Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower

[StigoftheDig]

There's an enormous Twitter thread of the two current whistle blowers speaking at an event last night:

Steve Parks (@steveparks) on Twitter

There's an awful lot there. The things that jumped out to me were the, Cambridge Analytica were panicked because this was the first election where they couldn't flee the country as soon as it finished, and that both of the whistle blowers are Leave supporters. They also say there are quite a few other people who have already gone to the authorities with information. They sound very convincing, but I suppose they would.

There's an emergency debate in Parliament today I believe.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I don't wanna be that guy, but if you looked on the BBC news website this morning you'd struggle to find any mention of this compelling evidence that the EU referendum was fraudlently conducted.

Still, many of these revelations are actually stuff that was reported months ago to little or no response from the press or the government. This mysterious 650,000 to CA via AIQ via BeLeave was certainly mentioned on here a long time ago.

 

[mwgdrwg]

I don't wanna be that guy, but if you looked on the BBC news website this morning you'd struggle to find any mention of this compelling evidence that the EU referendum was fraudlently conducted.

Still, many of these revelations are actually stuff that was reported months ago to little or no response from the press or the government. This mysterious 650,000 to CA via AIQ via BeLeave was certainly mentioned on here a long time ago.

Well, on the BBC Radio 4 interview yesterday, they were implying that it was all because he was gay and wanted revenge on the governement for outing his friend, I kid-ye-fucking-not.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Well, on the BBC Radio 4 interview yesterday, they were implying that it was all because he was gay and wanted revenge on the governement for outing his friend, I kid-ye-fucking-not.

To me that's barely a gnat's bollock away from dismissing the accusations on the grounds that the person making them is gay and therefore obviously some kind of moral degenerate.

 

[StigoftheDig]

Luckily, it's all a flash in the pan this interent thingy.

 

[StigoftheDig]

He's on live: Reuters UK @ReutersUK

And is alleging quite a major international conspiracy. . .

 

[StigoftheDig]

"Privatised colonising operation..."

 

[StigoftheDig]

This is the BBC's Today in Parliament man.

 

[StigoftheDig]

"My predecessor was found dead. One of my colleagues had a massive head injury and is missing part of his skull...!"

Bloody hell.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says his predecessor was allegedly poisoned and police bribed

lots of credibility there. Lots. fucking hell

 

[farmerbarleymow]

That was an interesting committee hearing - it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

 

[StigoftheDig]

That was an interesting committee hearing - it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

The BBC seem to have a funny block about reporting this. It's currently got a bigger story about Theresa May switching from a Blackberry to an iPhone.

But what this bloke is saying is that there's a massive international company, run by an American billionnaire, exploiting data that people don't understand is being used in this way to play dirty tricks (in varying degrees of dirtiness) in elections all over the world. Nobody seems to be questioning Christopher Wylie's credibility, but they just pass along, Boris and Gove say "fair and square" and that's enough. He also said this company is working for the MoD currently.

And from what I gather, "what happens next" is that they might get a £20,000 fine.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

The BBC seem to have a funny block about reporting this. It's currently got a bigger story about Theresa May switching from a Blackberry to an iPhone.

I've rarely looked at BBC news for a couple of years as it had steadily turned increasingly shite, but I see the criticism of their reporting elsewhere.

 

[StigoftheDig]

Nick Robinson and the Today programme and Laura Kuensberg get a particular pasting on this stuff. I think in a way that they don't understand it because it's not "politics".

(I'm aware that in the classic tradition of criticising the BBC though that it is simultaneously called the "Brexit Broadcast Corporation" by Remain supporters and rabidly anti-Brexit by Brexit supporters.)

 

[StigoftheDig]

I've just watched parts of it again after having it on in the background while it was on live.

He's a very impressive witness, particularly when he talks about Be Leave and Darren Grimes, because he's very angry about this stuff, but not for political reasons because he's a Leave supporter, but rather for legal and personal reasons.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I've just watched parts of it again after having it on in the background while it was on live.

He's a very impressive witness, particularly when he talks about Be Leave and Darren Grimes, because he's very angry about this stuff, but not for political reasons because he's a Leave supporter, but rather for legal and personal reasons.

At least one person on the panel seemed to be trying to discredit him with personal digs, and he held up very well against that.

 

[SpookyFrank]

That was an interesting committee hearing - it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

It'll all be thrown in a deep dark hole and buried. Remember what happened with the 2015 election overspending stuff? Thrown in a deep dark hole and buried.

 

[StigoftheDig]

At least one person on the panel seemed to be trying to discredit him with personal digs, and he held up very well against that.

A little, maybe, but it wasn't as bad as some of the US congress/senate panels I've seen, which were completely and unambiguously partisan. Politicians - rightly - get a good kicking, for a lot of reasons, but I thought that was a pretty good evidence session. It seems like he's been on this for quite a long time, he knows his material fantastically well.

The deep dark hole thing... I don't think there are any real consequences... Nix'll get called back and made to look shifty again, but, what does he really care about that? Maybe some people'll get fined...

