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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Breaking: Britain’s Information Officer Moves Against Cambridge Analytica

Breaking: Britain’s Information Officer Moves Against Cambridge Analytica

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Here’s the Channel 4 expose of Cambridge Analytica:

Senior executives at Cambridge Analytica – the data company that credits itself with Donald Trump’s presidential victory – have been secretly filmed saying they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and Ukrainian sex workers.

In an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News, the company’s chief executive Alexander Nix said the British firm secretly campaigns in elections across the world. This includes operating through a web of shadowy front companies, or by using sub-contractors.

In one exchange, when asked about digging up material on political opponents, Mr Nix said they could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

In another he said: “We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land for instance, we’ll have the whole thing recorded, we’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the Internet.”

Offering bribes to public officials is an offence under both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Cambridge Analytica operates in the UK and is registered in the United States.

The admissions were filmed at a series of meetings at London hotels over four months, between November 2017 and January 2018. An undercover reporter for Channel 4 News posed as a fixer for a wealthy client hoping to get candidates elected in Sri Lanka.

Here’s the actual video:

What Nix and Turnbull are caught describing as their standard operating practice is separate from whatever program Christopher Wylie built for Cambridge Analytica. Rather, they’re describing a hybrid of privatized human intelligence and what are sometimes referred to as black psychological operations (black PSYOP), which is a misuse of the term. Initially black PSYOP was used as short hand for the highly compartmented covert form of PSYOP necessary to support special operations. This is not surprising as Cambridge Analytica is subsidiary business development unit of SCL Group, which claims to provide these services to the British Ministry of Defense and the US DOD. Several boutique companies were created to do this type of work in support of coalition operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and people eventually left these companies and started their own boutique shops. All they’re really doing is creating propaganda and then trying to insert it into the news and social media space without it seeming to come from non-natives.

I’ve had dealings with some of these folks and to be perfectly honest I find them to be largely full of crap about what they actually can and cannot do. Usually they have a very limited understanding of both socio-cultural considerations in general and the specific socio-cultural dynamics of the people they’re trying to influence in specific. One of the most obnoxious of them, another Brit, has only the bare minimum idea of what this work, especially the descriptive statistical analyses, actually entail. But he’s memorized a bunch of jargon, talks a good game, sounds posh, and gets contracts. He gets away with this because there are really no institutionalized quality assurance/quality control programs in place to ascertain if this stuff actually is helpful, let alone if it works, and whether it actually is useful to the uniformed and civilian personnel at the pointy end. And because there are too few folks like me who actually know better, so it is hard to preemptively block these folks before they make there clients dumber and put people’s lives at risk.

Updated at 5:10 PM EDT:

Updated at 5:22 PM EDT:

And this is a very good question:

Delete your Facebook page!

Don’t take any online surveys!

Stay frosty!

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

318Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    Good Fucking God. Who in their right mind would interview Rep Jim Jordan at this point any longer?

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    Maybe I’m cynical, but isn’t announcing that you’re planning to seek a search warrant basically giving the target a heads-up that they should start destroying evidence immediately?

  8. 8.

    cain

    This is an incredible expose. Well done. American press, please take note on what proper journalism is. The timing is fabulous as well. It’s like they had everything lined up all at once and they pounced.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    I just added this as an update!

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    And because there are too few folks like me who actually know better, so it is hard to preemptively block these folks before they make there clients dumber and put people’s lives at risk.

    It reminds me of the old story of the stockbroker/stock touter. He would call 100 people. Put 50 on one stock and 50 against that stock. Then the 50 that benefited he would split again to 25/25. And over again until he had a core of customers who would pay his commission to put them into any shit stock or investment he recommended.

  13. 13.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Oh this is going to be good theater, because someone else is claiming credit for victory of the election. Trump is going to go ballistic. I’m not sure what he’s going to do in response to that. But I see some serious tweeting coming soon. He always bragged that he won the election. Someone else taking credit is going to piss him off.

  18. 18.

    SFAW

    Fake News! Trying to distract from the FACT that Cambridge Analytica, along with the Fake Media and the Corrupt FBI, were trying to throw the election to Crooked Hillary!

  19. 19.

    MP

    @Mnemosyne: I wonder it’s possible British intelligence already has the data. Produce said data, claim it was found on the servers and let CA protest that isn’t possible because CA had deleted the data. Depending upon British laws, that could well be a rock and a hard place.

  20. 20.

    agorabum

    Just only use facebook for non-commercial and non-political activities. If it isn’t created by a friend, ignore it. It’s still fine for sharing pics of kids

  21. 21.

    Mary G

    Facebook shuts the barn door:

    Facebook hires digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg to audit Cambridge Analytica.. it's known to help companies destroy data among many things.. but can data really ever be fully destroyed these days? https://t.co/meYHoQpkgp— Jo Ling Kent (@jolingkent) March 19, 2018

    Too little, too late, Markie.

  23. 23.

    Bruce K

    @Mnemosyne: Maybe it’s a bit more like telling them: “We know what you’ve got in your files, and if any of that is missing when we show up with our warrants, we’ll just tack on an obstruction-of-justice charge on top of everything else.”

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: I have turfed out as many as I can. Unfortunately one of the worst I was unable to win on and he’s dug in and managed to get rid of the rest of us because he’s got an SES protecting him. Complete and utter fraud. But if that was acknowledged, the SES 3 who hired him without properly vetting him would be in for a world of hurt from an IG. So he protects him.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    NO WONDER they wanted to get this report stopped.

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    Lowdown dogs.

    I tell you. With every revelation..the Netflix episodic event about this gets longer and longer.

  28. 28.

    Woodrow/Asim

    I just posted about this elsewhere. This is more commenting on BJ than I’ve done in years…but I was saying this felt important in ways a lot of other stuff since the election hasn’t.

    That is to say, it’s a near-smoking gun of how money, and the manipulation it buys, drove the election cycle in underhanded and far too unseen ways. Competent or not, it’s clearly enough of a thing that we should be deeply concerned about how many other orgs are out there selling these capabilities to whoever has dollars.

    And thanks, Adam, for the head’s up and backgrounder. I’ve been seriously considering pulling way back on FB, and I think it needs to be a serious plan for me.

  30. 30.

    NotMax

    there are really no institutionalized quality assurance/quality control programs in place to ascertain if this stuff actually is helpful, let alone if it works, and whether it actually is useful to the uniformed and civilian personnel at the pointy end.

    Coming down the pike sooner than you think, Goebbels’ List. An online rating and customer satisfaction service for propagandists.

  33. 33.

    germy

    How does becky mercer fit into all this?

    Is she simply someone who donated some money and then walked away? Or is she sweating right now?

  34. 34.

    Lapassionara

    @Mnemosyne: and that would be a crime in some instances.

    Who was the secretary who started shredding the Iran Contra documents? What happened to her?

  35. 35.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @TenguPhule: It is a beautiful spring day in Philly today, sunny and low 50s. So I made a joke to my wife about how I guess I can stop looking / wishing for snow forecasts.

    Then I checked the forecast. 8-12” on Wednesday.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MP: GCHQ is very, very good at what it does. If they already have it, or will have it in short order, then eventually Special Counsel Mueller will have it.

    More likely, however, is that the Information Officer already has the data from other sources, GCHQ, Wylie, what have you, and the warrant is intended to see what Cambridge Analytica will actually produce so they can compare what they have with what CA is willing to hand over.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    And we have another update. This is a very good question:

  39. 39.

