Trump-linked analytics firm Cambridge Analytica used stolen data, ex-employee says

[bostonangler]

A former Cambridge Analytica employee accused the data analytics firm of mishandling the personal information of more than 50 million Facebook users in an effort to help Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge and worked there until late 2014, told ABC News the company would use the information, including Facebook users’ hometowns, friends and “likes” to influence the behavior of potential voters.

“Cambridge Analytica will try to pick at whatever mental weakness or vulnerability that we think you have and try to warp your perception of what’s real around you,” Wylie told ABC News in the interview. “If you are looking to create an information weapon, the battle space you operate in is social media. That is where the fight happens.”

 

ABC News

Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower Christopher Wylie speaks in an interview with ABC News.

 

Facebook announced it had suspended Cambridge Analytica on Saturday, stripping it of its ability to buy ads, as U.S. and British lawmakers called for government investigations of the breach.

The social media giant said approximately 270,000 people had downloaded an app developed by University of Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan, who it said “lied” and violated its policy by gathering user data and passing it on to Cambridge Analytica.

“We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people’s information,” Facebook said in its statement. “We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.”

Wylie, a self-proclaimed whistleblower, said Facebook banned him from its platform as well after he disclosed information that he claimed “they have known privately for two years.”

Cambridge Analytica -- whose backers reportedly include billionaire Republican donor Robert Mercer and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon -- denied any wrongdoing, including claims that it used or held onto Facebook data, but Wylie’s description of his work there told a different story.

“We would ask people to fill out psychological surveys,” he said, “That app would then harvest their data from Facebook. Then, that app would crawl through their friend network and pull all of the data from their friends also.”

 

Photo Illustration by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Facebook app is seen on a smartphone, Nov. 20, 2017.

 

Wylie accused the firm of “weaponizing the internet” and utilizing Facebook data to build psychological profiles of potential voters.

“It’s sort of like the digital shadow of yourself,” Wylie said. “So, when you think about what you do on social media, you curate your identity, so when you like things, when you follow things, you reveal all these little clues and if we have enough of those clues, we can start to develop a portrait of who you are.”

Wylie’s claims come amid swirling questions about the digital operations surrounding the Trump campaign and Republican Party efforts during the last campaign cycle.

A spokesperson for the campaign told ABC News it never used Cambridge Analytica’s data, saying it relied on voter information gathered by the Republican National Committee.

“Any claims that voter data were used from another source to support the victory in 2016 are false,” the spokesperson said.

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/trump-linked-analytics-firm-cambridge-analytica-stolen-data/story?id=53844305

 

I wonder how many people got hoodwinked by these criminals... Geeez people just get off social media. It is a cesspool of the uncouth.

B/A

[bostonangler]

The FBI probe into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has reportedly turned its focus on Jared Kushner. Kushner--President Trump's son-in-law and close aide who recently orchestrated the President's trips to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Rome--is credited with spearheading both the Trump campaign and the data analytics program that delivered the White House. CNN reports the FBI is now looking into that data and analytics operation, as well as Kushner's meetings with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and the head of a Kremlin-affiliated bank, Sergey Gorkov. Kushner has not been named a subject of any investigation, nor has he been accused of any crime or wrongdoing.

"Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings,” according to a statement from Kushner’s lawyer, Jamie Gorelick. “He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry."

(Jamel Toppin for Forbes)

Trump top aide, Jared Kushner

So what does Jared Kushner have to say about the formidable data operation, which Forbes has previously said tipped the election to Trump? In November, Forbes went into deep detail on this topic with Kushner for a cover story on the little-known facet of the campaign. And Kushner had far more to say than we could include that story.

Below are the never-before-published quotes from Kushner, on the Trump campaign and its data strategy.

 

 

• “We found that Facebook and digital targeting were the most effective ways to reach the audiences. After the primary, we started ramping up because we knew that doing a national campaign is different than doing a primary campaign. That was when we formalized the system because we had to ramp up for digital fundraising. We brought in Cambridge Analytica. I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff. Doing it state by state is not that hard. But scaling is a very, very hard thing. They gave me a lot of their subcontractors and I built in Austin a data hub that would complement the RNC's data hub. We had about 100 people in that office, which nobody knew about, until towards the end. We used that as the nerve center that drove a lot of the deployment of our ground game resources.

• "We spent a lot of time figuring out how to build a bridge between the Trump campaign and the RNC so that we could analyze the resources they had available. We found that they had a pretty good ground force that we could leverage. We used some of our best practices and some of their best practices. We kept both data operations going simultaneously—and a lot shared between them. And by doing that, we could scale to a pretty good operation."

