CIO & LEADER-Issue-01-April 2018 (1)
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COLUMN<br />
By Shyamanuja Das<br />
Cambridge<br />
Analytica Case:<br />
Look Beyond<br />
The Scam<br />
While the scam may be the immediate<br />
news, the episode should also serve as a<br />
wake-up call for businesses<br />
T<br />
The author is Managing Editor<br />
at <strong>CIO</strong>&Leader<br />
The Indian media, like its counterpart in<br />
the West, has focused on the supposed<br />
‘scam’ involving Cambridge Analytica<br />
(CA), the UK-based big data firm that<br />
helped in Donald Trump’s victory<br />
through big data analytics.<br />
The controversy started with a remark<br />
by its now-ousted CEO Alexander Nix,<br />
made to undercover Channel 4 News<br />
reporters about how elections can be<br />
influenced through what is very clearly<br />
unfair means, even while taking a<br />
public posture that the company does<br />
not cross the line of ethics. This came<br />
after New York Times and The Observer<br />
published how a UK-based company<br />
Global Science Research (GSR), hired<br />
by Cambridge Analytica, created an<br />
app and collected data from millions<br />
of Facebook users, in what Facebook<br />
claims to be ‘in violation’ of its policies.<br />
Rest assured, we have a lot to see in the<br />
days to come. With GDPR kick-off date<br />
just about two months away, a lot of that<br />
debate may focus on data privacy with<br />
Facebook too as a target. Facebook CEO,<br />
Mark Zuckerberg, has been warned<br />
by authorities in the U.S and Europe<br />
for a possible testimony. Indian IT and<br />
communications minister, Ravi Shankar<br />
Prasad has also warned Facebook of<br />
stringent actions if any wrongdoing<br />
is discovered.<br />
Role in Indian Elections<br />
Prasad’s warning comes after it emerged<br />
that Cambridge Analytica had been<br />
active in India too.<br />
“CA was contracted to undertake an<br />
in-depth electorate analysis for the Bihar<br />
Assembly Election in 2<strong>01</strong>0. The core<br />
challenge was to identify the floating/<br />
swing voters for each of the parties and<br />
to measure their levels electoral apathy,<br />
10 <strong>CIO</strong>&<strong>LEADER</strong> | <strong>April</strong> 2<strong>01</strong>8