Mining for Treasure: The Great Hack

The world’s most valuable asset is no longer oil, but data. Once I upload this blog to social media, I am doing something that this documentary warns of - leaving a data footprint. My data can be mined by Facebook, and then possibly sold to any number of other companies. Those companies will then know my name, my age, where I live, what my interests are, who my friends are (and can thereby mine their data), my job, where I work, and my opinions about any number of subjects. If I take any surveys on Facebook, that information can also be harvested. Those companies can then use my data to analyze and predict my behavior, I will be targeted for advertising or political campaigns custom selected for me.

When your personal computer or laptop, smartphone, watch and car connects to the internet, practically every activity you do creates a digital trace. Every purchase you make is recorded. Algorithms can predict what you want to buy and when, tell you when your engine needs servicing, and predict if you are at risk of a disease. This proliferation of data changes the nature of competition, and internet companies’ control of your data gives them enormous power. Google can see what people search for, Facebook what they share, Amazon what they buy.

So how can you control your own data? Do you even own your own data? How can you find out what companies have your data? Can you control how companies use your data? Can you ever get your data back?

Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim's film, "The Great Hack" shows how data is being weaponized to wage cultural and political wars around the world. Prior to the 2016 American election and the United Kingdom's Brexit campaign, few people had heard of Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm which combined data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication during the electoral processes. The personal data of over 87 million Facebook users was acquired via the 270,000 Facebook users who used a Facebook app called "This Is Your Digital Life, the majority of whom had not explicitly given Cambridge Analytica permission to access their data.

The most interesting subject in this film is Brittany Kaiser, a smart and savvy millennial who served as business director for Cambridge Analytica. Before Cambridge, Kaiser worked as a data specialist for many charitable and social justice causes and served as an intern on the Obama campaign. But during Obama's presidency, Kaiser's father suffered severe health problems and her family lost their home trying to pay for his medical bills. Kaiser was offered a high-paid position with Cambridge Analytica by CEO Alexander Nix to use her skills to help them mine and analyze data, and develop political campaigns based on that information. In the process Kaiser began to embrace right-wing politics, but also realized how powerful and sinister targeted data marketing could be. Ultimately, she became one of the primary whistle-blowers who helped enlighten the public about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica's relationship and their alarming use of ill-gotten data.

While this film shed much needed light on a dark topic, it is way too long and includes too many subjects. The case of The last quarter of the film seems completely superfluous and could easily be cut since it doesn't really enlighten the audience any further about any of the subjects of the film and only rambles redundantly on.

"The Great Hack" Rose Wagner Theatre January 28, 2019

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