    Yarrow

    @germy: There’s a reason Robert Mercer abruptly resigned as CEO of his company and it isn’t because he just wanted to retire.

  40. 40.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Carole Cadwalladr has been excellent on the Russia story. Thanks for highlighting her tweets. For anyone who is interested, her articles in The Guardian are excellent reads.

  41. 41.

    Betty Cracker

    But we may get answers yet about what happened in 2016, thanks to British intelligence (Mr. Steele, a truer patriot for a country not his own than the Republicans in our government) and UK-based journalists. It sure as shit won’t be the palace intrigue gang at The New York Times. We may yet learn why Republicans are so cowed by Trump’s band of sleazy grift-mavens — maybe it’s not all Gorsuch and tax cuts. They act like someone’s got loads of dirt on them. Maybe that’s because someone does.

  44. 44.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m seeing this series of tweets, I think FB has gone now, but what does she mean “Facebook at Cambridge Analytica’s offices”?

    Presumably some representatives of Facebook, but who? I may be missing something, but this doesn’t make sense without that information.

  46. 46.

    Mandalay

    @Bruce K:

    Maybe it’s a bit more like telling them: “We know what you’ve got in your files, and if any of that is missing when we show up with our warrants, we’ll just tack on an obstruction-of-justice charge on top of everything else.”

    That’s my guess as well. A bit like when Mueller asks everyone to handover all their emails that he already has.

  50. 50.

    bluehill

    I remember reading a quote from Bannon in the days before the election. He was talking about their strategy since they were trailing in the polls and one thing he mentioned was “suppressing” dem votes. I remember at the time thinking that was an odd word to use and wondering how would he do that. I guess we now know.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Woodrow/Asim:

    I’ve been seriously considering pulling way back on FB, and I think it needs to be a serious plan for me.

    It’ll give you more time to comment here! Win-win!

  53. 53.

    Tokyokie

    @Lapassionara: Fawn Hall. Failed to get a media/modeling career going, married the former manager of The Door, who introduced her to crack, on which she OD’ed. She divorced him, he died of lung cancer, and now she works at an L.A.-area bookstore.

  55. 55.

    germy

    @Yarrow:

    There’s a reason Robert Mercer abruptly resigned as CEO of his company and it isn’t because he just wanted to retire.

    But he transferred everything to daughter becky?

  57. 57.

    Mary G

    This is exhausting. I would kill for just one day when it doesn’t feel like the news is coming out of a fire hose.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: She and her dad funded Cambridge Analytica. The rest of the funding came from a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch close to Putin.

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: I think we should call them CambAnal or something.

    CA is for beloved California, which does NOT indulge in these kinds of practices. We need a better nickname.

  60. 60.

    Bruce K

    @Adam L Silverman: Makes sense. I still stand by my guess that they already know damn well what they’re asking CA to give up, leaving the CA execs and other officers damned if they comply and screwed if they don’t.

  61. 61.

    scott (the other one)

    @Betty Cracker: If I were Putin, and I had at least a hundred billion dollars, I’d sure as hell spend a tiny bit of what would be, for me, pocket change, of, say, ten million dollars, and use a honeypot to ensnare a couple of the highest level editors and writers at the New York TImes. Best case scenario, I get them to tapdance for me to whatever tune I want. Worst case scenario, there’s simple chaos now and then. Either way, the money spent is a rounding error and I can sit back and laugh.

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    @Lapassionara:

    Who was the secretary who started shredding the Iran Contra documents? What happened to her?

    Fawn Hall. She was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against others.

  63. 63.

    Ocotillo

    Hmmm, video reminds me of the Planned Parenthood videos that had the RWNJs all riled up. Goose, meet Gander.

  69. 69.

    kindness

    Delete my FB page? That is how I am still in contact with old High School / College friends. No I’m not deleting my FB page. When I first saw this over the weekend I decided not to take any more of the FB quizzes. But you know what? Almost every web site I go to has quizzes as a side ad. Makes me wonder if all those quizzes open me up to inspection and ruin? So I won’t take those either now.

  75. 75.

    coin operated

    Boss knows I’m a political junkie. Just showed this thread and said “I’m not getting anything else done today”
    He’s cool…knows he always gets 40+ hours a week out of me.

  76. 76.

    TenguPhule

    @scott (the other one):

    pocket change, of, say, ten million dollars, and use a honeypot to ensnare a couple of the highest level editors and writers at the New York TImes.

    $1,000 and a digital recorder with an agent would be all that was really needed.

  78. 78.

    TenguPhule

    @Mary G:

    I would kill for just one day when it doesn’t feel like the news is coming out of a fire hose.

    Be careful what you wish for.

  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    @scott (the other one):

    If I were Putin, and I had at least a hundred billion dollars, I’d sure as hell spend a tiny bit of what would be, for me, pocket change, of, say, ten million dollars, and use a honeypot to ensnare a couple of the highest level editors and writers at the New York TImes.

    If you were actually Putin, you wouldn’t spend your own money on it; that’s what the intelligence services are for.

  82. 82.

    Yarrow

    @scott (the other one):

    If I were Putin, and I had at least a hundred billion dollars, I’d sure as hell spend a tiny bit of what would be, for me, pocket change, of, say, ten million dollars, and use a honeypot to ensnare a couple of the highest level editors and writers at the New York TImes.

    What you are saying has already happened and there are plenty of media figures caught up in this whole thing

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Will crawl out on a limb and predict tonight’s local news will lead with a three-car pileup on Highway 50, with traffic backed up to the 5 interchange, and video from earlier today of firefighters rescuing a family of ducklings from a storm drain while quacking mama observes from a nearby yard.

    I do remember journalism, though.

  89. 89.

    lamh36

    @lamh36:

    Question: Aside from her being actress (and allegedly a Bernie-or buster)…what would you expect of someone who’s been in the public eye as an actor/actress or someone like Oprah to do, if they truly wanted to pursue a career in politics? I’m not really talking about Nixon per se, but just in general…or is the window just closed for someone in the enteratinment industry?

  90. 90.

    Yarrow

    @raven: It doesn’t matter if you took a quiz. If any of your Facebook friends did, they scraped all the info from your account too, without your permission. See this Guardian article from 2015:

    The academic used Amazon’s crowdsourcing marketplace Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to access a large pool of Facebook profiles, hoovering up tens of thousands of individuals’ demographic data – names, locations, birthdays, genders – as well as their Facebook “likes”, which offer a range of personal insights.

    This was achieved by recruiting MTurk users by paying them about one dollar to take a personality questionnaire that gave access to their Facebook profiles. This raised the alarm among some participants, who flagged Kogan for violating MTurk’s terms of service. “They want you to log into Facebook and then download a bunch of your information,” complained one user at the time.

    Crucially, Kogan also captured the same data for each person’s unwitting friends. For every individual recruited on MTurk, he harvested information about their friends, meaning the dataset ballooned significantly in size. Research shows that in 2014, Facebook users had an average of around 340 friends.

    Of course the reverse is also true. Anyone who took the quiz gave up their friends’ data.

  91. 91.

    hitchhiker

    @raven:

    My understanding is that if anybody on your friends’ list ever took one of those surveys or personality tests or whatever, fb then allowed the ‘academic’ researcher to slurp up your data along with the quiz-taker’s data. And your name is attached to it; this isn’t anonymized.

    ETA: What yarrow said.

