In 2014 rumours began to spread about the about Strategic Communication Laboratries (SLC) Cambridge Analytica.
By 12 December 2015, after contacting Facebook's public relations representatives in London, The Guardian (UK) was reporting that:
"A little-known
data company, now embedded within Cruz’s campaign and indirectly financed by
his primary billionaire benefactor, paid researchers at Cambridge University to
gather detailed psychological profiles about the US electorate using a massive
pool of mainly unwitting US Facebook users built with an online survey.
As part of an aggressive
new voter-targeting operation, Cambridge Analytica – financially supported by
reclusive hedge fund magnate and leading Republican donor Robert Mercer – is
now using so-called “psychographic profiles” of US citizens in order to help
win Cruz votes, despite earlier concerns and red flags from potential
survey-takers.
Documents seen by the
Guardian have uncovered longstanding ethical and privacy issues about the way
academics hoovered up personal data by accessing a vast set of US Facebook
profiles, in order to build sophisticated models of users’ personalities.
By 6 January 2016 The Guardian was reporting on what was likely to turn up in Facebook feeds by way of political advertising:
If you lived in
north-east Iowa, the evangelical stronghold where the battle for the soul of
conservative American politics will play out in person on Monday, and happened
to have given Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign your email address sometime in the
last few months, you might find something especially appealing this weekend in
your Facebook feed.
Even the most obtuse member of Facebook Inc.'s board or senior management would have been aware that the company was fast becoming an active participant in the US presidential primaries campaign.
Fast forward to now as the chickens come home to roost.......
Google Search, 3 April 2018
The Guardian, 26 March 2018:
In rejecting the media’s
characterisation of this large-scale privacy violation as a “data breach”,
Facebook claims “everyone involved” in the 2014 data-siphoning exercise had
given their consent. “People knowingly provided their information,” the company
claimed. As with its interpretation of the word “clear”, Facebook seems to have
a skewed understanding of what “knowingly” really means.
Facebook’s senior
executives may now be feeling apologetic, “outraged” even. But in January 2016,
as Trump surged in the polls, Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, told investors the 2016 election was “a big
deal in terms of ad spend”. In other words, a major commercial opportunity. The
ability to target voters, she said, was key: “Using Facebook and Instagram
ads you can target by congressional district, you can target by interest,
you can target by demographics or any combination of those,” she boasted. “And
we’re seeing politicians at all levels really take advantage of that
targeting.”
It’s perhaps worth
remembering, then, that until recently Facebook was encouraging political
operatives to take full advantage of its garden of surveillance. And while
aspects of the Cambridge
Analytica affair may be surprising, and offer a disturbing glimpse
into the shadows, the routine exploitation of information about our lives –
about who we are – is what’s powering Facebook. It’s the behemoth’s lifeblood.
This was a statement from the U.K. Parliament House
of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 28 March
2018:
Christopher Wylie gave
evidence to the Committee on Tuesday 27th March 2018 during which he
referred to the evidence the Committee is publishing today. This session is
available to watch.
Please note the transcript will be published online shortly.
On
Tuesday 20th March, the Committee Chair Damian Collins MP wrote to Mark
Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, requesting oral evidence. Facebook have responded
offering two senior executives. The Committee has accepted evidence from Chris
Cox, Chief Product Officer, but has written today to Facebook to clarify
whether Mr. Zuckerberg will also appear himself, as requested. This
matter was also raised with The UK Prime Minister Theresa May, in her evidence
before the Liaison Committee on the evening of the 27th March. She said that
Facebook should be taking the matter seriously.
On
Thursday 22nd, the Committee wrote to Alexander Nix, the suspended CEO of
Cambridge Analytica, recalling him to Parliament to give further evidence. Mr.
Nix has agreed to come before the Committee again. You can watch the evidence
session that took place on 27th February 2018 where Mr. Nix gave evidence
on Parliamentlive.tv and
read the transcript.
Chris Wylie Background Papers - referring to the work of SCL elections, Cambridge Analytica, Global Science... by clarencegirl on Scribd
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