Data Have Many Uses
by tristero
So far, news reports re: Cambridge Analytica have focused on their efforts to identify, profile, and target supporters of Donald Trump for the purpose of aiming propaganda at them. But data have many uses. And nothing says they only identified Trump supporters.
Recall that Cambridge Analytica and that professor had access to Facebook up until very recently. A huge treasure trove of data could very well have have been gathered to identify, profile, and target enemies of Donald Trump for the purpose of neutralizing them through harassment, intimidation, or worse.
While we can’t see the full extent of the efforts that Trump and the GOP have been undermining democracy – and probably never will – the infrastructure is clearly in place to make life very bad for those of us who are doing whatever little we can to thwart him and his Republican enablers.
And btw, Republicans are all but unanimous in their approval of Trump – 82% this week. They’ll be very happy to have nasty things happen to us.