• "We played Moneyball, where we were asking, ‘Which states are will be the most cost effective—ROI per electoral vote.’ We used a lot things to get much more bang for the buck… We got rid of a lot of the political people. That's not who we hired. Our best people were mostly people who volunteered pro bono, people from the business world, people from nontraditional fields. We could squeeze the margin so that nobody was getting rich on it. And we only had people who were doing it for the right reasons, not because they wanted to go onto the next campaign, but because they felt passionately about getting Donald Trump elected."

• "We ran the campaign like a business. We tried a lot of new things. We weren't afraid to make changes. We weren't afraid to fail. I found in politics is people build these big, bureaucratic machines designed not to make mistakes and not to have anyone to blame. We tried to do things very cheaply, very quickly. And if it wasn't going to work, we would kill it quickly. The media would write a quick story saying, ‘They don't know what they're doing.’ But we were just saying, ‘Look, we tried, it didn't work. Move onto the next.’"

• "We did an analysis about where you spend your money. For example, a market like New Hampshire is a very, very expensive market. So your cost per vote--and thus cost per electoral vote-- is going to be substantially higher than someplace else. Take a market like Florida, we analyzed the different aspects of the state. We did our TV buying, our digital buying, our walking, our phones, all based on geographically. We asked, 'how we can get the best ROI because every vote is the same.' But some votes are more expensive to get. Some votes are less expensive to get. We were very data driven in terms of how we could always judge what the ROI was."

• "It's a massive startup. We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch... So you're going to make hiring mistakes... It's just problem solving, problem solving, problem solving. And making quick decisions. And then fixing things that are broken, and then scaling things that are working."

• "If you're consumer product company, you're going to look at what's your ROI, what's your cost to reach the voter. You have ten different ways that you could reach the potential consumer. You ask, 'How can I get my message to that consumer for the least amount of cost?' We did that and measured that very aggressively. But you also don't want under-touch them or over-touch them… The RNC had a lot of good methodology that they used where we started backwards and say, 'Look, to win the state of Florida, we need to get to X number of votes.’ And then we'd back up and say, ‘How many votes do we have in the bag?’ And we had two different target groups that we had to try to turn out."

• "We had a very good ground game. The Democrat machine, which we were up against, is a phenomenal machine. After Obama won the first time, they basically just kept the operation in place and kept building on it, building on it, building on it. I was very impressed with the operation that they had. We didn't have the same level of resources. We didn't have the same level of institutional buildup. But what we did have was a lot of very devoted, good people who were just putting their heads down and-- and grinding and getting the work done."

 

What a complete mess...

B/A

[Pitcher]

The FBI needs to look into FB giving Obama campaign information to help them.  See my post below,

 

https://ijr.com/2018/03/1077083-ex-obama-campaign-director-fb/

[coorslite21]

The sad fact is that both US political party's use companies like this.......as well as others all over the world.......

 

Obama and his group were the first to really understand this value........social media, and how to use it........it just keeps getting crazier.......

 

 

 

[coorslite21]

This is the actual article withich had the video.......part 1 from yesterday can be viewed bu clicking the link at the bottom........part 3 is tomorrow,,,

 

https://www.channel4.com/news/cambridge-analytica-revealed-trumps-election-consultants-filmed-saying-they-use-bribes-and-sex-workers-to-entrap-politicians-investigation

 

19 Mar 2018

Revealed: Trump’s election consultants filmed saying they use bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians

An undercover investigation by Channel 4 News reveals how Cambridge Analytica secretly campaigns in elections across the world. Bosses were filmed talking about using bribes, ex-spies, fake IDs and sex workers.

•  
•  

Senior executives at Cambridge Analytica – the data company that credits itself with Donald Trump’s presidential victory – have been secretly filmed saying they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and Ukrainian sex workers.

In an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News, the company’s chief executive Alexander Nix said the British firm secretly campaigns in elections across the world. This includes operating through a web of shadowy front companies, or by using sub-contractors.

In one exchange, when asked about digging up material on political opponents, Mr Nix said they could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

In another he said: “We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land for instance, we’ll have the whole thing recorded, we’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the Internet.”

Offering bribes to public officials is an offence under both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Cambridge Analytica operates in the UK and is registered in the United States.

The admissions were filmed at a series of meetings at London hotels over four months, between November 2017 and January 2018. An undercover reporter for Channel 4 News posed as a fixer for a wealthy client hoping to get candidates elected in Sri Lanka.

Mr Nix told our reporter: “…we’re used to operating through different vehicles, in the shadows, and I look forward to building a very long-term and secretive relationship with you.”