    That’s how they got 50 million profiles in all their intimate details.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    @Yarrow: I think the FTF NY Times has been turned. At least their political coverage. Putin may not care that much about film reviews or climate change.

    Something is terribly, terribly wrong at the paper of record.

    Did you see that they could not even get through Louise Slaughter’s obit without including a few paragraphs about how Bill Clinton was impeached?

  95. 95.

    mart

    Stated before so sorry for repeating… Haitian pizza bar worker / think part owner / “friend” was convinced prior to the election that the Clinton Foundation had totally screwed over Haiti after the natural disasters. Then read (I think just after the election) an example of CambAnal targeting Miami Haitians with “Clinton Foundation is evil in Haiti” stories. Now Trump wants to send the Haitians back to the storm ravaged Island they came from. Funny how that works, ain’t it?

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    @lamh36: Nixon’s ad is good, but one would expect a introductory ad to be good these days.

    I don’t know anything about her, and never watched SitC. I don’t know if she’s going to really try to win, or if she wants to try to force Cuomo to be more lefty and open up more space in Albany on the left. Both are worthy aims.

    New York politics is weird.

    I wish her well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  100. 100.

    sukabi

    In one exchange, when asked about digging up material on political opponents, Mr Nix said they could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

    In another he said: “We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land for instance, we’ll have the whole thing recorded, we’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the Internet.”

    That sounds an awful lot like blackmail / extortion / entrapment… Which would go a long way to explaining why all drumpf’s primary opponents rolled over…and also why the republicans have abdicated their power to him.

  101. 101.

    Fair Economist

    @rikyrah:

    I tell you. With every revelation..the Netflix episodic event about this gets longer and longer.

    50+ years from now nobody will believe this happened. They’ll read the histories and say they are lying; it’s just too crazy.

  103. 103.

    hitchhiker

    @sukabi:

    I think the worst moment was when — having described all the ways they could ratfu*k the opposition by setting up stings w/cash and women — he pointed out that this sort of kompromat didn’t even have to be true.

    That dude is evil.

  104. 104.

    Yarrow

    @raven: I think it’s worth people considering in general if they’re okay with using a product from a company that allows companies such as Cambridge Analytiica to scoop up user data in that manner. Facebook knew years ago and did nothing to stop it. They also took a lot of Russian money. Usually that doesn’t come without strings attached. Is that why Facebook has been so slow to respond and their responses have been so timid?

    Are people okay with their data being used to influence elections as it did in 2016? Maybe people are. It’s worth considering, though.

  105. 105.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    I have never had a Facebook account, and this shit is why. ALL of this was foreseeable. NONE of it is a surprise. Facebook is, and has always been, a machine to collect your personal information so that Mark Zuckerberg can use it anyway he wants, and the company has proved repeatedly that “any way it wants” is utterly unscrupulously. It’s unsurprising that it – and likely Zuckerberg personally – would collude with other people who also want to collect and use your information for unscrupulous purposes. Water, wet, etc.

  106. 106.

    Fair Economist

    @sukabi:

    That sounds an awful lot like blackmail / extortion / entrapment… Which would go a long way to explaining why all drumpf’s primary opponents rolled over…and also why the republicans have abdicated their power to him.

    It’s been admitted the Russians hacked the Republican’s servers as well. Undoubtedly lots of dirt there. Plus a lot of Republicans are very susceptible to sex worker entrapment (not always female, but I’m sure the Russians can work around that.)

  107. 107.

    Roger Moore

    @lamh36:

    Question: Aside from her being actress (and allegedly a Bernie-or buster)…what would you expect of someone who’s been in the public eye as an actor/actress or someone like Oprah to do, if they truly wanted to pursue a career in politics?

    Work their way up. It’s OK for somebody from any walk of life to get into politics, but they shouldn’t assume they can hop right in at the top rather than doing things the hard way. Politics is a job like any other, and nobody should expect to be successful at the highest level without learning the basics at lower levels. That doesn’t necessarily mean they have to start at the city council level and stop at every step on the ladder, but they shouldn’t expect to be able to run for high office as a complete neophyte just because they have name recognition. The absolute minimum should be substantial experience as a political activist or in an appointed office, and success at a lower level like state legislator would be preferable.

  108. 108.

    Fair Economist

    @hitchhiker:

    I think the worst moment was when — having described all the ways they could ratfu*k the opposition by setting up stings w/cash and women — he pointed out that this sort of kompromat didn’t even have to be true.

    There was one opposition Russian politician taken down by a sex video that most people agreed was using an imposter.

  110. 110.

    Roger Moore

    @Fair Economist:

    50+ years from now nobody will believe this happened. They’ll read the histories and say they are lying; it’s just too crazy.

    The histories will necessarily be the simplified version, which will wind up sounding a lot more plausible because the craziest fringe elements will be removed in the name of brevity.

  111. 111.

    Fair Economist

    @Roger Moore:

    The absolute minimum should be substantial experience as a political activist or in an appointed office, and success at a lower level like state legislator would be preferable.

    I think legislative experience would be a good way to start, because one goofy legislator is unlikely to cause a lot of serious problems. Congress would be fine IMO (like Franken).

    The reality is that celebrity-minor activist-governor is a well-trodden road (Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Ventura) and will probably continue regardless of what you and I think about it.

  112. 112.

    Another Scott

    @Roger Moore: I generally feel that way – voting for someone who has never had to stick their neck out and compromise on legislation, or sign a bill they didn’t like, and so on – is fraught with risk.

    But it’s hard for me to make it a hard-and-fast rule these days.

    Cuomo has lots and lots of political experience, but has also done many bad things (some outlined above and in Nixon’s video), and why was he (apparently) never in trouble over his (apparent) actions in Bridgegate, also too?

    Cuomo needs a strong opponent in the primary. Dunno if Nixon is that candidate – I guess we’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  113. 113.

    Mandalay

    @hitchhiker:

    That dude is evil.

    He is. The good news is that he is also toast, and probably destined for the slammer. And having lied to Parliament, I suspect the British Government will go out of its way to squash him like a bug.

  115. 115.

    sukabi

    @hitchhiker: taking LBJ’s “Make them deny they’re pig fuckers” to a whole other level….

    I’m pretty sure blackmail & extortion are illegal pretty much everywhere…even if it’s wrapped in corporate papers.

  116. 116.

    debbie

    Don’t take any online surveys!

    My understanding is it’s not just the clowns taking those stupid tests; they also sucked up the data of all of the friends of those clowns. Grabbing information without any sort of permission has got to be illegal.

  117. 117.

    Gelfling 545

    @lamh36: I’d like them to start a little lower than governor of a state. City/town councilman, etc. and get some actual experience. It’s more than speeches & public appearances. Even Trump can ( well, kind of) do that.

  120. 120.

    JPL

    I’m watching the latest season of Homeland and it seems more plausible than what is going on now.

  121. 121.

    Gelfling 545

    @raven: Not much point to locking the barn door after the horse is gone. If it was done, it was done before we knew about it.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @Roger Moore:

    I think about that a lot now. I realized they edit all the boring parts out of history. How there’s this huge group of people who are saying “everything is FINE” and those people do most of the talking – fast forward past them.

    The “this isn’t history” caucus :)

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    @Fair Economist:
    Lived through Nixon and forgot two-thirds of the shit he pulled. Burns’ Vietnam series brought it hurtling back.

