Facebook has “in-principle” agreed to settle a lawsuit in the San Francisco federal court seeking damages for letting third parties including Cambridge Analytica access the private data of users. An agreement in principle, is where both parties agree upon terms that will be used in the final settlement contract. This is essentially the foundation of the contract. It includes everything that the parties have negotiated.
You have no idea who saw what, who’s being told what, except somehow, you are being specifically targeted and it’s all saved on Facebook’s server.
The exact financial terms were not disclosed in the filing on Friday. The judge is setting aside the class action part of the suit for 60 days until the lawyers for both plaintiffs and Facebook need to finalize the settlement in a written settlement.
The lawsuit has been ongoing for four years. The lawyers for the plaintiffs, Keller Rohrback and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld alleged that Facebook violated consumer privacy laws by sharing personal data of users with third parties such as the now-defunct British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook’s counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, has argued its privacy practices are consistent with its disclosures and “do not support any legal claims”.
The bottom line is an agreement has been reached between the parties however the settlement amount must be finalized in the binding written agreement. At that point the details of the class action will be determined, and Facebook users will be notified.
The problem actually started in 2007. Facebook opened its platform for developers while also allowing outside apps to access all kinds of user data. Users may have noticed that whenever you are logging in to a new app or website you are given the option of signing in with your Facebook account.
Facebook did not just allow access to the person who used or joined the app but to their entire friends’ network! This intentional sleight-of-hand was designed to help advertisers create more personally targeted ads. They will not only see your FB profile but all the Facebook profiles of all the people you are friends with. This is often used as a nefarious way to exploit your personal vulnerabilities and even send you customized messages that can determine and even try to change your views on defining social matters.
In 2013, a University employee, Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, accessed the information of 50 million Facebook users, under the false claim of academic research, later giving away all the information to Cambridge Analytica. However, he maintains that everything he did was legal and that he had a close working relationship with Facebook, which has granted him special permission for his app called “through your digital life”. In response, Facebook denies that the data transfer was a breach while conducting its own research into the claims.
A whistleblower who had previously worked for Cambridge Analytica as its research director called it “a full-service propaganda machine”.
He called this Facebook operation a “grossly unethical experiment.” “If you want to change politics, you have to change first the culture, because politics flows from culture and so, if you want to change the culture, you first have to understand the units of culture, and this means you need [to] understand the people”.
You don’t target an individual as just a user, but the psychological profile of each user in a particular context. Used in the context of political campaigns you now have a new method of political campaigning. You now have the user/voter profiles to target with the appropriate cultural weapons.
He claims that in just two or three months, 50 to 60 million profiles were successfully collected, and we are talking about everything that could be found on a Facebook profile: status updates, likes and, in some cases, even private messages. The company spent millions of dollars harvesting tens of millions of Facebook profiles, and those profiles were used as the foundation for the firm’s algorithms.
The goal was to establish exactly what drives a person, what motivates an individual to change. They needed to know exactly what kind of message you would be more receptive to, including the right phrasing, the right title, the right template, when you need to consume this specific ad, and how many times is it necessary for a message to be transmitted in order for an individual to change his views.
Millions of pieces of data on Americans were literally stolen without their knowledge or consent. Data was also obtained from credit card companies, banks, and healthcare providers, as well as from as Facebook, Google, or Twitter.
In the end, Cambridge Analytica piled up to 5000 pieces of information for every American. The company compared the data with the results from various psychological tests run on the public on general matters. This technique already existed in psychometric studies. Scientists discovered that instead of using direct questions, you can use digital footprints to establish certain psychological patterns in different situations. They are called OCEAN tests and they measure personality based on 5 criteria:
OPENNESS
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
EXTRAVERSION
AGREEABLENESS
NEUROTICISM
You may have seen these “tests” online as “fun” questionnaires. You might be asked, “What superhero are you?” or “Which Harry Potter character are you?”, etc. Your responses helped to create an elaborate psychological profile for some research company.
Some digital data experts say they can even transform your Facebook likes into an accurate prediction of your political views, personality, IQ, happiness, sexual orientation, and even if your parents are divorced. This was a game-changer. The world had never ever seen anything like this.
With as little as 10 likes, the algorithm knows you better than your colleagues, with 100 likes, the algorithm knows your better than your family, and with 230 likes, the algorithm knows you better than your marital partner.
One technique uses Facebook’s supposedly private Direct Messaging which are visible only to the individual for whom they are intended. Individuals can be targeted on Facebook by the content of those private messages even if they’re set to disappear.
Suddenly you will receive targeted messages and ads at a specific time according to your specific habits and digital footprints. Only you will see the targeted add which will disappear a few hours later.
(Dedicated to the Asinine Commenter)
Shmuely Imglick: Is this Geula Glatt?
GOOGLE GLATT: No sir, it’s GOOGLE GLATT Glatt.
Shmuely Imglick: I must have dialed a wrong number. Sorry.
GOOGLE GLATT: No sir, GOOGLE GLATT bought Geula Glatt last month.
Shmuely Imglick: OK.. I would like to place an order.
GOOGLE GLATT: Do you want your usual, sir?
Shmuely Imglick: My usual? You know me?
GOOGLE GLATT:
According to our Shmuely Imglick ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called you ordered
Shwarma on a Lafa with Chummus, Israeli Salad, Fried Onions, Sauteed Eggplant, Coleslaw, Extra Techina and Schug on the side with a Large Fries and a can of Diet Coke.