Along with Mr Nix, the meetings also included Mark Turnbull, the managing director of CA Political Global, and the company’s chief data officer, Dr Alex Tayler.

Mr Turnbull described how, having obtained damaging material on opponents, Cambridge Analytica can discreetly push it onto social media and the internet.

He said: “… we just put information into the bloodstream of the internet, and then, and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again… like a remote control. It has to happen without anyone thinking, ‘that’s propaganda’, because the moment you think ‘that’s propaganda’, the next question is, ‘who’s put that out?’.”

Mr Nix also said: “…Many of our clients don’t want to be seen to be working with a foreign company… so often we set up, if we are working then we can set up fake IDs and websites, we can be students doing research projects attached to a university, we can be tourists, there’s so many options we can look at. I have lots of experience in this.”

In the meetings, the executives boasted that Cambridge Analytica and its parent company Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) had worked in more than two hundred elections across the world, including Nigeria, Kenya, the Czech Republic, India and Argentina.

The company is at the centre of a scandal over its role in the harvesting of more than 50 million Facebook profiles.

Chief executive Mr Nix has also been accused of misleading a parliamentary select committee, which is now asking him to provide further information. He has denied the allegations.

Tonight, a Cambridge Analytica spokesman said: “We entirely refute any allegation that Cambridge Analytica or any of its affiliates use entrapment, bribes, or so-called “honey-traps” for any purpose whatsoever… We routinely undertake conversations with prospective clients to try to tease out any unethical or illegal intentions…”

They said: “Cambridge Analytica does not use untrue material for any purpose.”

And they insisted that opposition research and intelligence gathering, the use of subcontractors and working discreetly with clients are all common practice and legitimate.

This report is Part Two of a Channel 4 News series, ‘Data, Democracy and Dirty Tricks’, investigating Cambridge Analytica.

Part Three, on the company’s work in the United States, will be broadcast at 7pm tomorrow (Tuesday, 20 March 2018). You can watch Part One here.

[Pitcher]

The real sad fact is FB allows companies like this to mine their users into.  When you post anything on FB you might as well post it on a corner street lamp for all to see.  I’ve never used FB and never will.

[bostonangler]

3 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

The real sad fact is FB allows companies like this to mine their users into.  When you post anything on FB you might as well post it on a corner street lamp for all to see.  I’ve never used FB and never will.

 

Me neither... Social media is a tool for the very dark side.... I know most people only see the good, but as they say when products or services are free for you, then you are the product...

 

B/A

[coorslite21]

Agreed........just a sad fact of life as to where all of this has gone in today's world.....

[bostonangler]

4 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:

Agreed........just a sad fact of life as to where all of this has gone in today's world.....

 

Yup, most people are good, but the evil doers never stop... If these people would spend their efforts for positive things it would be a much better world.

 

B/A

[Pitcher]

There is no doubt in my mind that social media was used to persuade and influence voters in the last few elections.  I believe it is time for FB, Twitter, and other social Media companies to face Congress and answer some tough questions on how to clean up the process for our elections. I believe some new rules will be coming down the pike..

[bostonangler]

4 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

There is no doubt in my mind that social media was used to persuade and influence voters in the last few elections.  I believe it is time for FB, Twitter, and other social Media companies to face Congress and answer some tough questions on how to clean up the process for our elections. I believe some new rules will be coming down the pike..

 

I think any politician would never be able to refuse this type of information... In fact every business would kill to get info like this on the public. It is today's gold... They can try to regulate it, but people need to think before they click... This "me, me, me, I need to feel important" change in society is the root of the problem. I go in to people's offices and on their desks, they don't have family and friends photos, they have selfies... It is a weird cultural change....

 

B/A

 

[Pitcher]

I must be a good Republican and Democrat because my email was bombarded by both parties in 2016!!! Ha 

[coorslite21]

3 hours ago, coorslite21 said:

Agreed........just a sad fact of life as to where all of this has gone in today's world.....

 

I recall a similar operation around election time.........project veritas.......google that one if have an interest.....

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

So it was lauded as that genius ho'bummer's greatest achievement by the LameStreamMedia,

but if Trump uses it in any way, shape or form, all of a sudden it's WRONG?

 

Hypocrites.  

.

[umbertino]

Cambridge Analytica boasts of dirty tricks to swing elections

 

Bosses tell undercover reporters how honey traps, spies and fake news can be used to help clients

 

Emma Graham-Harrison , Carole Cadwalladr and Hilary Osborne

Mon 19 Mar 2018 19.00 GMT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 vids in link

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/19/cambridge-analytica-execs-boast-dirty-tricks-honey-traps-elections

[bostonangler]

39 minutes ago, SgtFuryUSCZ said:

So it was lauded as that genius ho'bummer's greatest achievement by the LameStreamMedia,

but if Trump uses it in any way, shape or form, all of a sudden it's WRONG?

