# The Guardian: The Cambridge Analytica Files: meet the data war whistleblower **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 19, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809 "2018-03-19T03:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/1 "2018-03-19T03:59:00Z")
> **[‘I made Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare tool’: meet the data war...](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/data-war-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump)** > > Christopher Wylie goes on the record to discuss his role in hijacking the profiles of millions of Facebook users in order to target the US electorate > [@](#): > > For more than a year we’ve been investigating Cambridge Analytica and its links to the Brexit Leave campaign in the UK and Team Trump in the US presidential election. Now, 28-year-old Christopher Wylie goes on the record to discuss his role in hijacking the profiles of millions of Facebook users in order to target the US electorate ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/2 "2018-03-19T18:31:32Z")
The head of psychology at Cambridge is a Russian agent named Aleksandr Spectre (because Aleksandr Smersh would be too obvious). He illegally sold Facebook data to a mercenary company called Cambridge Analytica, that used the data to swing the Brexit vote and the USA 2016 election. A major developer of the tech used is a gay Canadian vegan dropout named “Wily” who works for the UK Liberal Democrats. He has now, for his own Machiavellian reasons, decided to apologize for the whole thing and give his story to the Grauniad. I don’t think the Grauniad is making this all up. I don’t really think Wylie is making \*all \*this up. But if this is true, this is the perfect conspiracy, because to explain it to the people manipulated by it would entail recounting such unbelievable details that they’d think you were a simpleton. It’s a pity Robert Anton Wilson is dead, because he’d be so proud of these guys. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/3 "2018-03-19T22:31:35Z")
So, Cambridge Analytica (CA) was raided today (London office.) What was found there? Facebook’s legal team, offering a fight: “Facebook have confirmed that auditors and legal counsel acting on behalf of the company were in the offices of Cambridge Analytica this evening until they were told to stand down by the Information Commissioner. These investigations need to be undertaken by the proper authorities.” > ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/4 "2018-03-19T23:22:29Z")
Facebooks Chief Security Officer, Alex Stamos, just resigned. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/5 "2018-03-20T04:08:57Z")
> **[Revealed: Trump’s election consultants filmed saying they use bribes and sex...](https://www.channel4.com/news/cambridge-analytica-revealed-trumps-election-consultants-filmed-saying-they-use-bribes-and-sex-workers-to-entrap-politicians-investigation)** > > 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. > [@](#): > > Trump’s election consultants filmed saying they use bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/6 "2018-03-20T19:48:58Z")
I’ve just deactivated my facebook account due to this and just growing uneasiness over the whole data mining/internet public opinion manipulation thing in general. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/7 "2018-03-20T20:08:53Z")
Here is the second [report](https://youtu.be/cy-9iciNF1A) (YouTube) - this one about the Trump campaign. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/8 "2018-03-20T21:02:14Z")
So, in a bit of news that should not be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention, it turns out the Obama campaign used Facebook data in similar ways. Addionally, the head of Obama’s data analytics is saying Facebook was surprised by how much data they could pull out. The big part of the story is that Facebook told her, Carol Davidsen, that they only let the campaign continue using the data because Facebook supported Obama and Facebook would not let other campaigns use the data. I’d link to the story but am on my phone. A quick search ought to turn up a cite. I suspect that many folks who are upset about this are mainly upset that the data was used to help Trump and the actions of the Obama campaign were just peachy. The big story ought to be that, when you (or more specifically, data about you) is the product, don’t be surprised when you are rented out like a 2 dollar hooker. