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The Great Hack (Cambridge Analytica documentary, Netflix)

Started by Mobbd, August 02, 2019, 09:25:34 AM

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Mobbd

This documentary was extremely good. I'd expected a grubby late-night cable 'The Real Truth About UFOs'-type thing but it's a proper journalistic presentation that sets out the Cambridge Analytica scandal extremely clearly. Carole Cadwalladr comes across well.

I paid close attention to the CA story as it unfolded (as perhaps you did too) so there wasn't a huge amount of new info for me (though there was some), but it lays everything out in a pleasingly cohesive way and helps to organise one's thoughts. It categorically doesn't go for the manipulative, 'let's pump you full of adrenaline and anger' thing.

A key take-away for me was how the SCL group has origins in defence contracts, and the techniques used by CA (their offshoot) were considered "weapons-grade communication tactics" of the sort deployed on enemy nations to, say, turn people against certain organisations or to cause civil unrest.

Worth a watch!

And then delete your Facebook account, obviously.

PlanktonSideburns



Mobbd

Quote from: PlanktonSideburns on August 02, 2019, 09:34:27 AM
Sounds great will give a go

Let us know what you think of it. I may have talked it up too much. But I really was impressed.


EOLAN

Well, I was avoiding make a thread but happy to jump in. I thought it was bad. Maybe not quite awful but very frustrating. I felt like a lot of the basic details; many people should be somewhat aware of and if they are not this documentary is probably useful. Of course data is being mined and used, by supermarkets; insurers and of course politics.
I struggled with what the message of the documentary was and it seemed quite unclear on what devious thing Cambridge Analytica did. A lot of focus on Brexit and Trump but would have liked a bit more about how Obama started to utilise Facebook and how that differs or led the path for others. I didn't see how the information couldn't have been utilised by the Democrats or Remainers and this thing about targeting the persuadables just seems like the way politics has always been. Usign whatever messaging and information sources available. Both these campaigns were far more effective in targeting and influencing the minds of those which seems to be efficient.

Also; they seemed to be giving out about how they were manipulative and trying to influence feelings and emotions. At the same time as a documentary it was doing the same things in a bid to make us more sympathetic to the whistleblowers. Soft sad music; sitting with a broken voice in an isolated room or having slow-mo shots of Brittany Kaiser looking out the airplane forlornly.

Some of the side issues were interesting. Such as the election in the Caribbean and why exactly Carole Cadwalder employer's dropped her from presenting; after some Russian trolling. Why did they feel the need to give into this? The main thrust of Trump and Brexit just meandered around and offered nothing. 

Although I did think that Mr Nix looked like a devious Andy Daly character; which made me kind of like him.

Anyway I leave it for their now, with my half remembered ramblings.


PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: Mobbd on August 02, 2019, 09:51:39 AM
Let us know what you think of it. I may have talked it up too much. But I really was impressed.

I only know fuck all about CA so will go in cold and report back

Twed

This is propaganda for the wing of the Democrats that is blocking any hope of progress in the US. They are taking business as usual, business that the supporters of this documentary are angry about not having a monopoly on, and making you tut about it as it's happening to you in real time.

Mobbd

Quote from: EOLAN on August 02, 2019, 01:56:16 PM
I didn't see how the information couldn't have been utilised by the Democrats or Remainers and this thing about targeting the persuadables just seems like the way politics has always been. Usign whatever messaging and information sources available.

I was looking out for that because I've wondered if this couldn't have been used by the left if things had lined up that way. But the fact that people like Steve Bannon were founders of CA (and he even named it) kinda suggests that right-wing populism is in the DNA of this.

Targeting the persuadables inasmuch as an election campaign might focus on the swing has long been a thing, yes, but the big data-driven algorithmic predicting of how these people will react to specifically-tailored messaging from the highest bidder (as well as the sinister infiltration of movements like Black Lives Matter, and illegal overspending on unofficial campaigning) is all below the belt and raises questions about the fitness of the current electoral system and, frankly, the ability to claim fee will full-stop.

Mobbd

Quote from: EOLAN on August 02, 2019, 01:56:16 PM
I didn't see how the information couldn't have been utilised by the Democrats or Remainers and this thing about targeting the persuadables just seems like the way politics has always been. Usign whatever messaging and information sources available.

Just quickly in addition to this (and I'm aware this is veering into discussion better suited to Technology or General Bullshit than Movies), there is a tendency for right-wing ideas to prevail on social media. This quote is from Digital Minimalism (2019) by Cal Newport:

QuoteIn addition, as demonstrated during the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath, online discussion seems to accelerate people's shift toward emotionally charged and draining extremes. The techno‑philosopher Jaron Lanier convincingly argues that the primacy of anger and outrage online is, in some sense, an unavoidable feature of the medium: In an open marketplace for attention, darker emotions attract more eye‑ balls than positive and constructive thoughts. For heavy inter‑ net users, repeated interaction with this darkness can become a source of draining negativity—a steep price that many don't even realize they're paying to support their compulsive connectivity.