deerstalker

Alexander Nix, the embattled chief executive of Cambridge Analytica used racial slurs to describe two of his potential black clients in an email.

Much has been written about 42-year old Nix, whose political consulting firm is now in the middle of a political scandal that has seen debates about privacy laws and cybersecurity rise to levels not seen since Edward Snowden.

The Times of London published a story on Wednesday revealing that Nix referred to two of his potential black clients as “n***ers” in an internal email obtained by the Times of London. 

Cambridge Analytica suspended Nix on Tuesday after an undercover investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 showed Nix and his colleagues boasting on camera about their election work around the world entrapping politicians with bribes and sex workers.

Cambridge Analytica

For a while, there have been stories swirling in the media about Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential elections without concrete evidence. Last weekend, however, The New York Times and The Guardian published interviews with Christopher Wylie, a former contractor at Cambridge Analytica who claimed to have hijacked tens of millions of Facebook profiles in order to target the American electorate.

“We ‘broke’ Facebook,” 28-year old Wylie told the Guardian. “I’ll point out that I assumed it was entirely legal and above board.”

“It’s like dirty MI6 because you’re not constrained. There’s no having to go to a judge to apply for permission. It’s normal for a ‘market research company’ to amass data on domestic populations. And if you’re working in some country and there’s an auxiliary benefit to a current client with aligned interests, well that’s just a bonus.”

Facebook’s Role

Facebook had only 20 million users when it opened up its platform to third-party developers in 2007.

“Until now, social networks have been closed platforms. Today, we’re going to end that,” Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg said at the time.

Over the years, with access to Facebook’s tools and a treasure trove of personal user data, developers were able to build online games, quizzes, and even dating apps. It was part of how the social media giant was able to grow its user base.

One such company is Global Science Research (GSR), a company which the Guardian said is “specifically premised on the harvesting and processing of Facebook data so that it could be matched to personality traits and voter rolls.”

Cambridge Analytica illegally obtained from Global Science Research (GSR) private Facebook information on tens of millions of users which were then used to develop “psychographic” profiles on voters.

“Facebook could see it was happening,” Wylie told the Guardian. “Their security protocols were triggered because Kogan’s apps were pulling this enormous amount of data, but apparently [Aleksandr] Kogan (a senior data scientist for GSR) told them it was for academic use. So they were like, ‘Fine’.”

Many countries already have strict privacy laws in place that prohibit the sale of users’ personal data to a third party without consent, so how did Facebook drop the ball? According to the Times, Kogan had permission to pull the user data from Facebook, but only for academic purposes only.

“Kogan was able to throw money at the hard problem of acquiring personal data: he advertised for people who were willing to be paid to take a personality quiz on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and Qualtrics. At the end of which Kogan’s app, called thisismydigitallife, gave him permission to access their Facebook profiles. And not just theirs, but their friends’ too. On average, each “seeder”—the people who had taken the personality test, around 320,000 in total—unwittingly gave access to at least 160 other people’s profiles, none of whom would have known or had reason to suspect.”

Privacy Laws

The real scandal, however, isn’t what Cambridge Analytica did, it’s what Facebook made possible, Slate opined.

“In short, the outrage now directed at Facebook feels disproportionate to the company’s culpability in this specific episode,” Will Oremus wrote in his column.

Sensational as it sounds, however, the Cambridge Analytica scandal doesn’t indict Facebook in quite the way it might seem. It reveals almost nothing about the social network or its data policies that wasn’t already widely known, and there’s little evidence of blatant wrongdoing by Facebook or its employees. It’s also far from clear what impact, if any, the ill-gotten personal data had on the election’s outcome.

U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) today introduced the Data Accountability and Trust Act (DATA) that would require companies that own or possess data containing personal information to “establish specified security policies and procedures to treat and protect such information.”

His bill isn’t new though. Rush has been pushing the DATA Act since 2009.

“If my bill were law today, Facebook users would have learned far earlier that their data was being improperly used and weaponized,” Rush said. “Instead of misrepresenting their intent, Cambridge Analytica would have had to get authorization to use and sell this sort of data and both them and Facebook—who has yet to officially notify its users—would be financially liable for their irresponsible and deceptive behavior.”

The DATA Act will specifically require notification from companies within 30 days following a breach and must clarify whether the unauthorized acquisition, access, or sale of data constitutes a breach.

