Andleeb Abbas
A world overburdened with power, conspiracies, intrigue will crack under the weight of an overload of hidden data creating crevices that lead to breach of secrecy and security. The WikiLeaks and the Panama Leaks were more of the past dirty behavior of leaders. Facebook leaks are more lethal as they indicate how the future of people and nations can be hostage of information brokers. Information is power and information is control. In this knowledge economy weapons of mass destruction are no longer military weapons that aim at physical elimination. In today’s world it is a more subtle war with weapons of psychological manipulation. The information highway has this ability to make and break individuals, companies and countries. In a world that is increasingly digital and virtual communication can now be tailored to each and every member of the earth this ability itself is frightening. Facebook that has changed the world is about to be changed by the world. The latest scandal on privacy invasion by Cambridge Analytica is just a tip of the iceberg. The ability of these organizations to play with people’s mind and make them think what they want them to think is almost an intellectual hypnosis of people’s mind on a level never before.
The Facebook leaks reveal the power nexus between big business, governments and society. How these businesses in their pursuit of growth cross lines of ethics and fund governments to rob the ordinary public of their rights to information, rights to privacy and the right to know the right thing. Facebook is not just a book on face value where people deposit their images but it is a life exposé. Many people specially the younger lot feel Facebook is a connect to their friends and an expression of their identity. Topics of any and all sort are introduced and hotly debated with opinions that are so candid that they give more clues to the bent of mind of the person’s tendencies, likes and dislikes etc. Opinions are based on tastes, and preferences of products, services, ideas, people, politicians, celebrities etc. These are key insights that can make the information harvester reap great benefits by matching his or her offer or idea in the exact language and preference of the user. Imagine everything that we ever had wished for was communicated in the language and style we love, we will definitely fall for it.
Facebook with its reach of over 2 billion users has become a huge business and its market value is a colossal $ 493 billion much more than the GDP of Pakistan. Facebook’s business model of giving free membership to a certain extent and then extra money for any post that you want to boost is a great business model for a digitally driven millennial world. The ability for its data analytic processes for giving information on consumer habits has made companies customize their offerings. However, like most organizations the lure for more, not only financially but for status and for power, makes them overlook those very principles that made them big. In Facebook’s case it is data confidentiality and privacy. Other big corporations in recent times that have become victim of their pursuit for more is Samsung in which it was embroiled in the corruption scandal of South Korean President’s corruption where Samsung gave donations to her friend’s foundation in return for business favours.
Big Business has always had connections to big policy makers. Cambridge Analytica, a firm that does political preference profiling was involved with Facebook as far back as 2015. They lured 270,000 Facebook users to download a personality test that asks for access to data. What they never revealed was that they will be using this data for another purpose and not just their profiles but all their friends’ profile. This resulted in a privacy invasion of almost 87 million users. The connection between Cambridge Analytica and Steve Bannon, the former Secretary of State of Donald Trump, has also raised eyebrows on this data being used to influence voters towards Trump in the 2016 elections. Facebook meanwhile has expressed outrage over the misuse of its data as Cambridge Analytica, the British firm at the centre of a major scandal rocking the social media giant, suspended its chief executive. The move to suspend CEO Alexander Nix came as recordings emerged in which he boasts his data company played an expansive role in Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, doing all of its research, analytics as well as digital and television campaigns.
Pakistan is already affected by this revelation. Cambridge Analytica, according to reports, has approached Pakistani government. According to the company’s mission statement, Cambridge Analytica works with governments, NGOs, and political campaigns “to deliver Data-Driven Behavioral Change by understanding what motivates the individual and engaging with target audiences in ways that move them to action.”According to media reports, PML-N has already hired Cambridge Analytica to do a similar exercise for Pakistan Facebook users that has been denied by the government. Mark Zuckenberg in his appearance before the Congress expressed his resolve that elections in other countries like Pakistan and India were under scrutiny to ensure a repeat of what happened in USA is prevented. However, the likelihood is that, as in the case of US elections, it may take some time for the leaks that may have already leaked to leak.
The post-truth world where fake news is real and real news is fake has made it imperative that governments review cyber laws to provide more security and stringency of such leaks. For the business world it is imperative that abuse of data is not followed by just a mere apology and statement of assurance of more protection but a complete rethink of the way business is handled. These leaks have already cost Facebook $70 billion of lost market value and, if true, America an election that may not represent the true choices of its voters. For individuals and the users of Facebook a carefree ‘yes’ on every personality test and luring offer needs more care and awareness. Humans may be known as social/social media animals but they need to prove their humanity by making more rational clicks on luring offers that deserve more than a mindless click on the like button.
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