Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy at the centre of the Facebook data-sharing scandal, is shutting down. The firm was accused of improperly obtaining personal information on behalf of political clients. According to Facebook, data about up to 87 million of its members was harvested by a quiz app and then passed on to the political consultancy.
The social network said its own probe into the matter would continue. "This doesn't change our commitment and determination to understand exactly what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again," said a spokesman. "We are continuing with our investigation in cooperation with the relevant authorities."
Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Cambridge Analytica, referred the BBC to a statement on the firm's website. "Over the past several months, Cambridge Analytica has been the subject of numerous unfounded accusations and, despite the company's efforts to correct the record, has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas," it said. "Despite Cambridge Analytica's unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully... the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company's customers and suppliers. As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business."
The statement added that its parent company SCL Elections was also commencing bankruptcy proceedings.
Awww, my heart bleeds. In the words of a forgotten soldier in Sharpe : "It's very hard to trust a man who wants to borrow a picklock."
The UK's Financial Times newspaper says it has spoken to another ex-employee of Cambridge Analytica, on condition of anonymity, who said they were sure the company would emerge "in some other incarnation or guise".
Surely this is not the end, nor the beginning of the end, but only the end of the beginning.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43983958
They set up the replacement firm long before shuttering CA. It's almost like they knew they'd get exposed eventually and had contingency plans in place. The worrying thing is how stupid these people aren't.
ReplyDeleteI would bet actual cash that Emerdata "liquidated" a load of stuff from CA, including a stack of hard-drives full of data.
The people involved in this won't stop until they are in prison and even if that extremely unlikely event occurs, someone else will start doing it because it works and there's always going to people with money who want to exchange that money for political power.
uk.businessinsider.com - The power players behind Cambridge Analytica have set up a mysterious new data company
Mat Brown - That was my thinking before I even read your comment. I wish I could say that I was surprised.
ReplyDeletea little reminder that corporations don’t kill people, it’s the people who wield them that kill people.
ReplyDeleteTheir servers are called Emerdata Farm.
ReplyDelete