Cambridge Analytica has employed data from facebook (that was acquired illegally?), not to make the usual targeted commercials, but trying to influence elections. It is not known how effective this approach was, but there seems to be a huge public concern for this practice.
People are calling for new regulations and more state control. But the problem is not Cambridge Analytica, it is centralised power and facebook.
It is not really surprising that many interest groups use all tools available trying to influence elections. For these groups democracy is perfect as they get a change to install their puppet on the throne and get influence on the monopoly of force and violence. Does it really make a difference if their propaganda is targeted or not? I dont think so. The real problem is that we give some people special titles, that somehow legitimise them to commit violence. Of course this invites corruption and Cambridge Analytica is only the latest tool in their box.
Then lets have a look at facebook. A company that acts as a central intermediary in a peer-to-peer network and gets paid in exclusive rights to your data. This business model is in fact already outdated. We have the technology for flat unowned networks that allow for the same functionality. Steem is one example, but taking a different focus than facebook.
While in steem there is no private data and everyone has access to everything, there is no technical problem to create a network more similar to facebook, where only the user has rights to their data and decides with whom they are willing to share it. All of this without the need for a central party in control.
What will happen to facebook is called disintermediation. The users will realise that they do not need someone in the middle and secure networks can be realised peer-to-peer. No central party means no point of attack for corruption. If your data is used by a third party then only because you gave access to that data. We will be able to sell our data if we want, or just keep it. We will also be able to be paid to watch ads, or just not get ads.
So instead of bitching (on facebook ?!!) about some people doing stuff you dont like with your data and electing a maniac that now has control over your life, why not get rid of these maniacs and get control back over your data? The first step is saying goodbye to facebook...
