Cambridge Analytica And Brexit

[Gromit]

Cambridge Analytica find themselves all over the news pages this morning for all the wrong reasons. A warrant has been issued to investigate their records

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43465700

Dodgy firm were hired by Leave.eu diring the run up to the EU referendum. The money went through a third party, a fashion student, to hide the money trail.

A donation of £625,000 from Leave.eu to a fashion student, Darren Grimes, who then funneled the money to Cambridge Analytica (which paid for their dodgy work.

// Cambridge Analytica had worked for Leave.eu, he said. It had taught them how to build profiles, how to target people and how to scoop up masses of data from people’s Facebook profiles. A video on YouTube shows one of Cambridge Analytica’s and SCL’s employees, Brittany Kaiser, sitting on the panel at Leave.EU’s launch event.

Facebook was the key to the entire campaign, Wigmore explained. A Facebook ‘like’, he said, was their most “potent weapon”. “Because using artificial intelligence, as we did, tells you all sorts of things about that individual and how to convince them with what sort of advert. And you knew there would also be other people in their network who liked what they liked, so you could spread. And then you follow them. The computer never stops learning and it never stops monitoring.” //

Pretty damning stuff?

[Togo]

No Danny.....although there is plenty of evidence to indicate how Cambridge Analytica behave, encouraged off course by the online numbskulls, and the lax restraints applied to the site providers.

[Bazile]

But then they persuaded me

[dannyk13]

So they didn't convince you then.

[dannyk13]

There must be a lot of weak-minded folk about.

[New Judge]

"There must be a lot of weak-minded folk about."

There must be. Anybody who can have their opinion changed or their purchase choices influenced by "Likes" (whatever they might be) on Facebook can be very strong of spirit.

[Bazile]

Not me , I'm strong

What is this Facebook you all speak about

[Hopkirk]

We had better ban all political campaigning then, in case it influences someone.

(I notice Gulliver has already called for a second referendum because of this. What a surprise)

[Jackdaw33]

Your email address on AB is only visible on your own profile. No-one else can see it.

[youngmafbog]

//If you have ever noticed that adverts on AB seem unusually relevant to you, this is certainly what has happened. //

Cookies/search history as far as AB is concerned.

//So the "moral of the story" (if there is one), is "don't exist on the internet or participate in modern society." Which would be a rather silly take-home.//

No, that is an over the top reaction. True the only real secure way is to pull the plug on the internet but there is a world of difference between trackers and reading information people have willingly plonked onto the open web.

[gulliver1]

14.04 Hopkirk, can you go and have a quick word with Randall please.

[youngmafbog]

Some village ....

[New Judge]

"What is this Facebook you all speak about"

I don't know either, Baz. I've heard of it and have been told a little about it, but I've no idea what it is or does.

And of course as youngmaf correctly points out, the younger voters (more likely to use Facebook, Twitter, etc.) predominantly voted to Remain (so we are told by The Good Doctor Cable) whilst the older voters (less likely to use Facebook, Twitter, etc.) predominantly voted to Leave (so we are told by The Good Doctor Cable). If these assumptions are correct it should have boosted the Remain vote but even with this campaign aimed at Facebook and Twitter users (more likely to vote Remain), Remain still lost.

Having said that, I’m more inclined to think it is a load of cobblers.

[andres]

A good job to go into these days would be a Police Profiler. It's so much easier to collect information about people's lives now with all the personal details they reveal on Social Media sites.