Facebook and social media manipulation

Buried in an announcement of changes being made to tighten user data privacy, Facebook admitted most people on Facebook could have had their public profile scraped. Uh, do what? Why is such an admission buried towards the bottom of a jargon-filled blog post? The core failing is a default setting for an obscure search feature in Facebook that has been exploited by some to inappropriately access user data on a huge scale. It may actually be time to abandon Facebook - as one article published recently said, it's time to Replace Facebook not Fix it.

Last weekend it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica and the SCL Group schemed to ..er.. steal may be the correct word .. data from tens or hundreds of millions of Facebook users. Funded by the Mercer Family for manipulating the public to a hard-line-right-wing political agenda, Cambridge Analytica's efforts were used for manipulating the 2016 US Elections, and the company may be at work manipulating other elections. The technology used by the company involves collecting vast amounts of user preferences data, into a big database, and applying modern Big Data algorithms and Machine Learning algorithms to then know how to target personalized advertising directly at individual Facebook users. It's one thing to use this to sell more soap or tobacco, it's yet another thing when the aim is electing political leaders.

Facebook now has a huge target painted on its chest, with politicians and others aiming anger and regulatory oversight at Facebook.

The issue here for Techsparx readers is a big warning -- when we play those silly games on social media networks, pay close attention to the access being requested. What Cambridge Analytica did is create viral games that then collected data from not only the Facebook profile of the person who played the game, but all their friends, and all their likes, and postings, and everything else.

The firestorm around data collection by Cambridge Analytica from Facebook users is about the OAuth protocol, the required notification of access requirements, and whether Facebook actually enforces those requirements. During the OAuth protocol it's required to present the user with a screen describing the level of access requested. Facebook signed an order with the Federal Trade Commission in which Facebook agreed to abide by policies about sharing user data. Facebook may have violated that agreement.

Most people don't pay attention to the notifications in the OAuth signup process. It's likely that the users abdicated their responsibility to make good decisions. Instead they, like lemmings, collectively have played the many zillions of viral games that are shared onto Facebook. It is through such games that marketers and political manipulators alike gather user preference information.

Let's take a look at that process.

Cambridge Analytica, funded by the Mercer Family for manipulating the public to a hard-line-right-wing political, illegally collected a massive trove of Facebook user data, then used Big Data techniques to develop highly targeted advertising meant to influence public opinion. The company was founded when a young computer science researcher focusing on big data machine learning techniques met the Mercers, who promised to give him a free hand and fund his research. What resulted was a massive information warfare weapon used by the Mercer's, and their puppet at Breitbart News Steve Bannon, to manipulate public opinion.

Oh ... and ... there are Kremlin/Putin-connected Russians mixed all through the story.

The issue here for Techsparx readers is a big warning -- when we play those silly games on social media networks, pay close attention to the access being requested. What Cambridge Analytica did is create viral games that then collected data from not only the Facebook profile of the person who played the game, but all their friends, and all their likes, and postings, and everything else.