Data owns the (electoral) future
A lengthy article on the theme that:
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A shadowy global operation involving big data, billionaire friends of Trump and the disparate forces of the Leave campaign influenced the result of the EU referendum.
It is from The Guardian, but parts of the jigsaw assembled have appeared elsewhere and in particular the idea of a 'Plutocratic Insurgency' (threads amalgamated just on:Plutocratic Insurgency ).
Another thread points more at Russian-directed cyber / information operations. Perhaps we need to look closer to home? Awhile back now one person named, Steve Tatham appeared here a couple of times re Afghanistan and IIRC SWJ articles. See for SWJ:http://smallwarsjournal.com/search/node/tatham
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It also reveals a critical and gaping hole in the political debate in Britain. Because what is happening in America and what is happening in Britain are entwined. Brexit and Trump are entwined. The Trump administration’s links to Russia and Britain are entwined. And Cambridge Analytica is one point of focus through which we can see all these relationships in play; it also reveals the elephant in the room as we hurtle into a general election: Britain tying its future to an America that is being remade - in a radical and alarming way - by Trump. There are three strands to this story. How the foundations of an authoritarian surveillance state are being laid in the US. How British democracy was subverted through a covert, far-reaching plan of coordination enabled by a US billionaire. And how we are in the midst of a massive land grab for power by billionaires via our data. Data which is being silently amassed, harvested and stored. Whoever owns this data owns the future.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...cked-democracy
Did it happen here? Stay calm UK
Slowly the debate on data capture and electoral politics is moving along in the UK, although to the discomfort of the parties in parliament.
At the weekend a columnist asked whether Russia had influenced the Brexit Referendum and the General Election:
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Here’s a puzzle: although Britain is the only country to do exactly what Russia wanted it do and leave the EU, there is no British equivalent of the FBI investigation. Journalists have tried to fill the gap.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ladimir-putin?
In parallel there is a steady accumulation of information on mysterious cash transfers in the Brexit referendum, ostensibly received by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland, from a body few have ever heard of and no-one knows who gave them the money.
That and more was covered in a recent public conference (podcast and summary):https://www.byline.com/column/74
How FB’s Political Unit Enables the Dark Art of Digital Propaganda
An article from Bloomberg, which explains near the start:
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Zuckerberg’s social network is a politically agnostic tool for its more than 2 billion users, he has said. But Facebook, it turns out, is no bystander in global politics. What he hasn’t said is that his company actively works with political parties and leaders including those who use the platform to stifle opposition—sometimes with the aid of
“troll armies” that spread misinformation and extremist ideologies.
The initiative is run by a little-known Facebook global government and politics team that’s neutral in that it works with nearly anyone seeking or securing power.
Link:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...and-crack-down