Topic Of The Day:-“CA, Facebook & you”
The world has just learned how a data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, harvested the data of 50 million Facebook users and used that information to feed strategies such as ‘behavioural microtargeting’ and ‘psychographic messaging’ for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the U.S. Chris Wylie, a former CA employee-turned-whistle-blower, set off a storm with revelations of how the company had deployed a ‘psychological warfare’ tool for alt-right media guru Steve Bannon to try to sway the election in Mr. Trump’s favour. CA chief executive Alexander Nix, who was suspended a few days ago following an undercover report by a British TV broadcaster, said the company has used other dubious methods in projects worldwide — including honey traps to discredit clients’ opponents. The combination of using personal data without consent and tailoring slander campaigns, fake news and propaganda to discovered preferences of voters is a potent and corrosive cocktail. Facebook has said its policies in 2014, when a personality profiling app was run on its platform, permitted the developer to scrape data not only from those who downloaded the app but also from the profiles of their Facebook ‘friends’. Yet it did not make sure the data were destroyed by the app’s developer Aleksandr Kogan, a Cambridge University academic, nor by CA itself when it came to light that Mr. Kogan had sold the data to CA, a third party. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has offered an apology and expressed willingness to cooperate with inquiries and potentially open up Facebook to regulation. This episode has brought to light several issues that need to be addressed. First, companies have been collecting data and tailoring marketing campaigns accordingly. The issue here is particularly prickly because politics and elections are involved. Second, regardless of whether what Facebook and CA did was legal or not, something is broken in a policy environment in which the data of millions are taken and used when only 270,000 people knowingly or unknowingly gave consent. Third, technology is evolving at a rapid pace, raising the question whether laws need to be reframed mandating an opt-out approach universally rather than an opt-in approach. Individuals often share their data without being aware of it or understanding the implications of privacy terms and conditions. Fourth, there must be clear laws on the ownership of data and what data need to be protected. Personal data cannot be the new oil. Individuals must own it, have a right to know what companies and governments know about them and, in most cases, that is, when there are no legitimate security or public interest reasons, have the right to have their data destroyed. The CA issue is a wake-up call for India; the government is still dragging its feet on framing a comprehensive and robust data protection law.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) Harvested
Meaning: Collect or obtain (a resource) for future use.
Example: “the research teams are leading the way in identifying new ways of harvesting the sun’s energy”
2) Whistle-blower
Meaning: A person who informs on a person or organization regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity.
3) Storm
Meaning: A very angry reaction from a lot of people.
Example: There was a storm of protest when the new tax was announced.
4) Psychological warfare
Meaning: The use of activities that cause fear and anxiety in the people you want to influence without hurting them physically.
Synonyms: Affecting, Influencing
5) Alt-right
Meaning: People with extreme conservative views, including extreme views about race, who reject ordinary politics and use the internet to spread their opinions. Alt-right is an abbreviation for “alternative right.
Example: The alt-right rejects mainstream conservatism, believing that it under-represents the interests of white nationalists.
Synonyms: Political movement
6) Undercover
Meaning: Involving secret work within a community or organization, especially for the purposes of police investigation or espionage.
Example: “an undercover police operation”
Synonyms: Covert, Secret
Antonyms: Open, Overt
7) Dubious
Meaning: Morally suspect.
Example: “timeshare has been brought into disrepute by dubious sales methods”
Synonyms: Suspicious, Suspect
Antonyms: Trustworthy
8) Honey traps
Meaning: A stratagem in which an attractive person entices another person into revealing information or doing something unwise.
Example: Police set up a honey trap to get him to confess to the crime.
Synonyms: Celebration, Occasion
9) Consent
Meaning: Permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.
Example: “no change may be made without the consent of all the partners”
Synonyms: Agreement, Assent
Antonyms: Dissent
10) Tailoring
Meaning: Make or adapt for a particular purpose or person.
Example: “arrangements can be tailored to meet individual requirements”
11) Propaganda
Meaning: Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
Example: “he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda”
Synonyms: Information, Promotion
12) Potent
Meaning: Having great power, influence, or effect.
Example: “thrones were potent symbols of authority”
Synonyms: Powerful, Strong
Antonyms: Weak, Impotent
13) Corrosive
Meaning: Tending to cause corrosion.
Example: “the corrosive effects of salt water”
Synonyms: Caustic, Abrasive
14) Cocktail
Meaning: A mixture of different things, often an unexpected, dangerous, or exciting one.
Example: The inquest heard that the guitarist died from a cocktail of drink and drugs.
15) Profiling
Meaning: The recording and analysis of a person’s psychological and behavioural characteristics, so as to assess or predict their capabilities in a certain sphere or to assist in identifying categories of people.
Example: “we put everyone through psychometric profiling”
16) Scrape
Meaning: To not continue with a system or plan.
Example: They’re considering scrapping the tax and raising the money in other ways.
17) Prickly
Meaning: (of a subject, issue, etc.) likely to cause offence or controversy.
Example: “this is a prickly subject”
Synonyms: Problematic, Awkward
18) Opt-out
Meaning: To choose not to be part of an activity or to stop being involved in it.
Example: Employees can choose to opt out of the pension scheme.
Synonyms: Refusing, Rejecting
19) Opt-in
Meaning: To choose to be part of an activity, arrangement, etc.
Example: Company policy is to leave new workers out of the pension scheme, unless they choose to opt in.
Synonyms: Taking, Choosing
20) Implications
Meaning: A likely consequence of something.
Example: “many people are unaware of the implications of such reforms”
Synonyms: Consequence, Result
21) Legitimate
Meaning: Conforming to the law or to rules.
Example: “his claims to legitimate authority”
Synonyms: Legal, Lawful
Antonyms: Illegal, Illegitimate
