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50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

theguardian.com

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Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#191

Post by gfodor »

tanilama wrote: post #185
gfodor wrote: post #176

I remember when the Obama campaign hired data scientists and used targeted social networking tools to pursuade voters who were on the fence and it was heralded as brilliant and the future of politics. I worked for a company crawling Facebook data by creating viral apps the year the original API came out. By now I am sure this is done by many companies. Why is any of this news? My understanding is that companies harve…

I am not shock by the facts that they are collecting data. The fact they are designing a psychological procedure to feed their narrative and agenda to you in an unconscious way, shaping and changing your world view, with that message only tailored to you, is very creepy to me. This doesn't sound like advertising to me, this is manipulation and brainwashing.

Explain the difference in semantics between the two because the mechanics sound the same, best I can tell this company was just running ads like everyone else. Creating psychological profiles of voters to craft messages to them to pursuade their vote I believe is the same thing as political advertising and is exactly what Obama's campaign were doing and had countless fawning articles written about them (just Google it.) Best I can tell the real facet here being used to paint this in a new light is the use of harvested data in a way that violated Facebook ToS but that is 100% nothing new and crawling FB via the API to do data science was a new idea like 10+ years ago (and it has since been locked down due to the prevalence of abuse I'd assume.)

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#192

Post by ggg9990 »

ChicagoDave wrote: post #61
olivermarks wrote: post #44

My problem with this 'outing' of CA is that Facebook explicitly commercially exists to harvest user data for Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Fidelity etc etc so they can profile us. A million dollars is chump change in the crazy US election game. This all seems overly selective - it's ok for some people to profile but not for others. I'm not in favor of any of it to be clear but there is a definite political bia…

I could see a constitutional amendment barring psycho-graphic profiling from election advertising and intent. Not sure how it could be enforced because this is very technical. Even so, there is a significant difference between Coke trying to sell me a flavored soft drink and a firm tweaking my emotions to get me to abstain from voting with false information or to vote against my best interests with false information.…

It’s not very likely for any US constitutional amendment to be passed ever again.

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#193

Post by frankzinger »

clay_the_ripper wrote: post #182
gfodor wrote: post #176

I remember when the Obama campaign hired data scientists and used targeted social networking tools to pursuade voters who were on the fence and it was heralded as brilliant and the future of politics. I worked for a company crawling Facebook data by creating viral apps the year the original API came out. By now I am sure this is done by many companies. Why is any of this news? My understanding is that companies harve…

Isn’t harvesting data prohibited by Facebook TOS? (Not to say that people don’t still do it). Also, could you elaborate on what kind of data you get access to by doing this data harvesting versus just using Facebook targeting data that Facebook explicitly gives advertisers access to? I’m curious because fb gives a lot of targeting criteria, so I’m wondering what kinds of things this harvesting unlocks. Sentiment anal…

> Isn’t harvesting data prohibited by Facebook TOS?

Facebook gives companies access to the data (e.g., "for research") but they're not allowed to sell or provide that data to third parties (which is what these people did).

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#194

Post by mistermann »

stevenwoo wrote: post #183
mistermann wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the public might be a bit more skeptical. How did they identify with certainty that they are Russian? Is there any way for someone without top secret clearance to verify this?

How - the special counsel Mueller has subpoena authority. First link from indictments in list form. The one I saw on TV was that guy with Hillary in a cage in parades - he was paid by Russians to make it. I also remember reading about the pro and anti gun rallies at that Texas state park - the Russians made the Facebook page for both sides in that little incident. https://mashable.com/2018/02/16/indictment-russian-tr…

I've heard all sorts of the juicy details, it makes a great story there's no doubt. What I'm looking for is some substantial, verifiable evidence to overcome my suspicions at how perfect of a story it is, as well as some of the inconsistencies.

For example:

> Presumably Mueller used that subpoena on Facebook and internet providers and the Russians didn't try to hide very hard and used mostly Russian ip addresses.

So on one hand, article after article tells us how sophisticated these hackers are, yet these very same hackers didn't hide their ip addresses, and also openly posted links on twitter that were supportive of Russia. Doesn't something about that seem a little off to you? If it does, you'll be the first person I've encountered who think it does, everyone else is completely confident that this is an open and shut case. Yet, none of these same people can point to any specific evidence that could convince me. Sure, everyone has some articles full of juicy stories, usually containing confident statements from high ranking government officials assuring us crimes have been committed and they have proof, but I've never been able to find a person who could point me directly to any proof.

1/3 of the way through https://www.justice.gov/file/1035477/download, rather than having my mind changed, my skepticism is stronger than before.

This feels a bit like some things we've experienced in the past, where the "facts" about an enemy, that we're are assured are 100% completely true and verified, trust us turn out to not be true several years down the road. But by then, we've already spent trillions of dollars and waged a war killing thousands of innocent people.

