in the U.S. can't do. He just had access to the data.

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6 hours ago, Moiraine said:

Eh. Most of the FB data in question wasn't given freely by its users. E.g. if a website has a private mode it should actually mean what it says.

 

The FB data used was stuff found on user profiles and things that they clicked/liked.

 

I wonder what FB gets more of their $ from - ads or data.

 

I personally don't view them as separate.  That data is what allows them to make money from advertising.

 

Facebook would never have a private mode, people and their data is Facebook's product.  Using their platform doesn't mean you are their customer.  Their customers are the people and businesses that pay them for access to you and your personal data.  Frankly their tracking and data gathering extends far beyond their own website and out to any site that includes Facebook javascript and buttons so they track you well beyond what you do on Facebook itself, and that's their entire business.  Allowing you to turn that off, or any part of that doesn't make sense for them.

Edited by methodical
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Zuckerberg has been, or will be (the letter has the wrong zip code), formally requested to appear before Parliament. I'm not familiar with the UK's system, but I think he can decline the request. It's not like a subpoena.

 

.https://news.sky.com/story/mps-formally-request-zuckerberg-answer-questions-11297936

Quote

Mark Zuckerberg has been sent a formal request to appear before MPs and answer questions regarding a growing scandal about user data.

Facebook is currently facing investigations by authorities in the UK, EU, and the US, over a reported data incident between itself and consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

The company's founder and chief executive has not commented on reports or made any public appearances following their publication.

Damian Collins MP, the chair of the culture committee, has written to Facebook's chief executive to formally request that he appear before them in an oral evidence session.

 

 

Facebook may be a private company, but they still have legal obligations to user privacy per their own policies.

Quote

Facebook may also be facing an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission regarding whether it may have violated the terms of a consent decree, according to Bloomberg.

This investigation related to whether it allowed Cambridge Analytica to harvest user data in violation of its policies, according to Bloomberg's anonymous source.

 

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