    Also, Walter Cronkite personally lost the war and those damn kids at Kent State had it coming.

  126. 126.

    Calouste

    @Mandalay: Depends on how much CambAnal has on the Tories. Considering how much has become public about Tory scandals in the last few decades, I guess a lot.

  127. 127.

    Roger Moore

    @Fair Economist:

    I think legislative experience would be a good way to start, because one goofy legislator is unlikely to cause a lot of serious problems. Congress would be fine IMO (like Franken).

    Agreed. There’s always a question when somebody moves from the legislature to the executive simply because there’s a question about their ability as the leader of a large organization, but at least by that point they’d have a track record so you’d have a good idea of their real political beliefs and ability to work with others.

    The reality is that celebrity-minor activist-governor is a well-trodden road (Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Ventura) and will probably continue regardless of what you and I think about it.

    Sure. I was stating my ideas about when I feel comfortable voting for somebody, and I don’t expect the rest of the world to agree. That said, I can accept focused activism as a reasonable entry point into politics; I don’t think you necessarily have to start as an elected official. What I really don’t want is somebody who comes in with no political experience at all and thinks they can keep operating the same way they did in their previous job.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    I realized they edit all the boring parts out of history. How there’s this huge group of people who are saying “everything is FINE” and those people do most of the talking – fast forward past them.

    In 2018 There were many Good Americans.

    Until suddenly there weren’t.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    From the Vichy Times, their top story: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

    Facebook’s chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, will leave the company after internal disagreements over how the social network should deal with its role in spreading disinformation, according to current and former employees briefed on the matter.

    Mr. Stamos had been a strong advocate inside the company for investigating and disclosing Russian activity on Facebook, often to the consternation of other top executives, including Sheryl Sandberg, the social network’s chief operating officer, according to the current and former employees, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.

  133. 133.

    TenguPhule

    @Fair Economist:

    50+ years from now nobody will believe this happened. They’ll read the histories and say they are lying; it’s just too crazy.

    50 years from now I simply hope there are survivors and that they can still read and write.

  134. 134.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    I discovered a new romance by Alyssa Cole that I’m pushing on everyone now called A Princess in Theory. I really think the author (who is a Black woman) saw all the preview stuff for Black Panther and said to herself, I’d rather see that story as a romance, not an action flick. ?

    I’m just starting chapter 6 and the royal hero is undercover and trying to learn how to be a waiter.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @Quinerly:

    I have thought about the Mercers going to prison. I admit that. I’m not that big on punishment not because I’m nice but because I don’t think it solves anything, but it’s really past time some powerful people went to prison for crimes they commit.

  136. 136.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman: Is the SS uncompromised by Trump?

    I hate having to even ask that question these days.

    But he’s touched them for over a year. And everything he touches…..

  137. 137.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m just starting chapter 6 and the royal hero is undercover and trying to learn how to be a waiter.

    Coming to America did it first. //

  138. 138.

    different-church-lady

    @agorabum:

    Just only use facebook for non-commercial and non-political activities. If it isn’t created by a friend, ignore it. It’s still fine for sharing pics of kids.

    Bargaining is stage 3.

  140. 140.

    Kay

    @TenguPhule:

    Right. “This isn’t us!”. Now I’m like, “oh, I don’t know. Looks like it might be!”

    We’re better in an abstract sense. I’d like to see some evidence.

  142. 142.

    TenguPhule

    @agorabum:

    It’s still fine for sharing pics of kids

    You are aware that several sexual predators have used it to target and attack hundreds of kids?

  144. 144.

    Mnemosyne

    @mart:

    Voter suppression isn’t just preventing people who want to vote from doing so. It’s also discouraging people from voting at all, because they think it’s all “corrupt,” “rigged,” etc.

  145. 145.

    cursorial

    @Adam L Silverman: The stench in the White House is beyond belief, I saw the Washington Post’s story on this that mentioned diGenova’s wife and law partner, Victoria Toensing. That name sounded familiar – cable news’ go to conservative commenter on Valerie Plame and Uranium One.

    I try not to wish personal ill on anyone, but a meteor strike at 1600 really starts seeming like an unequivocal good.

  146. 146.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    We’re better in an abstract sense. I’d like to see some evidence.

    We believe in trials before the executions!

    /Yeah, low bar, but take what you can get these days

  149. 149.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: I think about Mitch McConnell being executed for treason against the USA.

    That sounds bloodthirsty, but I think he should swing. He stole a Supreme Court seat and worked actively against the American people, suffering the aftermath of the Great Recession, to stick it to Obama.

    He would not allow Obama to publicize the threat of Russian interference. He won’t hold a Putin-elected POTUS to account.

    Kill him. I am serious. He forfeits his life.

  150. 150.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah:

    With every revelation..the Netflix episodic event about this gets longer and longer.

    It feels like we’ve already gone thru the glass and this is the Netflix version we’re living in.

  151. 151.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s also discouraging people from voting at all, because they think it’s all “corrupt,” “rigged,” etc.

    Next three elections will show whether this is true or not.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    They should take whoever their spokesperson is off Twitter. He’s not just very good at defending them and that’s all he does.

    My sense is he never dreamed he’d be attacked by anyone, let alone a Twitter mob. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel with that guy. He’s inept at this job they’ve given him.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I’d like to see a strong white collar crime law ‘n order platform in 2020. Past time for that.

    Michigan has these billboards where you’re supposed to report driving crimes- OVI- like that. We need that for white collar criminals. “If you see something, say something” :)

  156. 156.

    different-church-lady

    @Woodrow/Asim:

    it’s a near-smoking gun of how money, and the manipulation it buys, drove the election cycle in underhanded and far too unseen ways.

    There’s a silver lining in that at least things are starting to have explanations. One of the most disturbing aspects of 2016 was how none of it seemed to make sense. It all seemed so fishy, your gut told you something just was not right somehow. And now we know our guts were right.

  158. 158.

    TenguPhule

    @different-church-lady:

    It feels like we’ve already gone thru the glass and this is the Netflix version we’re living in.

    The director’s cut, with all of the extra bad parts left in instead of edited out for clarity.

  160. 160.

    Jay

    @Roger Moore:

    If you apply yourself, you can learn all that from the Intertubes and a couple of good books, starting with Conjunction Junction’s short cartoon called “How a Bill becomes a Law”,

    Hell, just watching that youtube half a fozen times to burn it in, will leave you more knowledgeable than 99% of sitting Republicans, and 100% more knowledgeable than any of Treason Tribbles Administration.

  161. 161.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    I’d like to see a strong white collar crime law ‘n order platform in 2020. Past time for that.

    The problem is that unless it involves big amounts of money, its boring.

    And the schemes tend to be complicated as hell to explain to the average uncomprehending jury.

    We need a better justice system.

  162. 162.

    Roger Moore

    @les:

    Did you read the fine print?

    The fine print can say whatever it wants, but that doesn’t make it true. I have no legal right to my friends’ info, so I can’t give you the right to their info no matter what some agreement says.

  164. 164.

    TenguPhule

    @Jay:

    starting with Conjunction Junction’s short cartoon called “How a Bill becomes a Law”,

    I can never watch that now without seeing the Late Show version with the little bill blowing his brains out in horror at what he’s become.

  166. 166.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    And if drug dealers can get the death penalty, these corporate vermin should too.

    I am not pleased by how little pushback Trump is getting about moving the bar on killing people under color of law.

  167. 167.