Shmuely Imglick: Yup! That’s what I want …
GOOGLE GLATT:
May I suggest that this time you order a Falafel instead of the Shwarma. That would be on a whole wheat gluten free wrap? I suggest you also get a Small Fries this time.
Shmuely Imglick: What? I ‘d rather have the Shwarma.
GOOGLE GLATT: Your cholesterol is not good, sir.
Shmuely Imglick: Huh? Do you know?
GOOGLE GLATT:
Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records. We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.
Shmuely Imglick:
Okay, but I don’t want Falafel. Your Falafel isn’t so great anyway. Besides, I already take medication for my cholesterol.
GOOGLE GLATT:
Excuse me sir, but you have not taken your medication regularly.
According to our database, you only purchased a box of 30 cholesterol
tablets once, at CVS, 4 months ago.
Shmuely Imglick: I bought more from Walgreen’s.
GOOGLE GLATT: That doesn’t show on your credit card statement.
Shmuely Imglick: I paid in cash.
GOOGLE GLATT: But you did not withdraw enough cash according to your bank statement.
Shmuely Imglick: I have other sources of cash.
GOOGLE GLATT:
That doesn’t show on your last tax return unless you bought them using an undeclared income source, which is against the law.
Shmuely Imglick: WHAT?
GOOGLE GLATT: I’m sorry, sir, we use such information only with the sole intention of helping you.
Shmuely Imglick:
Enough already! I’m sick to death of GOOGLE, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and
all the others. I’m moving to Bnei Berak without any internet, cable TV, where there is no cell phone service and IYH no one to watch me or spy on me.
GOOGLE GLATT: I understand sir, but you need to renew your passport first. It expired 6 weeks ago…
(Dedicated to Asinine Commenter)
Shmuely Imglick: Is this Geula Glatt?
GOOGLE GLATT: No sir, it’s GOOGLE GLATT Glatt.
Shmuely Imglick: I must have dialed a wrong number. Sorry.
GOOGLE GLATT: No sir, GOOGLE bought Geula Glatt last month.
Shmuely Imglick: OK.. I would like to place an order.
GOOGLE GLATT: Do you want your usual, sir?
Shmuely Imglick: My usual? You know me?
GOOGLE GLATT:
According to our Shmuely Imglick ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called you ordered
Shwarma on a Lafa with Chummus, Israeli Salad, Fried Onions, Sauteed Eggplant, Coleslaw, Extra Techina and Schug on the side with a Large Fries and a can of Diet Coke.
Shmuely Imglick: Yup! That’s what I want …
GOOGLE GLATT:
May I suggest that this time you order a Falafel instead of the Shwarma. That would be on a whole wheat gluten free wrap? I suggest you also get a Small Fries this time.
Shmuely Imglick: What? I ‘d rather have the Shwarma.
GOOGLE GLATT: Your cholesterol is not good, sir.
Shmuely Imglick: Huh? Do you know?
GOOGLE GLATT:
Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records. We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.
Shmuely Imglick:
Okay, but I don’t want Falafel. Your Falafel isn’t so great anyway. Besides, I already take medication for my cholesterol.
GOOGLE GLATT:
Excuse me sir, but you have not taken your medication regularly.
According to our database, you only purchased a box of 30 cholesterol
tablets once, at CVS, 4 months ago.
Shmuely Imglick: I bought more from Walgreen’s.
GOOGLE GLATT: That doesn’t show on your credit card statement.
Shmuely Imglick: I paid in cash.
GOOGLE GLATT: But you did not withdraw enough cash according to your bank statement.
Shmuely Imglick: I have other sources of cash.
GOOGLE GLATT:
That doesn’t show on your last tax return unless you bought them using an undeclared income source, which is against the law.
Shmuely Imglick: WHAT?
GOOGLE GLATT: I’m sorry, sir, we use such information only with the sole intention of helping you.
Shmuely Imglick:
Enough already! I’m sick to death of GOOGLE, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and
all the others. I’m moving to Bnei Berak without any internet, cable TV, where there is no cell phone service and IYH no one to watch me or spy on me.
GOOGLE GLATT: I understand sir, but you need to renew your passport first. It expired 6 weeks ago…
How did you get this, Ron? Nevermind. One of us has been had!
Evidently 60 Million of us have been had! Zuckerberg accidentally admitted it on the news!
So they’ll pay each user $3 and continue to spy on them?!?!
The head of Facebook – who shows up on a stage in an undershirt – said in a speech in a university that those who are concerned about privacy are old-fashioned. And in a way he’s right; people spread their entire lives publicly.
A person should get involved in doing kindness in this world; not chatting as if he’s a piece of tissue paper.
BTW, I know he’s Jewish. We have nothing against him personally (except for facilitating the murder of people through censorship of serious, scientific information about medical damagers – such as murders in hospitals and through Nazi injections).
He should think, what is he doing?! Every person must think about his purpose on this world, and it’s more than just making money – and at anyone’s expense!
He’s a Satanic atheist puppet. I’ve read that Zuckerberg is not even his real name. The Metaverse is a direct confrontation to Hashem. The AI/Big Data psychometric maniacs want to make what might be left of all of chipped and jabbed humanity, slaves with them as the Lord.
Moshiach is waiting for us to wake up. If our eyes are open we would plead for him day and night and we would tip the scale.