 

[SpookyFrank]

The BBC seem to have a funny block about reporting this. It's currently got a bigger story about Theresa May switching from a Blackberry to an iPhone.

But what this bloke is saying is that there's a massive international company, run by an American billionnaire, exploiting data that people don't understand is being used in this way to play dirty tricks (in varying degrees of dirtiness) in elections all over the world. Nobody seems to be questioning Christopher Wylie's credibility, but they just pass along, Boris and Gove say "fair and square" and that's enough. He also said this company is working for the MoD currently.

I was very interested in the bit about Mercer paying millions for the dataset and then selling access to it for pennies, effectively giving money to his chosen clients by charging far less than the real-world cost of the service being provided. This of course is impossible to prove, crosses international jurisdictions and probably isn't even a crime anyway.

If anything the BBC's silence on this makes me more interested in the story as it stinks of some kind of deep-state level pressure on them or, more likely, sheer toadyism towards the establishment on their part.

 

[StigoftheDig]

Gosh, I hadn't thought of it like that.

I think the BBC has taken a policy decision that the referendum is done and dusted and therefore discussion of it is just not very newsworthy. I suppose there may be some, "in the National Interest" pressure from the Government at the moment too.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

The bit about AIQ being involved in sending videos of dismemberment to intimidate Nigerian electors (in their spare time from fucking with Brexit) is pretty strong stuff.

 

[StigoftheDig]

I took that to be in Nigeria, but I may have misheard.

I'd be interested to see what sort of stuff they were pushing during the referendum, if at all. The Facebook "Dark Ads" I've seen have all been relatively benign to be honest. I was interested in the link they raised with Breitbart because my experience of the referendum campaign on Facebook was that I hadn't really heard of the bloody benighted site before (if at all) and then all of a sudden it was all over my timeline reporting every time a Muslim so much as sneezed in Germany.

To be honest though I don't understand all the technicalities of this: the Yandex tracking tags, for example, I don't really have my head around. And the stuff you've posted above about the actual code is too technical for me.

It looks like the Guardian has a schedule of further revelations to come. I think the biggest stuff has been revealed in the past couple of days.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

I took that to be in Nigeria, but I may have misheard. <snip>

I think you're right. Changed it.

 

[Lurdan]

There was a newspaper article which included quotes from some of those employed in Nigeria, which concluded with them being advised to leave the country in a hurry. I'll see if I can find it. [ETA: its here:
Cambridge Analytica's ruthless bid to sway the vote in Nigeria - The Guardian]

The bits that struck me about Wylie's testimony were things like this

You can be like a colonial master in the country. It felt very much like a privatised colonising operation.You would go into a country that has underdeveloped civic institutions, you would exploit that and make money out of it. That’s how they make a lot of their money, through exploiting relationships and the fact that there’s not a lot of oversight and government accountability in a lot of these countries.It’s very easy to make a lot of money like that. The key thing is you have got to have your guy in power.

This is simply a more modern take on the role that elements of the ruling class have played as advisors and mercenaries in former colonies ever since independence. The fact that in reality some of these operations seem more Mark Thatcher than Clive of India is beside the point. They still reflect aspects of the soft and hard power which Britain has retained and still exercises (even if at deniable arms length). And which are intended to continue to form part of its 'national role' and of it's activities as an 'independent nation' post-Brexit.

 

[teqniq]

Not making many new friends here, I am thinking he doesn't give a fuck.

Zuckerberg's refusal to testify condemned as 'absolutely astonishing'

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Interesting. The context here is why their methods were so effective in some areas, with claimed conversion rates better than 5% in producing desirable action, donations, activism in new targets.

Around 11.58 he's talking explicitly about online profiling people prone to believing conspiraloon stuff and targeting them with specifically that kind of material.

Cost effective way to produce desired effects but also a good way to grow the conspiraloon ecosystem with all that that implies regarding anti-semitism etc.

 

[Lurdan]

Around 11.58 he's talking explicitly about online profiling people prone to believing conspiraloon stuff and targeting them with specifically that kind of material.

I wonder if they considered putting any resources into targetting lexiteers ?

 

[newbie]

There was a newspaper article which included quotes from some of those employed in Nigeria, which concluded with them being advised to leave the country in a hurry.

The R4 profile of Oakes linked above makes an allegation of a similar quick exit in Indonesia. I guess they can't run from here.

 

[Lurdan]

The R4 profile of Oakes linked above makes an allegation of a similar quick exit in Indonesia. I guess they can't run from here.

Potential risks a little lower here in fairness, although one or two of them may be looking at countries with a less accommodating extradition treaty with the US.

I've no doubt their fears in some of these places were real, but obviously it's hard to judge how serious the threats were. That Guardian article I linked to above about Nigeria said

The tales are Graham Greene-esque.

Like the one he wrote about Haiti under Papa Doc ? Or more like 'Our Man in Havana' ? Or perhaps a bit of both.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Not making many new friends here, I am thinking he doesn't give a fuck.

Zuckerberg's refusal to testify condemned as 'absolutely astonishing'

Not remotely astonishing to me. The British government has no power to compel him to do anything. He'll say and do only as much as is needed to shore up his share price.