    Quinerly

    @cursorial: Toensing represents Erik Prince. I need to Google her son. I seem to recall he is somehow connected to Trump Adm or to someone in the news.

  168. 168.

    Roger Moore

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    She and her dad were just investors, had no idea what was going on.

    They only brought coffee to the people who were doing the real work.

  169. 169.

    les

    @Roger Moore:

    I have no legal right to my friends’ info, so I can’t give you the right to their info no matter what some agreement says.

    Maybe, maybe no. I you and all your friends agreed to FB’s use of info no matter where found on FB? You may not have the right, but friends already gave FB the right. It just ain’t so simple as “that’s not legal!” Might as well bitch ’cause it ain’t fair. And it’s a little late for that. I really don’t think FB’s money comes from advertising rates.

  171. 171.

    different-church-lady

    @kindness:

    Delete my FB page? That is how I am still in contact with old High School / College friends.

    You could, you know… actually talk to them.

  172. 172.

    JPL

    @Cheryl Rofer: The Mercers are part of the winning is everything mentality. They might not have cared about how it was done, but it does make them culpable.

  173. 173.

    Roger Moore

    @debbie:

    And if drug dealers can get the death penalty, these corporate vermin should too.

    Let’s start with the drug company CEOs who were pushing opiods on a massive scale.

  174. 174.

    different-church-lady

    PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Facebook is not how you “stay in contact” with old friend and acquaintances. Facebook is how you talk about your own life while keeping your old friends and acquaintances at a safe distance, while they do the same.

  177. 177.

    Roger Moore

    @Jay:

    starting with Conjunction Junction’s short cartoon called “How a Bill becomes a Law”,

    That’s Schoolhouse Rock. “Conjunction Junction” was another episode, not the title of the series./pedant

  178. 178.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie: Maybe its just me, but I’m hearing a “It’s okay to start killing non-whites with impunity, law enforcement, as long as there are drugs to be found at the scene” vibe from Trump’s word salad today.

  180. 180.

    Fair Economist

    @Quinerly:

    Rebekah Mercer wants to be part of the solution!

    With this Cambridge Analytica scandal and Robert Mercer’s abrupt retirement last year there is a LOT of smoke coming out of the Mercer compound.

  181. 181.

    Gex

    @lamh36: Agreed. I’ve been finding that people are instantly complaining without checking out if she’s put in any work. Which seems an odd approach for people decrying the supposed shallowness of such candidates.

  184. 184.

    TenguPhule

    @different-church-lady:

    Facebook is how you talk about your own life while keeping your old friends and acquaintances at a safe distance, while they do the same.

    And post pretty pictures of food.

  187. 187.

    Roger Moore

    @les:
    In this case, Facebook agrees that Cambridge Analytica was violating terms of service by grabbing all your friends’ info.

  188. 188.

    Jay

    @les:

    Facebook’s revinue stream comes from selling Facebook user’s data sets and from selling new stock issues.

  191. 191.

    Roger Moore

    @Quinerly:

    plus, he triggered the Burlington College investigation.

    That makes him more useful than his parents combined.

  192. 192.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    In one exchange, when asked about digging up material on political opponents, Mr Nix said they could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

    I hear when you’re drinking and cheating on your lonely wife
    I play tape recordings of you to my friends at night
    We’ve got our girl in bed with you
    You’re on candid camera, we just un-elected you

  194. 194.

    different-church-lady

    @Roger Moore:

    Facebook agrees that Cambridge Analytica was violating terms of service by grabbing all your friends’ info.

    I know — only Facebook is allowed to do that!

  196. 196.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    And the schemes tend to be complicated as hell to explain to the average uncomprehending jury.

    Adam McCay did a great job of explaining the financial crisis in The Big Sick. We may need him and his writers to make a series of short films explaining what happened in 2016.

  197. 197.

    Mandalay

    @Calouste:

    Depends on how much CambAnal has on the Tories.

    The train has already left the station. The odd liaison with a goat or an inflatable schoolboy isn’t going to derail it.

  201. 201.

    different-church-lady

    @Yarrow:

    Research shows that in 2014, Facebook users had an average of around 340 friends.

    Out of which they actually interacted with about six in real life.

  202. 202.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Jay: Yeah this is a fundamental problem with the monetization of social media, and things related to it. By itself, it doesn’t make money unless someone is using all that information being churned up to do something, and the most obvious application are various derivations of advertising.

    I just don’t see how these entities make money -without- taking this info and going to product/service sellers and saying “look I got these people on my platform, how about we hook you up?”

    This Facebook scandal I think cuts at the very beating heart of social media monetization – and given how Millenials and Post-Millenials operate in their daily lives, it could have knock on effects to every single domestic industry there is.

  203. 203.

    TenguPhule

    I wonder how the market is going to react tomorrow to today’s late announcement that Trump plans to impose $60 billion in tariffs against China on Friday.

  204. 204.

    Roger Moore

    @different-church-lady:

    I know — only Facebook is allowed to do that!

    Absolutely. Facebook’s whole business model is to get users to turn over their information and then mine it for value. That user data is the company’s most valuable asset, so they will fight tooth and nail against anyone who tried to get access to it directly. If you want to make use of Facebook’s data, they expect you to pay handsomely, and then you’ll get the final processed results, not the raw underlying user data.

  205. 205.

    TenguPhule

    @Mandalay:

    The odd liaison with a goat or an inflatable schoolboy isn’t going to derail it.

    They’ve moved beyond pigs?

  207. 207.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    I’m only at chapter 6, but I’m enjoying it. I was a little worried about the heroine’s BFF who parties too much, but I know she’s going to make it, because she’s the heroine of the sequel that’s available for pre-order. ?

  209. 209.

    TenguPhule

    And this slipped under the radar

    Mississippi’s governor has signed the nation’s tightest abortion restrictions into law.

    Governor Phil Bryant, a Republican, signed House Bill 1510 on Monday afternoon. It becomes law immediately and bans most abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation. Bryant has frequently said he wants Mississippi to be the “safest place in America for an unborn child”.

    The law’s only exceptions are if a fetus has health problems making it “incompatible with life” outside the womb at full term, or if a pregnant woman’s life or a “major bodily function” is threatened by pregnancy. Pregnancies resulting from rape and incest are not exempted.

    The worst part of this is that even though the law should be eventually struck down, it may put the last clinic that offers abortion in the state out of business in the meantime.

  211. 211.

    joel hanes

    @lamh36:

    what would you expect of someone who’s been in the public eye as an actor/actress or someone like Oprah to do, if they truly wanted to pursue a career in politics?

    Run for city council or mayor first, or state representative. Even state senator is a bit of hubris for one’s first electoral office if one is serious about carrying out the duties competently.

  212. 212.

    different-church-lady

    @PaulWartenberg:

    I am loathe to delete my Facebook because our library has been using it for marketing/outreach to let people know when we have our programs.

    And that’s what’s really evil about FB: the way they took over all channels of communication, and we just went along with it.

  213. 213.

    TenguPhule

    Mississippi’s governor has signed the nation’s tightest abortion restrictions into law.

    Governor Phil Bryant, a Republican, signed House Bill 1510 on Monday afternoon. It becomes law immediately and bans most abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation. Bryant has frequently said he wants Mississippi to be the “safest place in America for an unborn child”.

    The law’s only exceptions are if a fetus has health problems making it “incompatible with life” outside the womb at full term, or if a pregnant woman’s life or a “major bodily function” is threatened by pregnancy. Pregnancies resulting from rape and incest are not exempted.

