Malice Domestic: The Cambridge Analytica Distopia

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Article Title: Malice: Domestic: The Cambridge Analytica Distopia

Find article online:http://resolver.scholarsportal.info/resolve/00189162/v51i0005/84_mdtcad.xml

doi: 10.1109/MC.2018.2381135


Contents

[edit] Context

The Cambridge Analytica story begins in 2014, when data scientist Aleksandr Kogan (aka Aleksandr Specters) and a few others variously connected with Cambridge University set up a company called Global Science Research to market a Facebook app, “thisisyourdigitallife.” The purpose of the app was to harvest personal information from participants who thought they were taking some sort of personality test, and leveraged that information to derive other politically useful intelligence on an estimated 50 million people. This information found its way to the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica has worked with Republican politicians in the US since 2012 and claims to have played a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump.


[edit] Overview

Micro-targeting on social media platforms lets a political campaign exploit the strongest emotions and play on the fears of the most easily manipulated. Partisan consultancies like Cambridge Analytica that use data analytics to sway the electorate rely on social network users' participation in their own psychological manipulation. While technology has enabled more sophisticated ways for partisans to manipulate the electorate, it alone isn’t the problem; to find the real source, we must look deep within ourselves. The degree to which Facebook was aware of the use of this information from 2015 to early 2018 remains in dispute, as is the degree to which the 2016 US presidential race was influenced.

Berghel argues that if one is committed to democratic principles such as “one person, one vote,” data analysis is arguably changing our political landscape for the worse. Claiming that everyone should understand that advertisers and marketers, not users, are the customers of free services.This is because of Berghel's argument that Facebook’s 2 billion users aren’t a community in any meaningful sense of the term—they are, collectively, the product sold.

[edit] Strengths and Weaknesses

This article has some very well thought out arguments as Berghel has shaped the billions of Facebook users as a commodity for cultural studies. Political groups such as the Republican party have manipulated this data in order to attract voters and support. This evidence of the collusion between the Republican party and Cambridge Analytica proves the value of this information that is accessible through Facebook, and this shows how collectively the data within these user's profiles can become a product sold in order to obtain information about certain demographics. Berghel makes a bold prediction by stating even if Cambridge Analytica were to go out of business, not much would change on the data analytics landscape because it’s only one of many players in this market. He also highlights similar groups who have attempted to explore the social media user data market. The Koch brothers–supported i360 (i-360.com) is engaged in much of the same activity, as is DataTrust (thedatatrust.com), created by Karl Rove. Both companies aim to create pro-Republican info-swarms (fact-based or otherwise) and share user data.

[edit] Assessment

In the end, what are we to make of the Cambridge Analytica scandal? The problem is of our creation, and any solution will lie with us as well. We’re complicit in our own psychological manipulation, just like the denizens of Animal Farm and 1984. When it comes to social networking we should all start from the premise that social media and free online services have been, and will continue to be, weaponized against us—we’re the product! Two operative principles come to mind: caveat emptor and cui bono—the former is the default philosophy of the corporations involved, and the latter should be the guiding principle of all potential customers. As to the future of Cambridge Analytica, I predict it will weather the current storm with the help of right-wing political support and little will come from the controversy. However, even if it were to go out of business, not much would change on the data analytics landscape because it’s only one of many players in this market.

---Jc13vi 21:44, 21 March 2019 (EDT)

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