Solar Energy News  
CYBER WARS
Cambridge Analytica says it is 'no Bond villain'
By Robin MILLARD
London (AFP) April 24, 2018

Cambridge Analytica claimed Tuesday it was "no Bond villain" as it vehemently denied exploiting Facebook users' data for the election campaign of US President Donald Trump.

The marketing analytics firm stressed it had deleted data about Facebook users obtained in breach of the social network's terms of service.

The information had been gathered via a personality prediction app developed by academic Aleksandr Kogan's research firm Global Science Research (GSR).

Cambridge Analytica (CA) insisted it did not use the data during Trump's 2016 campaign and did not support the pro-Brexit side in Britain's referendum on its European Union membership that same year.

Spokesman Clarence Mitchell claimed the company had been portrayed like the enemy in a James Bond film.

"Cambridge Analytica is no Bond villain," he said.

"While no laws were broken, we have acknowledged where mistakes have been made."

He convened a press conference in London "to counter some of the unfounded allegations and, frankly, the torrent of ill-informed and inaccurate speculation".

CA suspended chief executive Alexander Nix on March 20 after recordings emerged of him boasting that the firm played an expansive role in the Trump campaign, doing all of its research, analytics as well as digital and television campaigns.

In undercover filming captured by Channel 4 television, he is also seen boasting about entrapping politicians and secretly operating in elections around the world through shadowy front companies.

Speaking of Nix, Mitchell said: "At worst he's guilty of over-zealous salesmanship in an attempt to apparently win a contract.

"Staff that saw that were horrified and did not recognise the Cambridge Analytica they worked for."

He said the data CA acquired from GSR was for up to 30 million respondents in the United States only, irrespective of how many GSR was able to get information on.

The data that Kogan managed to collect through the app was tested in 2014 and 2015, before Facebook complained about it, and was "shown to be virtually useless in that it was only just above random guessing, in statistical terms," said Mitchell.

"Cambridge Analytica did not use the data further. The firm did work for Donald Trump for five months."

But, Mitchell insisted: "Any suggestion that the GSR Kogan data was used in that campaign is utterly incorrect. Its effective uselessness had already been identified by then."

Mitchell said CA was "extremely sorry" that it ended up in the possession of data that breached Facebook's terms of service.

On the Brexit referendum, he said CA pitched to Leave.EU, before it lost out on becoming the officially designated Leave campaign, but its bids to them, and to other referendum campaigns, were unsuccessful.

He said an independent investigation into the company, being carried out by a senior lawyer, was close to conclusion.

Kogan, who teaches at Cambridge University, told a British parliamentary committee Tuesday that criticism of his work by Facebook showed the US social media giant was in "PR crisis mode".

rjm/jj/pg

Facebook


Related Links
Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


CYBER WARS
Applying Computer-Human Collaboration to Accelerate Detection of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 19, 2018
Today, Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), Government off-the-shelf (GOTS), and Free and open-source (FOSS) software support nearly all aspects of DoD, military, and commercial operations. Securing this diverse technology base requires highly skilled hackers who reason about the functionality of software and identify novel vulnerabilities, using a suite of tools and techniques that require extensive training. While effective, the process is largely manual and requires hundreds, if not thousands, of h ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

CYBER WARS
Wood formation model to fuel progress in bioenergy, paper, new applications

Research shows how genetics can contribute for advances in 2G ethanol production

Algae-forestry, bioenergy mix could help make CO2 vanish from thin air

Removing the brakes on plant oil production

CYBER WARS
For heavy lifting, use exoskeletons with caution

A robot by NTU Singapore autonomously assembles an IKEA chair

Researchers design 'soft' robots that can move on their own

Two robots are better than one for NIST's 5G antenna measurement research

CYBER WARS
New control strategy helps reap maximum power from wind farms

Alberta proposes more renewable energy incentives

Transformer station for giant German wind farm positioned

Scotland's largest offshore wind farm close to operational

CYBER WARS
Faster EV chargers to allay range anxiety

Global carmakers gear up for China's auto show as sector opens

German police arrest Porsche manager over diesel scandal

Jack Ma says Alibaba 'doing a lot of research' on driverless cars

CYBER WARS
New testing of model improves confidence in the performance of ITER

When superconductivity disappears in the core of a quantum tube

A higher-energy, safer and longer-lasting zinc battery

Lockheed delivers 17 MWh of GridStar lithium energy storage to Peak Power

CYBER WARS
Framatome receives two patent awards for nuclear innovations

Quake hits near Iran nuclear power plant

Namibia president denies graft in nuclear deal

NRC approval brings Framatome's fuel technology closer to market

CYBER WARS
Carbon taxes can be both fair and effective, study shows

Trump rolls back Obama-era fuel efficiency rules

Lights out for world landmarks in nod to nature

Puerto Rico power grid snaps, nearly 1 million in the dark

CYBER WARS
Warming climate could speed forest regrowth in eastern US

Warming climate could speed forest regrowth in eastern US

Poland illegally cut down ancient forest, EU court rules

Palm trees are spreading northward - how far will they go?









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.