BOOM! Cambridge Analytica explodes following extraordinary TV expose

[FarCenter]

Updated Controversial data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica has been hit with an emergency data seizure order in England following an extraordinary series of events Monday night that revolved around a TV undercover expose.

Following a day in which the company became the focus of attention online, in print, and in the UK Parliament and US Congress for its unethical use of user data, senior executives from the firm were then shown on camera boasting about the use of dark methods, including honey traps, fake news and sub-contracting with ex-spies to entrap individuals.

Those revelations – filmed during an undercover investigation by Channel 4 in the UK – came as the controversial company was already in the news after it was revealed it had secretly grabbed the personal details of over 50 million Facebook users and used the data to sell voter targeting services. The whole segment can be seen here:

Following the segment on those secret recordings, UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she would seek a warrant on Tuesday forcing Cambridge Analytica to hand over relevant data, after she said the company had refused to respond sufficiently to earlier requests.

Adding to a sense of drama, as Denham was on television saying she would apply for the warrant, a Channel 4 reporter posted outside the company's headquarters reported that a team from Facebook was inside the building ensuring that their purloined data had been deleted.

That series of events sparked one senior politician, live on air, to outline his concern that the company could be deleting incriminating data as they were talking. Soon after, other journalists and politicians expressed their dismay at the two-day lead-time that a company that has just been shown to be unscrupulous and may have committed criminal acts was being given to delete any evidence of wrongdoing.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/19/boom_cambridge_analytica_explodes_following_extraordinary_tv_expose/

[rzemanfl]

1. In the state I used to practice law in saying anything about a warrant before it was served was

a criminal offense.

[FarCenter]

2. The United Kingdom may be different

[rzemanfl]

3. That's a given. I wonder if wiping drives leaves tracks. n/t

[FarCenter]

5. If a drive is wiped, any unused space will be filled with patterns or random bits, rather than data.

[rzemanfl]

6. Would someone be able to tell when that happened? n/t

[FarCenter]

7. Yes, forensic tools can read what is in very part of the disk.

[C_U_L8R]

8. There's no way they can clean and hide it all

That data likely hit too many devices and drives, both locally and in the cloud. Evidence will be everywhere... on servers, in mails, in caches and hidden files, even the deleted ones... they're screwed. As may be Facebook and GOP.

[notKeith]

16. I believe "a team from Facebook"..

..belongs in prison.

[Virtual Burlesque]

17. And the CA board should walk the plank. n/t

[erronis]

18. Especially the CEO of that team. Mr. FaceFucks himself.

[rzemanfl]

13. Now I wonder if the disclosure of the warrant wasn't to goad them into committting yet

another crime by trying to destroy evidence.

[erronis]

19. Oooh. You are as conspiratorial as me!

We can hope.

You know the brits are famously good at recording footage of passersby. Probably as good at trapping all signals from other devices.

Without Tony (friend of W) Blair in office, perhaps some truth will out.

[Gothmog]

4. This will be fun to watch

[sdfernando]

9. Yep...CA is toast as are many of the top executives. I don't expect it will exist much longer. /NT

[workinclasszero]

10. Those fascist pigs all need a jail cell!

This will help the blue wave turn into a blue tsunami I hope!

[Achilleaze]

11. Too complex a tale for Joe the Plumber?

I mean, you have to spend some amount time of time watching, thinking about, and analyzing the big picture to get this. It requires that you have a WILL to attempt to understand -- and then either accept or reject.

But I wonder, will the archetypal legendary Fake Plumber republican Stooge-du-jour, Joe-the-ersatz-Plumber kinda folks, put that kind of effort into comprehending how badly America and American democracy is getting f*cked & mindf*cked by Dirty Donny* and his cabal of republican-russian cronies?

* aka Comrade Casino, republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief

[Hortensis]

12. So glad UK is moving on this. Mueller's mandate

undoubtedly involved CA and other cyber activities, but we really need an investigation devoted to nothing else and not limited to involvement with Trump and Russia.

[TheBlackAdder]

14. They should have backups, which should be taken offsite. Encrypted and timestamped.

Bring up some DR servers and load up the tapes from last month, or SSD or DVD images. Whatever media.

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. "Facebook was inside the building ensuring that their purloined data had been deleted"?!?!

"Adding to a sense of drama, as Denham was on television saying she would apply for the warrant, a Channel 4 reporter posted outside the company's headquarters reported that a team from Facebook was inside the building ensuring that their purloined data had been deleted. "

THAT sure don't seem legal.