  214. 214.

    Roger Moore

    @BlueDWarrior:

    I just don’t see how these entities make money -without- taking this info and going to product/service sellers and saying “look I got these people on my platform, how about we hook you up?”

    The obvious alternative approach would be to get their users to pay a subscription to use their service. They could even advertise that they aren’t going to sell your data to anyone. I would be willing to pay for a social networking system that respected my privacy.

  216. 216.

    Zelma

    @Mnemosyne:
    Thanks for the rec of the Cole book. I’d seen it mentioned elsewhere but hadn’t bought it. I will head to Amazon thanks to your recommendation.

    BTW, how do I cancel my Facebook account? The only reason I joined was to get the comments at Charlie Pierce’s blog. And now it seems like those comments are no longer available. I do sort of follow my kids and grandkids via Facebook, but I’m not sure it’s worth it if I am supporting a criminal organization.

  218. 218.

    cosima

    @different-church-lady: Vaguely. I’ve been traumatised by this winter. There is a meme, a whiteboard/chalkboard/? that says this winter is like a teenager who storms & rages, stomps out of the room, then stomps back for ‘and another thing…’ We hadn’t had a big snow winter for several years, but this winter we had no snow until the last few weeks, and then it keeps coming back as soon as we get it all melted. Very annoying.

  220. 220.

    different-church-lady

    @Roger Moore:

    I would be willing to pay for a social networking system that respected my privacy.

    Well, enjoy your interactions with the other 26 users.

  221. 221.

    mai naem mobile

    @Corner Stone: Jim Jordan looks exactly like the kind if man who would get caught up with a Ukrainian sex worker. Possobly wet suit involvement.

  222. 222.

    different-church-lady

    @cosima: I’m getting a bit cranky and frazzled, but when I see spring snow, I don’t see an annoyance: I see adequate water in the reservoirs for August.

  225. 225.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    N.B.:

    Wikipedia informs that the Tennent’s ‘girlie’ cans went bye-bye.

    The lager was once famous for the design of its cans, which featured photos of various female models printed onto the side: known affectionately as “The Lager Lovelies”. This feature was used by Tennent’s up until the final campaign in 1989. Today, authentic original Lager Lovely cans are sought after among collectors. The can design is now a plain silver colour, with the company’s trademark large red “T” featuring prominently.

  227. 227.

    Roger Moore

    @different-church-lady:

    Well, enjoy your interactions with the other 26 users.

    Keeping out riffraff would be another benefit of charging people a subscription. Bots and other kinds of sockpuppet accounts would be impractically expensive.

  228. 228.

    Fair Economist

    @TenguPhule:

    Trump plans to impose $60 billion in tariffs against China on Friday.

    He can impose it with that little notice?

    I expect the market reaction will provide quite a diversion from the CA story, which is most of the point, I’ll bet.

  229. 229.

    Corner Stone

    @mai naem mobile: Jim Jordan looks like the kind of guy who would auto-erotically asphyxiate with a dry cleaning bag over his face while jerking it to child porn.
    And he’d be indignant to the end when he was sentenced to prison for it.

  230. 230.

    Fair Economist

    @Roger Moore:

    The obvious alternative approach would be to get their users to pay a subscription to use their service. They could even advertise that they aren’t going to sell your data to anyone. I would be willing to pay for a social networking system that respected my privacy.

    Like AOL!

    Oh wait, they changed their mind and started selling data…

  231. 231.

    different-church-lady

    @Zelma: I have no idea. Other than (a) ranting and raving to any of my (real life) friends who will listen, (b) giving FB as little personal info as possible and (c) avoiding as much optional FB activity as possible, I feel utterly powerless against FaceBorg.

    And, just to make it all feel really dystopian: this is not nearly the end of it. Today it’s FB, tomorrow it will be something much much worse.

  233. 233.

    different-church-lady

    @Roger Moore:

    Keeping out riffraff would be another benefit of charging people a subscription.

    Oh. Then enjoy your interaction with the other three users.

  234. 234.

    Mnemosyne

    @different-church-lady:

    I just counted mine and I have 70. I’m actually kind of shocked it’s so many. I don’t friend people I don’t know personally or who are close with people I know.

    And one of them I can’t interact with at all, because it’s my late brother. I feel weird about unfriending his memorial page just because he’s dead.

  235. 235.

    Jay

    @BlueDWarrior:

    In these social media platforms, ( all of them), you are the Product. What you read, what you like, what you shop for, how much you earn, where you live, where you go, what your hobbies are, who your friends are, etc.

    Most Corporations buy these “data sets”, and use that information to create a list of “targets” for ads, then buy ad blocks on the social media platform that deliver “custom tailored” ads to individual “consumers” based on those data sets.

    Media and other interactive sites, do the same thing, but target “consumers” with clickbait news or interest articles.

    What was once just annoying, has become weaponized by people using the same systems to flood users with tailored propaganda.

    Even if you never clicked over to the “Hillary to be Arrested” fake news articles, if anything in your data set suggested you might be slightly hostile to Hillary, the “pop up news” following you around the web would flood you with negative Hillary click bait.

    Subliminal advertising even if you did your best to ignore it.

  237. 237.

    different-church-lady

    @Jay: Comment of the Year is traditionally awarded to something of high snark, but let’s get serious this time around. Nominated.

  239. 239.

    Mnemosyne

    @Zelma:

    I hope you like it! I haven’t finished reading it, but she’s a sufficiently established writer that I’m not too worried that she’s going to mess it up.

  240. 240.

    lowtechcyclist

    Mr Nix said they could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

    I believe it! Those Ukraine girls really knock me out, they leave the West behind…

  241. 241.

    NotMax

    @Fair Economist

    Speaking of tariffs, the long, long list of items exported from the U.S. being considered by the EU to slap tariffs upon (.pdf file).

    Replete with detailed descriptions, qualifications and exceptions. Found it a tad amusing that, seemingly almost as an afterthought, the final item included (with no additional verbiage) is: playing cards.

  244. 244.

    Bill Arnold

    Haven’t read the thread yet, but … big smile.

    One of the most obnoxious of them, another Brit, has only the bare minimum idea of what this work, especially the descriptive statistical analyses, actually entail. But he’s memorized a bunch of jargon, talks a good game, sounds posh, and gets contracts.

    Need more bullshit detectors like you, Adam.
    I once had a friend (need to check in on him) who was an officer for a venture capital firm (“incubator”, actually) and his self-described role was, quite literally, “Bullshit Detector”.

  246. 246.

    MisterForkbeard

    @JPL: Cheryl’s parodying the Mercer’s (and Trump’s) inevitable defense. They had no idea what was going on, truly? They are SHOCKED to find gambling in this establishment!

  247. 247.

    smintheus

    Speaking of meddling British scum, my college has decided to invite Nigel Farage to campus in April to speak. I could not be more disgusted. We have an extreme right-wing faculty member who got lots of cash from the Republican Wurlitzer machine, and in the name of ‘intellectual diversity’ he has been inviting right wing bomb throwers and now out-and-out bigots. The college decided in this case, rather than telling him to disinvite Farage for a host of intellectual and other crimes, instead to take charge of inviting Farage on its own dime.

    I’m not sure about the wisdom or acuity of our college president, to say the least.

  248. 248.

