Fresh Cambridge Analytica leak 'shows global manipulation is out of control.'

[elleng]

'Company’s work in 68 countries laid bare with release of more than 100,000 documents.

An explosive leak of tens of thousands of documents from the defunct data firm Cambridge Analytica is set to expose the inner workings of the company that collapsed after the Observer revealed it had misappropriated 87 million Facebook profiles.

More than 100,000 documents relating to work in 68 countries that will lay bare the global infrastructure of an operation used to manipulate voters on “an industrial scale” is set to be released over the next months.

It comes as Christopher Steele, the ex-head of MI6’s Russia desk and the intelligence expert behind the so-called “Steele dossier” into Trump’s relationship with Russia, said that while the company had closed down, the failure to properly punish bad actors meant that the prospects for manipulation of the US election this year were even worse.

The release of documents began on New Year’s Day on an anonymous Twitter account, @HindsightFiles, with links to material on elections in Malaysia, Kenya and Brazil. The documents were revealed to have come from Brittany Kaiser, an ex-Cambridge Analytica employee turned whistleblower, and to be the same ones subpoeaned by Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Kaiser, who starred in the Oscar-shortlisted Netflix documentary The Great Hack, decided to go public after last month’s election in Britain. “It’s so abundantly clear our electoral systems are wide open to abuse,” she said. “I’m very fearful about what is going to happen in the US election later this year, and I think one of the few ways of protecting ourselves is to get as much information out there as possible.”'>>>

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/04/cambridge-analytica-data-leak-global-election-manipulation?

[catrose]

1. That's awfully hopeful: "the company had closed down"

I thought the core people just set up shop elsewhere under a new name.

Texas peeps, Ted Cruz was one of Cambridge Analytica's biggest customers:
[link:https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/20/ted-cruz-campaign-cambridge-analytica/|]
[link:https://www.fastcompany.com/90262252/ted-cruz-still-using-blacklisted-cambridge-analytica-app-developer-aggregateiq|]

[chia]

10. Emerdata

Emerdata Limited

Emerdata Limited was established in August 2017, by many of the people involved in Cambridge Analytica.[14][15][16][17] Emerdata was established in 2017 by the chief data officer and chairman of Cambridge Analytica's parent company SCL Group, which closed operations on 1 May 2018.[18][19][20] Its headquarters in London is in the same building as Cambridge Analytica.[21][22][23]

Emerdata's board of directors included Frontier Services Group officer Johnson Chun Shun Ko [zh],[24][23] Cambridge Analytica investor Rebekah Mercer,[25][24] and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix.[26][27][28][29] In January 2018, Emerdata reportedly raised $19 million from international investors.[30] Emerdata was widely discussed in the news media. It was portrayed as a potential successor to Cambridge Analytica.[31][32][21] In May 2018, Nigel Oakes, founder of the SCL Group, Cambridge Analytica's British affiliate, acknowledged that Emerdata's intent had been to acquire Cambridge Analytica and SCL, but said that these plans had been abandoned and that Emerdata and its partly-owned subsidiary Firecrest Technologies Ltd., which had been set up by former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, would be wound down.[33]

In July 2019, it was revealed that Emerdata Limited "fully acquired" those companies, "has been footing the SCL companies’ legal bills amid bankruptcy proceedings, investigations, and lawsuits on both sides of the Atlantic", and "also paid millions to acquire what remained of the companies while they [were] being liquidated".[13]

[catrose]

12. Thanks! I couldn't remember the new name!

Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and little bit worse.

[chia]

13. You're welcome, we can't afford to lose track of them

[CrispyQ]

2. Everyone should watch The Great Hack.

The media should be chastising the Republican Party 24x7 for their lack of action on doing anything to secure our electoral process. Point fingers directly at McConnell and Trump and ask over and over again, "What do Trump/McConnell/republicans have to gain?" It's like our media doesn't care if we go fascist. Maybe they don't. I'd think some of them would be worried they'd be shut down. Or maybe just taken over and they don't care. I don't get it.

[JudyM]

15. That is the most important thing to do and it is too damned slow rolling.

I have called my Congress critters a few times about this, time to call again.

[Squinch]

3. Oh, come on. They are a product of Facebook! I am told here on DU all the time how

fabulous and necessary Facebook is.

[Grasswire2]

4. VOTER MARKED PAPER BALLOTS - HAND COUNTED..

...with an audit trail and ballot security.

THAT is the only way we are going to have a fair and free election in 2020.

The machines are hackable. Proven. States are still buying them.

For the very best information on election security, follow @jennycohn1 on twitter. She is also available on youtube at Jennifer Cohn.

The legislation for safe elections sits on McConnell's desk now.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Ironic, but highlights the dangers of an online economy and the dangers of information being ...

leaked advertently or not. Most reputable traders base their trading decisions based on data generally available to others (they may or may not pay for subscription services on analysis of such companies, etc., all have the right to do so or not).

Basing their trading decisions on illegally obtained data is not legal, but with the arrival of online systems, the data stored within these platforms is subject to thief, or worse.

Also, rump himself is impacting the markets by broadcasting what's he is going to do, while he's probably already told his buddies about what he was going to do in advance, giving them a heads up prior to anyone else knowing about this events. At least Ted Lieu is looking into...

[alwaysinasnit]

6. +1000

[Farmer-Rick]

8. Well, the system seems to keep the filthy rich's money safe......

So why can't it protect the voting system like it protects the filthy rich's stolen loot?

They want the system broken...ever since W's 2 stolen elections. They have actively worked to break the voting system. They don't want democracy. They want to be petty kings. A broken voting system is how they rule. Bow to the evil greedy pigs like Koch bros, Waltons and Zuckerbergs who rule the US.

[elleng]

11. Right.

A broken voting system is how they rule.

[alwaysinasnit]

7. K&R Thanks for posting.

[erronis]

9. "The tip of the iceberg", which itself is just one of many

Emma Briant, an academic at Bard College, New York, who specialises in investigating propaganda and has had access to some of the documents for research, said that what had been revealed was “the tip of the iceberg”.

Even thought this CA set of operations were exposed, I'm sure there were many more within CA that have quietly moved elsewhere.

And I'm sure that there are many more CAs. This line-of-business has always been very attractive. White-collar, no heavy capital investment, trading on knowledge, rarely need to get your knuckles bloody.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Great article, gotta hope the information gets the treatment we know it deserves.

Thanks, so much, for catching it.