So, this is the time to touch an issue that reaches most of us. As Steemers we came here for one of many reasons, aside for those looking for a quick buck or the "please follow me sir," we may have something in common.
We all have realized at a certain point, of how wrong the social media is at its core, which is the lack of privacy. This con had come to mass media attention when some time ago, concerning the alleged involvement of Russia-US-election manipulation, Facebook got into cross-fire. Is funny that we look for privacy, but then come to Steemit where everything is open to the world, undeletable and in the way of a Blockchain.
Still, many of us got tired (even when for many reasons could have a FB profile) of how those old geeky guys from Silicon Valley, turned so quickly into the giants' corporations, they were supposed to supersede and improve. In that story, of young drop-out of cool college kids from Apple, Amazon, and Google, which turned themselves into rock stars with the force of their intellects.
Something happened along the way, probably started when dealing with IPOs sitting along the big names of Wall Street, which convinced those innocent young minds, that millions were not enough, billionaire is the new millionaire. Maybe call it an effect of inflation.
Regarding Facebook, we find amusing sharing our whole life with our friends, whatever if it is a small circle of 10 below a curtain of "everything is private" on the privacy settings.
It is also interesting for those "Influencer Wannabe" types who share every small thing on their life with the "Public" privacy setting. No matter which type you are, (or if you are even in the middle) from the moment you use FB you are releasing your data to hundreds of private companies which are using it to "improve" their services and/or products.
It was Orwellian enough, but at least I could think I was doing a benefit to the R&D department of my favorite video game studio by sharing my list of PS4 Trophies. The problem now is, our information it is being used to manipulate people, citizens of alleged "Free" countries to vote as the Elite wants. It's being used not only to shape how we all consume but also how we elect our leaders.
Big Data is a branch of science which looks at data and analyses it in a particular way, is not a set of specific data, but as the name suggests is Big, as in a massive amount of Data. So Big that the larger the collection of data it has the better the information it can provide after proper analysis. Forget about your company excel with the selections of your clients, with only 10000 rows; we are talking about millions of "rows".
The concept lying behind relies on how we advanced so fast in both, the amount of information we produce thanks to personal computers and the medium of storage (as explained in this infographic next to this text). Recently there was an explosion in the global creation of Data, not only helped by the Internet, but also by the expansion of high fidelity information content creation (just think of a website 8-bits 90's like versus a multimedia ICO website from 2018).
All that data laying around is so big that standard processing software is not enough, you need considerable computing power and a new branch of science to come up with a solution. Is there that Big Data appeared in the Science scene, as a respected path to the extension of our understanding of Humanity.
I am not Data Science expert, and I do not pretend to be among you, my fellow readers. But is essential to have a grasp of where lies the misbehaviour of Cambridge Analytics and by extension on our friend Suckerberg, sorry Zuckerberg.
The applicable part of Big Data to this case is the behavioral analysis of the masses. The data set was provided by Facebook, where 87 million persons had their data, including posts, likes, dislikes, preferences, list of friends, following to, followed by, etc.
All that sweet and juicy data that you can think of, coming out of us, dumb servants, giving it all away for free. Imagine what of an excellent use can a company with the right tools, and people do with that.
Cambridge Analytica is a company which has the people and the computing power to go through all the raw. After due processing it can indicate any company or political party, where to sell their product, how, and what to say on your marketing campaign to gain that extra dollar on the suggested price.
Even better in the scale of Machiavelic manipulation; how to scare people... What? Yap, I said it, how to scare people, or let's call it more academical, how to interpret the fears of the masses concerning alien and national threats.
That was the wrongdoing Facebook was accused of because it did not protect the misuse of all that data, which was taken without permit by Cambridge.
Taken to process and obtain critical data which was used in turn to create a FB political campaign based purely on fears.
The ingredients of the propaganda; illegal immigration, violence, murders, higher taxes, lack of police patrols, etc. just think on a comment you may have made on your FB profile in the last years that shows a hint of what your fears are, then think about these big servers creating a profile of you based on some keywords, (i.e. Muslim + Terrorism).
The same process applies to you and probably 200k more users in the same county you live. Starting from there, a political campaign manager would know that in County "X" people fear Radical Religious Terrorism (quite in vogue). Then they will put a couple of ISIS videos in your news feed, and then... "Voila" you will vote Trump.
We Humans, think most of the time, that we are free and rational, but should we know how much of what we believe and do is manipulated (or softer) "suggested" by third parties, we would cry. Based on that social behaviour assumption, Cambridge + Facebook + Trump turned the U.S.A. into a nation of fear, fear to the other, the one next to me, who may be a Mexican, a Commie, a radical Muslim, or who knows which of what label I could think of, to which I fear.
The solution, was a candidate president, D. Trump. The result of that campaign? A divided nation.
All of the above thanks to the lacks of controls from FB on a vast data set of more than eighty million users.
The reason why I am writing about this, and getting a little away from my usual topics, is because it is not an unrelated subject, we are still refering to intertwined concepts; technology, freedom, and finance.
Like a stone in a pond, what just happened will have a ripple effect which will endure for many years to come.
Steemit could seize on this issue; depends on us as a community.
Billions of dollars in paper value did not make a difference for the U.S. Congress when questioning the role of Facebook in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He felt that his empire could collapse in one day, not that much due to the Congress backslashing on the Silicon giant with tighter regulation, but due to the fact, that many U.S. citizens and many others from around the globe will start to think twice before using FB as they used to until now.
The most significant risk of any profitable company in a savage capitalist frame, is when clients act rationally instead of irrationally, For Facebook this means, to fear that one of my likes, follows or any other social media interaction could in the future make me a target of a "psychographic political campaign", as defined by a member of the U.S. Congress.
Facebook is doing us, data privacy defenders, a favor. It will open the doors to in-depth discussion on these matters. Coincidentally in a time when new data protection regulation in Europe is coming into effect (check GDPR).
The congressional hearing, made him look unconfortable; he was not ready for such a bash. Even when the situation was known to them since 2015, and countless hours with PR staff, lawyers, and who knows what amount of advisors, do not make you ready for something like this.
The extension of this scandal is yet unknown, it will depend on the consumers, and how much loss of trust Facebook gets out of all this. The funny thing is that the current US President, so far, has not been in such an uncomfy situation as our dear Mark.
Still, not much to worry for Markie, he made it through, at least that is the message he got from investors, when Facebook after the hearings got into a almost three week-high, closing on the day at $165.04.
The market gave a trust signal, but the people are no Wall Street speculative investor, is an average person, using an app to share a lot of personal insights, most of the time. Hoping to be heard by others, to get out of the anonimity that this modern world has taken us. Since, today, in contrast with our fathers and grandfathers, we are much more aware of the billions of peo with whom we share this world. Facebook is part of that world, with so many people that we believe making a post on a social media site can make as a little less invisible.
Now there is a time for a more in-depth reflection on what data we are giving away, and how we can avoid a future Cambridge Analytica alike company using that info. against us.
Still, the responsibility is on us, FB is too big for someone to take care of us. We do not cherish our information, our digital identity, the image we share with the world. Maybe is time to stop waiting for a paternalistic state to look out for us, and take the bull by its horns. We need to take care of ourselves, and a way to do it is by embracing the disruptive force of a trustless society based on the Blockchain.
- Image creations were made using Canvas paid content.
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