I'd rather not go down that path again, so I'm sorry if I can't join in the party vilifying the evil Russians, because based on the information I have so far, it seems like classic misdirection with the primary beneficiary once again being military budgets, and everyone is just a bit too enthusiastic to believe anything they're told.

EDIT: There is no shortage of internet downvotes for people like me who aren't willing to go along with this story, but there is a severe shortage of people who will put me in my place with actual content. You can probably imagine the effect this might have on the certainty I feel in the correctness of my stance. Unlike others, I'm open to having my mind change, but for some reason no one can muster any effort beyond a condescending and intellectually lazy "let me google that for you".

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#195

Post by tim333 »

gfodor wrote: post #176

I remember when the Obama campaign hired data scientists and used targeted social networking tools to pursuade voters who were on the fence and it was heralded as brilliant and the future of politics. I worked for a company crawling Facebook data by creating viral apps the year the original API came out. By now I am sure this is done by many companies. Why is any of this news? My understanding is that companies harve…

>Why is any of this news?

I think the clue is in the article:

> ... Russians ... had used the platform to perpetrate “information warfare” against the US

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#196

Post by pm90 »

gfodor wrote: post #191
tanilama wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not shock by the facts that they are collecting data. The fact they are designing a psychological procedure to feed their narrative and agenda to you in an unconscious way, shaping and changing your world view, with that message only tailored to you, is very creepy to me. This doesn't sound like advertising to me, this is manipulation and brainwashing.

Explain the difference in semantics between the two because the mechanics sound the same, best I can tell this company was just running ads like everyone else. Creating psychological profiles of voters to craft messages to them to pursuade their vote I believe is the same thing as political advertising and is exactly what Obama's campaign were doing and had countless fawning articles written about them (just Google i…

Why is this hard to understand? The same technology can be used for both good and bad.

Obama used it to inform people about his polcies and get the out to vote. Trump used it to spread lies, falsehoods and half-truths. Essentially any media that was outlandish enough to become viral was promoted and promoted to hapless people who probably might have wondered why they were seeing so many distressing articles about America in "Carnage" (as Trump puts it).

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#197

Post by gscott »

loxias wrote: post #154

Minor point of confusion -- this article refers multiple times to a "data breach". ( "...one of the largest-ever breaches of Facebook data...", "At the time of the data breach...", "...first reported the breach..." ) As far as I can tell, there is no data breach, right? It sounds like CA got facebook data through an app they wrote, thisisyourdigitallife, which did some shady things. Also, "The New York Times is repor…

Exactly it's confusing how they're using the word data breach like something wrong happened.

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#198

Post by jlborxes »

pm90 wrote: post #196
gfodor wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain the difference in semantics between the two because the mechanics sound the same, best I can tell this company was just running ads like everyone else. Creating psychological profiles of voters to craft messages to them to pursuade their vote I believe is the same thing as political advertising and is exactly what Obama's campaign were doing and had countless fawning articles written about them (just Google i…

Why is this hard to understand? The same technology can be used for both good and bad. Obama used it to inform people about his polcies and get the out to vote. Trump used it to spread lies, falsehoods and half-truths. Essentially any media that was outlandish enough to become viral was promoted and promoted to hapless people who probably might have wondered why they were seeing so many distressing articles about Ame…

https://pics.me.me/our-blessed-homeland-their-barbarous-wast...

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#199

Post by frankzinger »

loxias wrote: post #154

Minor point of confusion -- this article refers multiple times to a "data breach". ( "...one of the largest-ever breaches of Facebook data...", "At the time of the data breach...", "...first reported the breach..." ) As far as I can tell, there is no data breach, right? It sounds like CA got facebook data through an app they wrote, thisisyourdigitallife, which did some shady things. Also, "The New York Times is repor…

It wasn't a breach as we know it.

Basically FB gave the data away. Apps have access to the data but they're not allowed to give/sell it to third parties. In this case the rules were ignored. Probably many other companies with API access have also ignored the rules. In this case FB didn't make much of an effort at all to prevent it from happening so it's reasonable to assume the practice is rampant. There's likely many copies of large parts of FB data out there (left on laptops on trains or on unprotected FTP/HTTP servers, etc.).

It's a 'breach' from the users' perspective.

Re: 50M Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

#200

Post by golemiprague »

gfodor wrote: post #176

I remember when the Obama campaign hired data scientists and used targeted social networking tools to pursuade voters who were on the fence and it was heralded as brilliant and the future of politics. I worked for a company crawling Facebook data by creating viral apps the year the original API came out. By now I am sure this is done by many companies. Why is any of this news? My understanding is that companies harve…

From the same reason Obama got the Nobel prize.
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