 

Hypocrites.  

.

 

Not sure what you are talking about... Cambridge Analytics was founded by Steve Bannon and funded by the Mercers.... And acclaimed by Jared The Russian Kushner.... FACT... Well except The Russian part, but he looks like a Russian spy to me. LOL

 

B/A

[coorslite21]

2 hours ago, bostonangler said:

Cambridge Analytics was founded by Steve Bannon and funded by the Mercers.

 

That's really not how it happened......the parent company to Cambridge was founded in 1990 and was known as the SCL group.  They first entered the US political arena in 2012.

 

In 2013 they forked off creating Cambridge.  They are for hire.  They have had some affect in at least 5 countries........

 

So this isn't a brain child of Steve Bannon.........

 

Actually of the Republicans Ted Cruz was the first to use their services.....

[bostonangler]

30 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:

 

That's really not how it happened......the parent company to Cambridge was founded in 1990 and was known as the SCL group.  They first entered the US political arena in 2012.

 

In 2013 they forked off creating Cambridge.  They are for hire.  They have had some affect in at least 5 countries........

 

So this isn't a brain child of Steve Bannon.........

 

Actually of the Republicans Ted Cruz was the first to use their services.....

 

Thanks Coorlite21 for the deeper look into this company... They have been very busy and many big time clients.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica

 

B/A

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

Failing New York Times lauded ho'bummer for masterfully using this for targeting purposes.

 

But anyone on the opposition team avails themselves of it and they're WRONG...?

[caz1104]

On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 5:02 PM, Pitcher said:

I must be a good Republican and Democrat because my email was bombarded by both parties in 2016!!! Ha 

ur not alone....I don't know what the number was nationwide....but in my little circle I would say about 85%

[caz1104]

On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 4:55 PM, bostonangler said:

 

I think any politician would never be able to refuse this type of information... In fact every business would kill to get info like this on the public. It is today's gold... They can try to regulate it, but people need to think before they click... This "me, me, me, I need to feel important" change in society is the root of the problem. I go in to people's offices and on their desks, they don't have family and friends photos, they have selfies... It is a weird cultural change....

 

B/A

 

It's called stereotyping/profiling ......used by almost every known business. The Gov & MSM has been very successful at doing this for their Left "sheep" for decades.....never heard one outcry/peep from those afflicted.  

[umbertino]

Cambridge Analytica execs boast of role in getting Trump elected

 

Execs from firm at heart of Facebook data breach say they used ‘unattributable and untrackable’ ads, according to undercover expose

 

Emma Graham-Harrison and Carole Cadwalladr

Tue 20 Mar 2018 19.00 GMT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vids in link

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/20/cambridge-analytica-execs-boast-of-role-in-getting-trump-elected

 

 

 

[coorslite21]

Both SCL and CA had an impact on the Obama and Trump elections in 2012 and 16.  This company, one in the same.... just figured out a better mouse trap.  Obama benefited the first time and Trump copied the success and improved on it.....

 

HRC completely screwed herself because she just didn't understand the power of analytics and how they could be used.........(still wiping the screen off with a rag I guess)

 

 Facebook willingly gave the info to Obama...........they had no idea CA was using anything for Trump.......I would guess HRC wasn't even interested.........so follow the money....CA got the pay day...from the Trump organization.

 

Enter the young guns.........The Trump Kids and his whiz kids communication team........they understood how to use the information.........

 

What they did.......or Obama did in 2012....... wasn't/isn't illegal........it is just how the world is changing......

 

One of the whiz kids is Brad Parscale.  He was telling anyone that would listen that it was a lock for Trump a week before the elections........of course no one in the US would even put him on the air........he did get air time in other parts of the world..........

 

Fox did do an interview after the fact..........a video can be found below.........if you have followed this thread..... it should tie it all together.....

 

I might add........in the video see if you can spot the other behind the scenes whiz kid........Hope Hicks............watch these two, Brad and Hope in future election operations......I wouldn't bet against their candidate...

 

http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/11/15/donald-trumps-digital-guru-explains-how-they-won-election

 

 

[umbertino]

Trump hired company that stole personal data from 50 million Americans

 

March 21, 2018 1:21 PM CDT By John Wojcik

 

 

 

 

Now supsended Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix. | AP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/trump-hired-company-that-stole-personal-data-from-50-million-americans/