“It’s no good fighting an election campaign on the facts,” Cambridge Analytica’s managing director told an undercover reporter, “because actually it’s all about emotion.” To target U.S. voters and appeal to their hopes, neuroses, and fears, the political consulting firm needed to train its algorithm to predict and map personality traits. That required lots of personal data. So, to build these psychographic profiles, Cambridge Analytica enlisted a Cambridge University professor, whose app collected data on about 50 million Facebook users and their friends. Facebook, at that time, allowed app developers to collect this personal data. Facebook argued that Cambridge Analytica and the professor violated its data polices. But this was not the first time its policies were violated. Nor is it likely to be the last.
Here Are All the Reasons It’s a Bad Idea to Let a Few Tech Companies Monopolize Our Data
Updating the definition of monopoly for our digital age.
March 27, 2018
Summary.
Facebook, Google, Amazon, and companies like them are “data-opolies.” They control a key platform, which like a coral reef, attracts to its ecosystem users, sellers, advertisers, software developers, apps, and accessory makers. But is it ok for a few firms to possess so much data and thereby wield so much power? In the U.S., at least, antitrust officials so far seem ambivalent about these data-opolies. They’re free, the thinking goes, so what’s the harm? But that reasoning is misguided. Upon closer examination, data-opolies can actually be more dangerous than traditional monopolies. They can affect not only our wallets but our privacy, autonomy, democracy, and well-being.
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How to develop a winning strategy—and put it to work.