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[Politics] Cambridge Analytica - Channel 4



KZNSeagull

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2007
19,694
Wolsingham, County Durham
I don't understand the problem. Facebook and third-parties use your personal data to target adverts and services all the time: that's the deal you sign up to. In this case there was a problem with additional "friends" data, but that's been sorted out since 2015, so what exactly is the problem?

Adverts and services are one thing, presenting you with fake or distorted "news" that play on your perceived fears or concerns to get you to vote a certain way is another.
 


looney

Banned
Jul 7, 2003
15,652
24294120_299217967234056_4237115434959737889_n.jpg
 


5ways

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2012
2,217
I don't know about anyone else but I didn't think the exposé was that shocking or surprising.
 


looney

Banned
Jul 7, 2003
15,652
Dear Normies,

It has long been known to the wise that social media is a reverse search engine. A search engine is used to search the web to get the info you want. Facebook et all will search you to get the information the web wants. So its long been a tradition to fill up our profiles with so much contradictory crap and disinformation you wouldn't beleive. Some trolls like to target people, like rip trolls that go on memorial pages.

Others like to target Algorithms, heuristics and the structures of the net, this is why so many AI robots turn out to be Nazis and suicidal. Groups I post in see through all the garbage quite quickly. You get banned for posting clicbait and if something is to good or bad to be true its usually quickly called out and debunked.

Now this is where the fun starts. What CA is doing, or Bannon is in essence no different to what Soros is doing by funding so many groups to push a message under the premise of impartiality, even fact checking groups that have the mark of Soros and have been caught telling porkies.

Firstly you have to decide whether this sort of thing can be made ilegal without resorting to Tyranny, You then have to work out how much impact this stuff has, its an article of faith on the left that "the peoples are brainwashed by media", apart from them of course with no evidence for either.

You throw this in with the Dog whistle theory, "When a Tory talks pro-family he is signalling anti-gay", the oppression Olympics, where everyone is agenda driven along identity politics formula. You achieve the level of paranoia and conditioned slobbering where you wont know shit from shampoo. Full tinfoil has been achieved.:lolol:


fulltinfoil.jpg
 


Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
16,561
Fiveways
I don't know about anyone else but I didn't think the exposé was that shocking or surprising.

I don't understand where you're coming from, is it because you think I'm 'crying and protesting', or is it that you can't see that:
-- the use of personal data without permission is against the law, and this was done on a scale beyond industrial, ie harvesting data of 50 million US voters (as just one example of their practices)
-- that this was then used in an election

Or are these not shocking or surprising?
 








nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
17,523
Gods country fortnightly
Great work from the Observer, Channel 4 News and the NY Times. Hopefully we can get democracy back soon
 




Cheshire Cat

The most curious thing..
So how much is NSC making from its data? Enough to cover the cost of a pie?
 




Sorrel

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
2,736
Back in East Sussex
Adverts and services are one thing, presenting you with fake or distorted "news" that play on your perceived fears or concerns to get you to vote a certain way is another.
But is it illegal? That's what I'm not convinced about. I fully understand that people don't like it, but I'm less convinced that any laws have been broken.
 




Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
16,561
Fiveways
But is it illegal? That's what I'm not convinced about. I fully understand that people don't like it, but I'm less convinced that any laws have been broken.

Yes, it is illegal. Using data for commercial purposes without permission is illegal. Again, this was done on a scale beyond industrial, harvesting 50 million users, which was then used to target voters in the election.
 


Sorrel

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
2,736
Back in East Sussex
Yes, it is illegal. Using data for commercial purposes without permission is illegal. Again, this was done on a scale beyond industrial, harvesting 50 million users, which was then used to target voters in the election.
I guess it depends on what the users agreed to when they interacted with whatever the original 'survey' was - and also the data retention circumstances.

However I would expect a company that deals with data on a constant basis to have a fairly watertight approach to legality. If either company involved were lax there, then they may have a case to answer. But my guess is that this is a large number of people hoping/expecting for action that is probably going to be rather dull and technical and in the end won't have much substance.

UK MPs will probably have more fun with it though - and maybe more results. Politicians are playing to an audience (the voters) and will be wanting to get a message across. Which is of course how the problem started.
 


Brighton Mod

Its All Too Beautiful
Not sure if you're serious or not. Does this story and related ones not bother you at all? Genuine question.

What concerns me is those who completed a profile online via facebook didn't think it through. Giving away information on yourself to people you don't know, is really quite irresponsible. When will people ever learn. Not on instagram, facebook, twitter but am on NSC, which is a non secure website, time for changes.
 




Blue Valkyrie

Not seen such Bravery!
Sep 1, 2012
32,165
Valhalla
I guess it depends on what the users agreed to when they interacted with whatever the original 'survey' was - and also the data retention circumstances.

However I would expect a company that deals with data on a constant basis to have a fairly watertight approach to legality. If either company involved were lax there, then they may have a case to answer. But my guess is that this is a large number of people hoping/expecting for action that is probably going to be rather dull and technical and in the end won't have much substance.

UK MPs will probably have more fun with it though - and maybe more results. Politicians are playing to an audience (the voters) and will be wanting to get a message across. Which is of course how the problem started.
It seems they took data without permission - if one person gave permission for the app, they had a way of taking data off all that person's 'friends' without any permission being granted.
 


Brighton Mod

Its All Too Beautiful
Yes, it is illegal. Using data for commercial purposes without permission is illegal. Again, this was done on a scale beyond industrial, harvesting 50 million users, which was then used to target voters in the election.

I can only agree, one of my children was bombarded by emails from the Labour Party during the General Election, not a member or supporter of any political party her details had been traded. I'm sure it happened with all political parties at that time. More hand wringing from politicians on the losing side, its pathetic.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,907
Living In a Box
Adverts and services are one thing, presenting you with fake or distorted "news" that play on your perceived fears or concerns to get you to vote a certain way is another.

As an alternative perhaps people could just make their mind up who they vote for as opposed to taking the shit storm of fake news and propaganda data - or is that just too hard ?
 


5ways

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2012
2,217
I don't understand where you're coming from, is it because you think I'm 'crying and protesting', or is it that you can't see that:
-- the use of personal data without permission is against the law, and this was done on a scale beyond industrial, ie harvesting data of 50 million US voters (as just one example of their practices)
-- that this was then used in an election

Or are these not shocking or surprising?

I don't think you're crying or protesting at all no.

What I mean is firstly okay they got all this data from people's facebook profiles. Then with this data sent them targeted ads. The first part is interesting the second part seems somewhat mundane.

Then that they smear a client's political opponents using honey traps or creating fake news.

It is unethical but not that surprising.

Perhaps I'm missing something.
 




Klaas

I've changed this
Nov 1, 2017
2,556
One positive thing to come out of this in the context of NSC is that it seems everyone now ignores Looney's inane yelpings.
 





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