    The Moar You Know

    The fine print can say whatever it wants, but that doesn’t make it true. I have no legal right to my friends’ info, so I can’t give you the right to their info no matter what some agreement says.

    @Roger Moore: You have no legal rights to your Facebook info and neither do any of your friends. Facebook owns it all. They can and do give it to whoever the fuck they feel like. A lot of them are people you don’t even want having your name.

    Their TOS has always been very explicit about that.

  249. 249.

    NotMax

    @smintheus

    Know that most college students are on a budget but surely a group of them could pool their funds sufficient to purchase a few cream pies.

    :)

  250. 250.

    Roger Moore

    @smintheus:

    The college decided in this case, rather than telling him to disinvite Farage for a host of intellectual and other crimes, instead to take charge of inviting Farage on its own dime.

    They should hold his speech in the smallest men’s room on campus.

  251. 251.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Um, guys?

    Carole Cadwalladr
    ‏ @carolecadwalla

    BREAKING: Facebook WAS inside Cambridge Analytica’s office but have now “stood down” following dramatic intervention by UK Information Commissioner’s Office..

    2:19 PM – 19 Mar 2018

  252. 252.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @TenguPhule:

    And post pretty pictures of food.

    I thought that was what Instagram is for.

    And, I see different-church-lady beat me to it.

  253. 253.

    Mnemosyne

    @The Moar You Know:

    You have no legal rights to your Facebook info and neither do any of your friends. Facebook owns it all.

    I freely admit that IANAL but, really, Facebook’s TOS would allow them to sell your information to, for example, identity thieves who then used that information to commit crimes and there would be no recourse?

    AFAIK, being an accessory to criminal activity is still a crime even if you have a TOS that says it’s okay.

  255. 255.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @MisterForkbeard: It turns out I got that wrong. It appears this is the reason they’re giving.

    Pffft! Their data wasn’t so good after all.

    What people like Jared Kushner, who apparently has said this, don’t realize is that they are describing something like a kickback scheme. They are so accustomed to illegality that they have no idea what they are admitting to.

  257. 257.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:
    There is enough russian money floating around that needs to be laundered that there is no way drumpf and clan could do it all. And besides they wouldn’t be trusted that much. So there has got to be other parties, one’s that wanted drumpf for selfish monetary reasons, like being told to want him. Now I’m not naming names but there really aren’t really that many possible suspects.

  263. 263.

    JPL

    @Zelma: If you type online how to I get rid of facebook there are instructions. The reason I know is that is how I did it.

  264. 264.

    JPL

    @MisterForkbeard: When I went to IBM training classes in the early seventies, winning was everything. They had Lombardi’s quote up and in full center. Robert Mercer took it more seriously than I did.

  265. 265.

    Roger Moore

    @Corner Stone:

    Ken Vogel got played and is selling a bill of goods here.

    This is one of those cases where it’s hard to know where the truth is. It seems entirely possible that Trump’s people chose Analytica more as a way of sucking up to the Mercers than because they valued its services; given the degree of grift and self-dealing among Republican politicians it seems entirely plausible. I’m also among those who question many of Analytica’s claims about the value of their technology; many of the things they’re saying sound unbelievable. Of course it’s also possible that those claims were made as a cover for their illicit data access.

  266. 266.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Carole Cadwalladr
    ‏ @carolecadwalla

    To be clear, @facebook was trying to “secure evidence” ahead of the UK authorities. Nice try, @facebook. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office cracking whip…British legal investigation MUST take precedence over US multibillion $ company..

    3:03 PM – 19 Mar 2018

  267. 267.

    Jay

    @The Moar You Know:

    Roger Moore was talking about the Research Data Set, from the Personality Quiz. Legally, the UC Researchers were given access to the data sets of the 270,000 that signed up, only.

    Somehow, by the time it got to Anal, those Facebook data sets included 50,000,000 Facebook accounts who hadn’t signed up for the quiz or signed an agreement for their Facebook data to be shared.

    Not with the Researchers,

    Not with any 3rd Party like Anal.

    According to Facebook policies and procedures, Facebook sells anonamized data sets starting at $27 a “cluster”.

    Facebook only “sells” raw data sets of individual users to Researchers, for research only purposes, only if the Facebook users, by hook or by crook, have agreed to their raw data sets being used for that specific research.

    The raw data set’s are Facebook’s “crown jewels”.

    270,000 Facebook users, by hook or by crook signed up for the Cambridge team to buy their raw data sets, which Facebook claims they sold them to Cambridge, all nice and proper.

    Somehow, Anal, wound up with 50,000,000 Facebook raw data sets on individual users.

    Who sold, gave or stole those 50,000,000 individual raw sets from Facebook’s “vault”, at this time, is unclear, because they all seem to be a bunch of sociopathic liars.

  268. 268.

    Ruckus

    @Zelma:
    There is an involved process if you truly want to delete your FB account. It isn’t as simple as just telling FB to close your account All that info is there and stays on their server unless you take it off. And I’ve heard of how that’s done, have instructions but I’m betting that really there is not a way to say bye bye completely.

  270. 270.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Corner Stone: My point is that that is the excuse that the buyers of Cambridge Analytica’s services are using. As Roger Moore notes, there are many possibilities for what the truth may be. It’s possible that CA is effective in its data uses AND that it was a way of sucking up to the Mercers. I am looking forward to the Mueller explanation and the chart of CA connections.

  274. 274.

    Corner Stone

    @Roger Moore: If there’s nothing there and it’s a grift then why would FB care? If they sold the data sets as their terms permit and CA did some limited manipulation with that, then why would FB care?
    FB knew about this for years and they know they left the barn door wide open for a bad actor and then did nothing about it because it would damage member sign ups and PR.

  275. 275.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I freely admit that IANAL but, really, Facebook’s TOS would allow them to sell your information to, for example, identity thieves who then used that information to commit crimes and there would be no recourse?

    Are you up to date on the mandatory arbitration problem?

  277. 277.

    Corner Stone

    @Cheryl Rofer: I think Vogel is being used to squirt squid ink here. It seems pretty clear CA is a bad actor here that was not just a grift.

  279. 279.

    Zelma

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m always looking for new romance authors. It will be interesting to see how I like it. I’ve been reading romance all my life. (I used to review for the now defunct Romance Reader.) But I find that I cannot relate to the newer authors and prefer the old standbys. It’s probably old age. Different sensibilities.

  280. 280.

    Roger Moore

    @Corner Stone:
    My feeling is that we’re all just speculating. My gut feeling is that Analytica’s story about their magic technology being able to tell everything about somebody’s personality from just a few Facebook likes is a pile of crap. Even given that, though, there are all kinds of other possibilities that it’s hard for me to separate from the available data:

    1) Analytica was just a bunch of crap, and people only hired them to butter up the Mercers.

    2) Analytica’s claims were a cover story for their schemes to get illicit access to Facebook data. This might have been with Facebook’s connivance (in which case FB wants to cover their tracks) or without (in which case Facebook wants to avoid admitting how sloppy they are with their data).

    3) Analytica’s claims about their whole data operation were a cover for other kinds of skulduggery, like the kompromat schemes News 4 has them on tape discussing.

    4) Analytica is a front. They pretend to do a bunch of tech sounding stuff to help people win elections, but that’s just to provide cover for Russian active measures against the election.

    And that’s ignoring combinations of the above (e.g. people paid Analytica to butter up the Mercers, but they actually did valuable election work).

