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Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

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Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#41

Post by anonnel »

lostlogin wrote: post #23
cs702 wrote: post #14

In the blink of an eye, it seems, we have gone from a world in which collecting, storing, and using personal data for financial gain was largely viewed as a harmless activity, to a world in which doing those same things will be increasingly controlled and regulated, scrutinized, criticized, investigated, fined, and ultimately, I suspect, criminalized.

It’s interesting how the collection of the same information by the likes of the five eyes is ok, yet for Facebook it isn’t.

That isn’t very hard to understand.

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#42

Post by IAmEveryone »

YorkshireSeason wrote: post #39
46886532558 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the CCC and European hacker culture. I think in the US hacker culture is different and less political, because of the FBI suffocating its roots early on, and a general fear of leftist politics. In europe, and Germany in particular, the CCC and close structures have been really important correctives since before the internet. And they are like reeeally left wing anticapitalist idealists and antiauthoritarians, wh…

they are like reeeally left wing The historical record of the extreme left is extremely pro-state, pro surveillance. Indeed, the Marxist corrective to freewheeling capitalism was a strong socialist state (to cover the period before communism emerges and the state withers away) [1]. Many modern surveillance techniques were pioneered or refined by the likes of the OGPU [2], the NKVD [3] and their equivalents in satelli…

Here's a list of talks given at the CCCongress: https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2017/Fahrplan/events...

You don't have to go from "left-wing hacker collective" right to Stalin if there's data readily available on the actual subject being discussed.

(There should actually be a left-wing equivalent of Godwin's law. Maybe "There-Is-No-Godwin's law"?)

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#43

Post by pjc50 »

YorkshireSeason wrote: post #39
46886532558 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the CCC and European hacker culture. I think in the US hacker culture is different and less political, because of the FBI suffocating its roots early on, and a general fear of leftist politics. In europe, and Germany in particular, the CCC and close structures have been really important correctives since before the internet. And they are like reeeally left wing anticapitalist idealists and antiauthoritarians, wh…

they are like reeeally left wing The historical record of the extreme left is extremely pro-state, pro surveillance. Indeed, the Marxist corrective to freewheeling capitalism was a strong socialist state (to cover the period before communism emerges and the state withers away) [1]. Many modern surveillance techniques were pioneered or refined by the likes of the OGPU [2], the NKVD [3] and their equivalents in satelli…

Not so much unpalatable as irrelevant? Using a descriptor like "left wing" to ignore people's actual politics and go straight to accusing them of being Stalinists?

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#44

Post by pjc50 »

n4r9 wrote: post #30
krona wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I failed to see the relevance, apropos Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica conducted research for Leave.EU, one of the biggest pro-Brexit campaign groups, and are under investigation by the Electoral Commission for their role in the EU referendum.

Specifically this includes allegations that they were doing work which was outside the election spending rules.

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#46

Post by adamnemecek »

IAmEveryone wrote: post #40
adamnemecek wrote: post #4

This is on the front page of reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/86qxrb/cambridge_anal... I’m guessing it’s real the building does look like the CA HQ.

It'd be incredibly stupid for CA to have destroyed any evidence[0]. Privacy protections are, as far as I know, completely a matter of civil law. The worst that one would expect from the facts known so far is a high fine, bankrupting the company. Buy CA is toast anyway: no politician or reputable brand will ever want to be associated with them. Destroying evidence , however, can rather quickly result in criminal prose…

> Destroying evidence, however, can rather quickly result in criminal prosecution.

I disagree with all your points. This would imply that no one has ever destroyed evidence. You are also implying they are acting rationally. You are also projecting US laws onto the U.K.

> The only way to possibly way to square destruction of evidence with rational thinking is the possibility of CA having engaged in things worse than currently known.

Why are you assuming that this is unlikely rather than most likely?

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#47

Post by ATsch »

IAmEveryone wrote: post #40
adamnemecek wrote: post #4

This is on the front page of reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/86qxrb/cambridge_anal... I’m guessing it’s real the building does look like the CA HQ.

It'd be incredibly stupid for CA to have destroyed any evidence[0]. Privacy protections are, as far as I know, completely a matter of civil law. The worst that one would expect from the facts known so far is a high fine, bankrupting the company. Buy CA is toast anyway: no politician or reputable brand will ever want to be associated with them. Destroying evidence , however, can rather quickly result in criminal prose…

>Buy CA is toast anyway: no politician or reputable brand will ever want to be associated with them.

That doesn't really matter, I think. AFAICT, CA was merely a shell company and figurehead for SCL Group. I think what will just happen is SCL will found another shell company and keep on going as usual.

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#48

Post by YorkshireSeason »

IAmEveryone wrote: post #42
YorkshireSeason wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they are like reeeally left wing The historical record of the extreme left is extremely pro-state, pro surveillance. Indeed, the Marxist corrective to freewheeling capitalism was a strong socialist state (to cover the period before communism emerges and the state withers away) [1]. Many modern surveillance techniques were pioneered or refined by the likes of the OGPU [2], the NKVD [3] and their equivalents in satelli…

Here's a list of talks given at the CCCongress: https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2017/Fahrplan/events... You don't have to go from "left-wing hacker collective" right to Stalin if there's data readily available on the actual subject being discussed. (There should actually be a left-wing equivalent of Godwin's law. Maybe "There-Is-No-Godwin's law"?)

I have commented not on the CCC but on user: 46886532558's original claim that being "reeeally left wing" is somehow a plausible reason for being anti-surveillance. This association is misleading, and I feel a responsibility to correct this historical mistake.

This correction is especially apt since Germany is still full of Stasi victims.

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#49

Post by xr4ti »

olivermarks wrote: post #34
xr4ti wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems perfectly in line with restrictions on other dual use technologies, such as biological pathogens, nuclear fuels, etc.

The crackdown on free speech / Section 230 legislative changes is all part of this reining in of the 'information merchants'. https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230 Expect the launch of a shiny new 'social network' foundationed in 'safe' cryptocurrency commerce and led by an unknown fresh faced kid who 'invented it in his dorm room' and took no money from Russian offshore mob oligarchs...

Sorry I don't quite follow your comment. What does free speech have to do with unregulated, unconsented mass surveillance and violation of end user privacy?

That "new" social network already exists. It's called Snapchat. I think it's an open question whether social networks will even continue to exist in their current form. There was a time when people connected over Yahoo Chat and AIM...

Re: Cambridge Analytica raided by UK data watchdog

#50

Post by rdiddly »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #22
rdiddly wrote: post #3

Ah, this completes the triad for me. I had previously heard FB deny responsibility and Kogan deny responsibility. Hadn't yet heard CA deny responsibility until now. That's settled then. I guess nobody's at fault! Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan.

At fault for what exactly, Trump getting elected? I still don't understand what we know today that anyone sort of paying attention didn't expect a year ago, or even five years ago.

I was thinking about the mere leakage of the data itself, but you make a good point. I pretty quickly figured out the nature of Facebook years ago and deleted mine. But all the people coming out of the woodwork now to hate on Facebook all of a sudden, you have to assume 1) they accepted all the things about Facebook that we all knew, including the use or misuse of data, and 2) what made them finally object was Facebook's sudden supposed intrusion into the (supposed) democratic process (though Kogan said profiling and ad targeting was worse than useless[0]), and specifically the fact that Trump won and now they're mad and looking for someone/something to blame.

[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-21/facebook-...

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