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Cambridge Analytica is closing, but it solves nothing
Cambridge Analytica is closing up shop. Company executives continue to deny any wrongdoing and insist that the shuttering of both it and parent company SCL is due to the loss of business resulting from "sensationalistic reporting." Cambridge Analytica has been accused of improperly obtaining data on some 87 million Facebook users -- a revelation that has led to its removal from Facebook, a slew of changes to the social media giant's handling of user data and two congressional hearings. But the issues surrounding Cambridge Analytica aren't just going to disappear after it closes.
A look at the ad-targeting tools AggregateIQ left exposed online
Throughout discussions about Cambridge Analytica, parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and how they came to obtain information on some 87 million Facebook users, you've probably also heard the name AggregateIQ. The Canada-based data firm has now been connected to Cambridge Analytica operations as well as US election campaigns and the Brexit referendum. Now, cybersecurity firm UpGuard has discovered a large code repository that AggregateIQ left exposed online, and through that we're getting a better look at the company, what it does and how it does it.
Facebook suspends another data firm: AggregateIQ
Late Friday the Cambridge Analytica data scandal spread wider, as Facebook announced it has also suspended Canadian data firm AggregateIQ. In a statement to The Guardian, Facebook said "In light of recent reports that AggregateIQ may be affiliated with (CA parent company) SCL and may, as a result, have improperly received FB user data, we have added them to the list of entities we have suspended from our platform while we investigate." Former CA employee Christopher Wylie claimed that he helped set up the company and his lawyers have said it received a payment from the Vote Leave campaign in a way that exceeded spending limits. On Aggregate IQ's website, the following statement is posted: AggregateIQ is a digital advertising, web and software development company based in Canada. It is and has always been 100% Canadian owned and operated. AggregateIQ has never been and is not a part of Cambridge Analytica or SCL. Aggregate IQ has never entered into a contract with Cambridge Analytica. Chris Wylie has never been employed by AggregateIQ. AggregateIQ works in full compliance within all legal and regulatory requirements in all jurisdictions where it operates. It has never knowingly been involved in any illegal activity. All work AggregateIQ does for each client is kept separate from every other client. AggregateIQ has never managed, nor did we ever have access to, any Facebook data or database allegedly obtained improperly by Cambridge Analytica. Facebook previously suspended CA, its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), Kogan and the whistleblower Wylie's access, pending its investigation into the use of data snagged by Kogan's app. Since then Facebook has said the company's data could have come from as many as 87 million people. Former Vote Leave volunteer Shahmir Sanni (pictured above, with Wylie) provided documents that he says prove the campaign not only spent some 2.7 million pounds with AIQ, but that it funneled an additional 625k as a "donation" through the BeLeave youth group. A separate report by The Guardian breaks down Wylie's claim of links between AIQ and SCL/CA, which have become notable for their work on Donald Trump's campaign, although they claim none of the disputed Facebook data was involved. According to Wylie, until 2016 AIQ's only client was CA, it was referred to as SCL Canada for a time and he says that the Canadian company managed the Cambridge Analytica tech platform. Until earlier this week, AIQ's website proudly showed a quote from the Vote Leave campaign director saying "we couldn't have done it without them."
Making sense of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica nightmare
Over the weekend, a series of bombshell reports from The New York Times, The Observer and The Guardian told the story of Cambridge Analytica (CA) and how it harvested information from 50 million US Facebook profiles -- mostly without consent. The reports were (and remain) chilling. The idea of a data science company no one has ever heard of attempting to poke around in a country's collective psyche sounds like a plot out of Black Mirror, and yet here we are. More troubling is the idea that the sort of mass-scale psych profiling Cambridge Analytica allegedly carried out was done with a political endgame in mind. The jury is still out on whether its work with data ultimately swayed the result of the 2016 election -- CEO Alexander Nix denies using this kind of data-driven "psychographic" profiling for Donald Trump's presidential campaign -- but by now it's clear that Nix isn't overly concerned with ethics. Let's take a closer look at what you need to know about Cambridge Analytica and the firestorm it ignited.
Facebook suspends Trump-linked data firm Cambridge Analytica (update: response)
Late Friday night, Facebook has announced it's suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) from its site. While you may not have heard of SCL, its political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica has made headlines in the last few years due to work for the Trump campaign and the Brexit initiative. According to former US Magistrate and current Facebook Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal, this move is occurring because an app "thisisyourdigitallife" pulled in personal information of the 270,000 people who used it as well as information from their friends. While this is allowed under its policy, its creator -- a Cambridge psych professor named Dr. Aleksandr Kogan -- passed the data onto other parties including Cambridge Analytica.
