3 ms·

There isn't a double standard. The criticism of CA is not that data use is bad. It is that they did it in unethical and potentially illegal ways.

by slg 6y ago

dominotw 6y ago
> potentially illegal ways. Is anyone in jail? Are there any pending legal cases against them?
- slg 6y ago
  Does someone not being in jail somehow prove what they did is legal? Is someone always held individually liable for corporate misdeeds? There have been multiple fines related to this scandal from multiple governments. There have been Congressional hearings on it in the US. There have been numerous lawsuits. I did say "potentially" in that first comment because I can't say definitively that they acted illegally, but there is a lot of smoke here. If people are going to make the accusation that it is a double standard, where is the smoke surrounding Obama's use of data?
  - dominotw 6y ago
    the phrase "potentially illegal" makes no sense to me. I can claim that your comment is "potentially illegal" ..means nothing. > There have been Congressional hearings on it in the US. There have been numerous lawsuits. doesn't mean its illegal. Its just politics to discredit opposition's election victory. This is equivalent to "hillary's emails" which also had lawsuits and congressional hearings. Now no one cares about it. Same with CA, no one will hear about it once democrats win. > where is the smoke surrounding Obama's use of data? There isn't because republicans didn't think it would be politically useful like "hillary's emails".
    - rtx 6y ago
      >potentially illegal Sounds like a dog whistle
    - slg 6y ago
      I like how you pulled out that one piece that is politically motivated without addressing the more apolitical fines or lawsuits. None of that has existed in relation to Obama as far as I'm aware. And it isn't like Republicans would let Obama slide on something if there was any chance to call him out for it.
dx87 6y ago
The Obama administration was praised for gathering the same information about users without their consent. Obama's campaign manager said that Facebook told them that if it was anyone else gathering that much information, they would have blocked it, but that Facebook was "on their side". There's absolutely a double standard.
- slg 6y ago
  Do you have a source for that? Your comment is the top Google result when I search for that "on their side" quote with various nouns about Obama and Facebook data collection. EDIT: This was a few spots down in the search results and explains how Obama's data collection was different than CA. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/03/21/no-obama-didnt-employ-the-same-strategies-as-cambridge-analytica/ https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/03/21/no-obama-didnt-empl...
  - hogFeast 6y ago
    It wasn't. It was exactly the same. The issue was never that CA did this with "false pretences" (they didn't sign up users directly, that was done by an academic who then sold the data) or that by signing users up on your own website, you were doing some above board. The issue was that Facebook allowed access to not only your account but your friend network. That was what Obama used, that is what CA used, that is why both tried to get the Facebook login, and, btw, the end goal was exactly the same: microtargeting of ads. Btw, there are probably hundreds of other companies who are doing the same thing. A lot of the "data science" startups are using this data in their products, there was an Israeli startup (mentioned here recently) that somehow had click data from Google, individual search data from Google...this isn't just politics, this personalised, identifying data that is somehow everywhere.

There isn't a double standard. The criticism of CA is not that data use is bad. It is that they did it in unethical and potentially illegal ways.

by slg 6y ago

There isn't a double standard. The criticism of CA is not that data use is bad. It is that they did it in unethical and potentially illegal ways.

dominotw 6y ago

> potentially illegal ways. Is anyone in jail? Are there any pending legal cases against them?

slg 6y ago
Does someone not being in jail somehow prove what they did is legal? Is someone always held individually liable for corporate misdeeds? There have been multiple fines related to this scandal from multiple governments. There have been Congressional hearings on it in the US. There have been numerous lawsuits. I did say "potentially" in that first comment because I can't say definitively that they acted illegally, but there is a lot of smoke here. If people are going to make the accusation that it is a double standard, where is the smoke surrounding Obama's use of data?
- dominotw 6y ago
  the phrase "potentially illegal" makes no sense to me. I can claim that your comment is "potentially illegal" ..means nothing. > There have been Congressional hearings on it in the US. There have been numerous lawsuits. doesn't mean its illegal. Its just politics to discredit opposition's election victory. This is equivalent to "hillary's emails" which also had lawsuits and congressional hearings. Now no one cares about it. Same with CA, no one will hear about it once democrats win. > where is the smoke surrounding Obama's use of data? There isn't because republicans didn't think it would be politically useful like "hillary's emails".
  - rtx 6y ago
    >potentially illegal Sounds like a dog whistle
  - slg 6y ago
    I like how you pulled out that one piece that is politically motivated without addressing the more apolitical fines or lawsuits. None of that has existed in relation to Obama as far as I'm aware. And it isn't like Republicans would let Obama slide on something if there was any chance to call him out for it.

dx87 6y ago

The Obama administration was praised for gathering the same information about users without their consent. Obama's campaign manager said that Facebook told them that if it was anyone else gathering that much information, they would have blocked it, but that Facebook was "on their side". There's absolutely a double standard.

slg 6y ago
Do you have a source for that? Your comment is the top Google result when I search for that "on their side" quote with various nouns about Obama and Facebook data collection. EDIT: This was a few spots down in the search results and explains how Obama's data collection was different than CA. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/03/21/no-obama-didnt-employ-the-same-strategies-as-cambridge-analytica/ https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/03/21/no-obama-didnt-empl...
- hogFeast 6y ago
  It wasn't. It was exactly the same. The issue was never that CA did this with "false pretences" (they didn't sign up users directly, that was done by an academic who then sold the data) or that by signing users up on your own website, you were doing some above board. The issue was that Facebook allowed access to not only your account but your friend network. That was what Obama used, that is what CA used, that is why both tried to get the Facebook login, and, btw, the end goal was exactly the same: microtargeting of ads. Btw, there are probably hundreds of other companies who are doing the same thing. A lot of the "data science" startups are using this data in their products, there was an Israeli startup (mentioned here recently) that somehow had click data from Google, individual search data from Google...this isn't just politics, this personalised, identifying data that is somehow everywhere.