What Now

Fan Yuan, along with a number of undisclosed investors who invested in Facebook between Feb. 3, 2017, and March 19, 2018, has filed a federal suit in San Francisco, according to CNN.

The lawsuit claims Facebook withheld information that it allowed third parties to access data on millions of people without their consent and that the social media giant made false and misleading statements about its policies.

“As a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s common shares, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” the lawsuit said.

Facebook has also suspended Cambridge Analytica after reports that the firm harvested and retained the personal data of 50 million social media users without their knowledge or permission.

On Thursday, Zuckerberg was summoned by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to testify on Capitol Hill.

The post Cambridge Analytica CEO Called Black Clients ‘N-Word’ In Leaked Emails appeared first on Black Enterprise.

This fall, both Democrats and Republicans across the country will experience a new political wave. Buoyed by Donald Trump’s low approval numbers, his divisive policies, and the rise of the #MeToo movement, women across the country are throwing their hats in the ring and running for office. In Alabama, where Democratic Senator Doug Jones stunned the political world by winning in the deeply Conservative state, more Black women than ever are getting into the race. "It's so important that we step up, that we show the nation that we can lead," Jameria Moore, 49, told NBC News. Moore is running for a judgeship on the Jefferson County Probate Court, and is just one of three dozen Black women campaigning as Democrats in the red state. "That, here in Alabama, we're ready to lead our state into the future." After Jones’ improbable senate win, which was aided by Black women who overwhelmingly supported his campaign, groups have been pouring resources into Alabama to encourage more Democrats to pursue offices across the state, and Black women are heeding the call. "This place that was so resistant to change, where, now, a group of women who were looked down upon and dealt first-hand with the vestiges of slavery and segregation are the ones who can lead us forward — it's monumental," said Quentin James, founder and director of the Collective PAC, a  group focused on recruiting African-American candidates. "Where better to demonstrate the progress being made than in Alabama.” Audri Scott, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Alabama's 2nd District, said Jones’ win inspired Black women to flex their political power both in and out of the voting booth. “The tinder was laid down, but Doug Jones was the spark that started a fire in Black women knowing they have a lot of power,” she said. Groups like Emerge Alabama and Woke Vote have been cultivating female candidates in the state for years and are focused on replicating Jones’ success by building a broad coalition of supporters. Dejuana Thompson, founder of Woke Vote, said it’s fitting so many Black women are running for office in Alabama because they have been at the forefront of the Democratic Party for years. "Black women have been leading this party for years and showing up for Democratic issues for years, and the community follows their lead," she said. "So when we have any opportunity to engage people of color, it creates a space for the student, the teacher, the mom to find their purpose. … We can leverage that into motivation to turn out for elections." Head to the NBC News website to read their full report on the wave of Black women running for office in Alabama.

After ten years of trying to sell her eight-bedroom estate, Mary J. Blige has taken her home off the market. Will Kendu keep it?

Writer: Jason Latour / Artist: Robbi Rodriguez / Marvel Comics

The meandering plot of Gwen Stacy finds new lows in Spider-Gwen #30, in what is arguably the most difficult-to-read issue of the series thus far. What’s more disappointing is that it comes at the cost of the one plot we’ve been enduring this long to see—Spider-Gwen versus Daredevil—and instead, the issue takes a side path to more convoluted dimension travel and failed jokes from dimensional Watchers. This is becoming a bit of a habit for Spider-Gwen, taking the long road for a scenic view without much scenery at all, just a longer, more frustrating trip. And if you want to get out, at this point, I would hardly be surprised.

Spider-Gwen #30 pulls Gwenom into another dimension where she is faced with herself, leading to a series of conversations that give her a wider perspective on her life and what she could be. Interspersed with Gwen’s conversations with an alternate version of herself are scenes of the Watchers in a zany-type comedy, as they try to reset the dimensional timeline back to a point of stability. It all leaves you unsure if you’re meant to worry, speculate, or laugh, making it difficult to take any of those options at all. As with most distraction plots that feel like fillers, it’s hard to tell exactly what you’re meant to gain from it at all.

The best thing Spider-Gwen can do right now is jolt itself back to when its plot was clearest, set a clear goal, and ignore any luring distractions and get back to basic storytelling. For all its great moments—and this series has had plenty—Spider-Gwen right now is doing the most to do the least. We can’t wait until it weathers this storm and finds itself intact on the other side.

6 out of 10Reading Spider-Gwen? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.

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