  283. 283.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Mnemosyne: If it’s one, single, person with no one else who can be flipped, you don’t announce a search warrant, that’s true. But for an organization of significant size, “we’re seeking a search warrant” is a way of saying “don’t move anything; don’t destroy anything; don’t even TOUCH anything; not unless you want some uncomfortable times with law enforcement and prosecutors.”

    Per my understanding, you might be in big trouble even if no crime has been committed, and you were just hoping to destroy the link to the video of some giant man baby being spanked with a magazine.

    (Um. By “man baby” I am not referring to people into infantilism – people who enjoy, or get off on, playing baby, which may or may not include spanking. I’m referring to a physically mature male human being who can’t be trusted to act better than a baby acts.)

    See, just destroying something like that might be seen as impeding the investigation, even if everyone thinks you were just destroying something embarrassing. But worse, you might run up against a prosecutor who (if you’re a goddamned idiot) smiles at you, or (if you’re not a goddamned idiot) smiles at your attorney, and says “oh, I believe that. No, really, I believe that you weren’t trying to obstruct justice. Really, honestly, I PHBWAHAHAHAHA! Good one! But let me warn you not to try to bring that big, steaming, and _stinking_, pile before the jury.”

    And of course, if there was an underlying crime, well, I believe there’s a certain creek known for its sewage that you might find yourself up, without a paddle, in a leaky boat.

  286. 286.

    Roger Moore

    @Quinerly:

    Rebekah Mercer wants to be part of the solution!

    Sorry, but even with a very powerful homogenizer, she’s unlikely to wind up as anything more than an emulsion.

  288. 288.

    sukabi

    @Cheryl Rofer: sooo…besides the trumpsters claiming they were “too stupid to collude” they’ve added paying organizations that were “too incompetent to extort” to their defense.

    I’m sure that will work…?

  289. 289.

    Roger Moore

    @Corner Stone:

    Your options still do not seem to take into account that CA did something with that data beyond grifting.

    That would fit under my option 2: their ridiculous claims were cover for them having illicit access to Facebook data.

  290. 290.

    Millard Filmore

    @Corner Stone:

    It seems pretty clear CA is a bad actor here that was not just a grift.

    Especially if that data made its way through CA to Russia.

  291. 291.

    Corner Stone

    @Roger Moore: My take is that this is nothing like Harper Reed’s bullshit claims during the Obama Big Data Runs. CA got something, they twisted it, and it was worth something to interested parties.

  293. 293.

    mart

    I still think Anal was effective with their data mining. You don’t need to convince millions, just demotivate 10,000 D’s and motivate 10,000 R’s in Pennsylvania for the win. Part of the Fox news, talk radio, newspaper pundit, never ending congressional investigations that ended up with so many smart people I know saying they could never vote for that bitch, and willfully overlooked every obvious Trump flaw. They win on the margins.

  294. 294.

    Ken

    @Roger Moore:

    The histories will necessarily be the simplified version, which will wind up sounding a lot more plausible because the craziest fringe elements will be removed in the name of brevity.

    That’s going to confuse a lot of kids. “Why didn’t the United States have a President between 2016 and 2020?”

  295. 295.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Roger Moore:

    Of course it’s also possible that those claims were made as a cover for their illicit data access.

    This is my guess. Illicit data access and possibly russian targeting information would work pretty well in identifying potential voters (in either direction).

    @Roger Moore: I am ENTIRELY willing to believe it’s a mix of all these possibilities.

  297. 297.

    stinger

    @Mnemosyne: Just downloaded it. Not really into the Romance genre, but I make exceptions for books written by or recommended by Juicers. Thanks!

  298. 298.

    Jay

    @Roger Moore:

    Corporation’s annually spend billions of dollars on microtargetting. It works for everything from avocado’s to razors.

    What Anal’s Parent Company, and Anal did, was use microtargetting to sell “politics”. That’s been done before by other Consultants and Groups, and has been fairly successful. Past efforts however were crude, and were mostly targetted on upselling a Cantidate or downselling the other Cantidates.

    Starting in 3rd World Nations, SCO created more sophisticated forms. Negging if you will. They used micro targetting not just to upsell or downsell cantidates, but to “agitate” specific social groups to “get out the vote”, and targetting other specific social groups to supress the vote. They stoked fear, anger, resentment, hate, tribal and racial divides. They flooded Social Media with so much targetted fake news that fact checkers couldn’t keep up.

    Anal brought that to Brexit and added in a riding by riding breakdown. They did the same in the US.

    I thought Hillary Clinton was a “bad cantidate” for three reasons.

    1) She had been smeared for 40 years by the Clinton Scandal Industry, so there was little chance she would get any borderline Republican votes, the Media would pile on, and there would be so much CT out there that Policies and Platforms would get ignored.

    2) her reaction when Quafaddi was murdered,

    3) too centerest on Economic and Corporate issues.

    Guess what ads and news articles showed up on my Internet pages.

    When she adopted a bunch of Bernie’s policies on Corporate and Social issues, guess which “suggested” ads and news articles went away.

    Did Anal do it all by themselves, of course not, but they were a large component of the “SuperStorm” of various forms of manipulation and ratfucking that took place in 2016.

  299. 299.

    Jay

    @mart:

    Yup, it’s not about 3,000,000 votes Nation wide, it’s down to as little as 700 votes in an individual district or riding.

  303. 303.

    Gin & Tonic

    Holy shit! Did you know that Lawrence O’Donnell had worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan?

  305. 305.

    Corner Stone

    @Gin & Tonic: I personally was recently shocked to find out that Chris Whipple’s book about former CoS’ is now updated and in paperback form. Out now, for purchase.

  308. 308.

    Corner Stone

    One of the things I do not care for that LO’D does is that he always has his next question ready. So no matter what a guest says he just plows on with his prep question, in a kind of shambling way to tie it in. Ari Melber, for example, weaves pretty much everything back into a conversation. And Ari doesn’t give an F about cutting someone off if they are not addressing his question or topic.

  311. 311.

    Miss Bianca

    @TenguPhule: i honest to God cannot figure how the “death fordrug dealers cuz opiod deaths” isn’t getting people seriously asking, “dp you mean doctors and big pharma CEOs?”

  314. 314.

    Bill Arnold

    @Miss Bianca:

    i honest to God cannot figure how the “death fordrug dealers cuz opiod deaths” isn’t getting people seriously asking, “dp you mean doctors and big pharma CEOs?”

    Agreed. It literally took me less than 2 seconds to notice this when reading Trump’s initial “proposal”. Perhaps people think that a death penalty for white collar mass murderers would be crass.

  315. 315.

    Bill Arnold

    @ewrunning:

    Never joined Facebook, and feeling very smug about now.

    To be fair, it is unsurpassed [1] as a propaganda platform for people (and other entities) on a budget.
    (Twitter’s virtues include allowing anonymity and encouraging brevity.)
    [1] In the West at least.

  317. 317.

    Citizen Alan

    @Bill Arnold:

    His moron followers assume the death penalty will only be applied to black drug dealers in the inner cities. It will never occur to them for one second that he might be talking about wealthy white people. Sort of like how “hardened Democrats” was a ridiculous phrase until you stop to think about how conservatives often refer to “hardened criminals” and that’s the association he’s trying to create.

  318. 318.

    batguano

    It isn’t just the data you choose to share on Facebook, check out the permissions on the Facebook app. I’ve never installed the app as the permissions always scared me away.

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