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/9 "2018-03-20T21:19:40Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > So, in a bit of news that should not be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention, it turns out the Obama campaign used Facebook data in similar ways. Addionally, the head of Obama’s data analytics is saying Facebook was surprised by how much data they could pull out. The big part of the story is that Facebook told her, Carol Davidsen, that they only let the campaign continue using the data because Facebook supported Obama and Facebook would not let other campaigns use the data. > > I’d link to the story but am on my phone. A quick search ought to turn up a cite. > > I suspect that many folks who are upset about this are mainly upset that the data was used to help Trump and the actions of the Obama campaign were just peachy. > > The big story ought to be that, when you (or more specifically, data about you) is the product, don’t be surprised when you are rented out like a 2 dollar hooker. > > Slee Well I’ll agree that the data harvesting of 50m people is getting a fair amount of play in the media, that’s not actually very notable. People signed a TOU granting Facebook use of the data and they authorized the apps they interacted with to collect that data from Facebook. That was all above-board and as to be expected. The area where Cambridge is (or at least should be) in legal trouble is with bribery, blackmail, destroying records, and (likely) acting as a middleman for foreign nations to contribute to political advertising in the UK and US. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/10 "2018-03-20T21:22:28Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > So, in a bit of news that should not be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention, it turns out the Obama campaign used Facebook data in similar ways. Addionally, the head of Obama’s data analytics is saying Facebook was surprised by how much data they could pull out. The big part of the story is that Facebook told her, Carol Davidsen, that they only let the campaign continue using the data because Facebook supported Obama and Facebook would not let other campaigns use the data. > > I’d link to the story but am on my phone. A quick search ought to turn up a cite. > > I suspect that many folks who are upset about this are mainly upset that the data was used to help Trump and the actions of the Obama campaign were just peachy. > > The big story ought to be that, when you (or more specifically, data about you) is the product, don’t be surprised when you are rented out like a 2 dollar hooker. > > Slee It’s not clear to what extent the data even helped the Trump campaign and whether their psychographic profiles were particularly effective in shaping voters’ behavior. If I understand it correctly - and I admit there’s a chance I don’t - the problem for Facebook is that Cambridge Analytica had unauthorized access to that data. Facebook knew about the data breach but wasn’t concerned enough to really get off their duffs to do anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/11 "2018-03-20T21:27:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Well I’ll agree that the data harvesting of 50m people is getting a fair amount of play in the media, that’s not actually very notable. People signed a TOU granting Facebook use of the data and they authorized the apps they interacted with to collect that data from Facebook. That was all above-board and as to be expected. > > The area where Cambridge is (or at least should be) in legal trouble is with bribery, blackmail, destroying records, and (likely) acting as a middleman for foreign nations to contribute to political advertising in the UK and US. The real problem here is that they’re on tape basically bragging about being election fixers. It’s going to be harder for Trump to scream “FAKE NEWS” when the company created by right wing benefactors, the Mercers, have their own employees on tape fixing elections. I guess what matters is, do enough people care? Does the average American really care that their democracy is being sold out to plutocrats, or do we continue to shrug our shoulders and say “both sides do it”? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/12 "2018-03-20T21:46:59Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > So, in a bit of news that should not be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention, it turns out the Obama campaign used Facebook data in similar ways. Addionally, the head of Obama’s data analytics is saying Facebook was surprised by how much data they could pull out. The big part of the story is that Facebook told her, Carol Davidsen, that they only let the campaign continue using the data because Facebook supported Obama and Facebook would not let other campaigns use the data. > > I’d link to the story but am on my phone. A quick search ought to turn up a cite. > > I suspect that many folks who are upset about this are mainly upset that the data was used to help Trump and the actions of the Obama campaign were just peachy. > > The big story ought to be that, when you (or more specifically, data about you) is the product, don’t be surprised when you are rented out like a 2 dollar hooker. > > Slee The Obama campaign didn’t steal the data the way it was stolen in 2016. Obama also didn’t ally with a group like CA which uses bribery and blackmail Also Obama didn’t cooperate with a hostile foreign government that also hacked into US voter rolls ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/13 "2018-03-20T22:00:52Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The real problem here is that they’re on tape basically bragging about being election fixers. It’s going to be harder for Trump to scream “FAKE NEWS” when the company created by right wing benefactors, the Mercers, have their own employees on tape fixing elections. > > I guess what matters is, do enough people care? Does the average American really care that their democracy is being sold out to plutocrats, or do we continue to shrug our shoulders and say “both sides do it”? Just curious, for someone that hasn’t followed this issue closely, what does “basically bragging about being election fixers” actually sound like (meaning in their own words)? Is there a quote or a link to the video I could watch? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/14 "2018-03-20T22:04:00Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Is there a quote or a link to the video I could watch? There’s several in this very thread! ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/15 "2018-03-20T22:13:03Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > I suspect that many folks who are upset about this are mainly upset that the data was used to help Trump and the actions of the Obama campaign were just peachy. I suspect that many of the folks who don’t care that Donald and his campaign were colluding with foreign actors to influence the American election will have a hard time finding video tape of Obama’s team bragging about importing Ukrainian honeypots. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/16 "2018-03-20T22:18:25Z")
That said - Cambridge Analytica is the missing link in the Trump collusion story. CA is what ties Wikileaks, Jared, Bannon, the Mercer Family, the Trump campaign and Russia’s disinformation program all together. God Bless the Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/17 "2018-03-20T22:26:36Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > That said - Cambridge Analytica is the missing link in the Trump collusion story. CA is what ties Wikileaks, Jared, Bannon, the Mercer Family, the Trump campaign and Russia’s disinformation program all together. Alexander Nex stood down as CEO of Cambridge Analytica today. Still, he’s got other directorships to fall back on. Here’s one for a company called Emerdata: > **[EMERDATA LIMITED people - Find and update company information - GOV.UK](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10911848/officers)** > > EMERDATA LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity Does anyone know who Jennifer and Rebekah Mercer are? Because they got added as company officers only four days ago! ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/18 "2018-03-20T22:40:25Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > So, in a bit of news that should not be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention, it turns out the Obama campaign used Facebook data in similar ways. Addionally, the head of Obama’s data analytics is saying Facebook was surprised by how much data they could pull out. The big part of the story is that Facebook told her, Carol Davidsen, that they only let the campaign continue using the data because Facebook supported Obama and Facebook would not let other campaigns use the data. > > \ > > Slee Cambridge Analytica tweeted the same ‘whataboutism’ claim about Obama (natch, Trump blames Obama too) yesterday. > [@Cambridge Analytica](#): > > Obama’s 2008 campaign was famously data-driven, pioneered microtargeting in 2012, talking to people specifically based on the issues they care about. 6/8 Michael Simon replied > [@Michael Simon](#): > > 👋 I ran the Obama 2008 data-driven microtargeting team. How dare you! We didn’t steal private Facebook profile data from voters under false pretenses. OFA voluntarily solicited opinions of hundreds of thousands of voters. We didn’t commit theft to do our groundbreaking work. As shown in the video from Channel 4, CA’s approach of releasing all the negative stuff via PACs seems rather worse than just data analytics. Not to mention they are a foreign actor who maintained offices alongside the Trump data operation in San Antonio. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/19 "2018-03-20T22:47:35Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Alexander Nex stood down as CEO of Cambridge Analytica today. Still, he’s got other directorships to fall back on. Here’s one for a company called Emerdata: > > [https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10911848/officers](https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10911848/officers) > > Does anyone know who Jennifer and Rebekah Mercer are? Because they got added as company officers only four days ago! The Mercers are rightwing billionaires whose money propped up Breitbart and Steve Bannon. They were originally supporting Ted Cruz in the race, which tells you what sort of people they are, then when he got dropped they switched to Donald and insisted he hire Bannon to replace Manafort (this was roughly around when Manafort was starting to sink anyway. ) Originally typed “stink” there. Should have left it. PS - Alexander Nix, not Nex. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809/20 "2018-03-20T22:54:31Z")
The data in this case was not regular Facebook data, it was from an App that people had to run and answer questions. I don’t use Facebook but I was told many people know to avoid those apps, but I guess they still had a lot of users. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardian-the-cambridge-analytica-files-meet-the-data-war-whistleblower/810809.md?page=2)