Mark Zuckerberg Emits Facsimile of Regret that Mass-Surveillance Machine Might Have Been Used for Evil
When Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2003, he intended for it to be an online destination where people could connect with friends that would, in its own small way, make the world a better place. Just kidding—as my colleague, Nick Bilton, reminds us, back in Zuck’s Harvard days, The Facebook, as it was then known, was little more than a bizarre social experiment in which Zuckerberg got to see how many people would blindly turn over their information to him. “I have over 4,000 e-mails, pictures, addresses, SNS,” Zuckerberg bragged to a friend. “People just submitted it. I don’t know why. They ‘trust me.’ Dumb fucks.” And 15 years later, not much has changed! One of the reasons Facebook is in such a steaming pile of shit at the moment is because the way in which Cambridge Analytica got its hands on millions of people’s information that they then used to nefarious ends was completely legitimate. There was no data breach: Facebook set things up so firms like Cambridge could simply help themselves (the company claims it has since fixed things).
Because human emotion is not exactly Zuck’s thing, for a while, he didn’t seem to understand why this was so upsetting to people, and apparently thought it best to keep mum until things had blown over. But on Wednesday, after, we assume, someone with a better understanding of how human beings operate told him he really should say something, ole Zuckerbot released “an update on the Cambridge Analytica situation” on his Facebook page. Writing that he has been “working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Zuckerberg offered a timeline of the events that led to the absolute pillaging of millions of people’s data. With a vigorous wave of his finger, Zuckerberg noted that while “the way our platform worked at the time” gave Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan “access [to] tens of millions of . . . [users’] data,” Kogan totally was not supposed to share that information without people’s consent! In 2015, Kogan’s app was “immediately banned” from the platform and Facebook “demanded” that he and Cambridge Analytica delete “all improperly acquired data.” The year prior, Zuckerberg wrote, Facebook decided to “dramatically limit the data apps could access,” and made it impossible for apps like Kogan’s to request data about a person’s friends unless said friends had also authorized the app, which was how the researcher had been able to gather data from tens of millions of people when only a few hundred thousand had taken his personality quiz.
Anyway, even though Zuckerberg wants to be clear that that sort of thing could never happen today, thanks to the selfless efforts of his team to rejigger things so that user data previously more or less bearing a big “come and get it” sign is no longer available, he’s also very sorry. “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you,” he wrote, noting, in conclusion, that Facebook “will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward.”
Though you and I know Zuckerberg is full of shit, today’s mea culpa will probably be enough for the majority of its users, who may actually buy the claim that Facebook never meant for any of this to happen, and that all these issues are in the past. One group for whom it’ll definitely be enough? Wall Street, which wasn’t actually that sussed about it in the first place. Sure, billions of dollars have been wiped out over the past few days, but as of Tuesday morning—before Zuckerberg released his letter—39 of the 44 analysts who track its stock had a buy rating or equivalent on Facebook shares, with the average target price 34.6 percent higher than Monday’s closing price, at $223.07. While Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser wrote in a note to clients on Monday that the scandal was “another indication of systemic problems at Facebook,” suggesting “enhanced risks for the company,” he saw “no near-term tangible impact on its business.”
At Credit Suisse, analysts Stephen Ju and Philip Wang told clients Tuesday that the revelations were “backwards-looking,” that the bad news had already been baked in, and that the fact that senior Facebook execs have been summoned to explain themselves to U.K. lawmakers was not enough to impact the company’s bottom line (they maintained their buy rating and a $240 price target). Goldman Sachs’s Heath Terry said he doesn’t expect people, for whom Facebook “is a utility,” to leave the platform en masse, with “the utility far outweigh[ing]” the privacy issues. In a note to clients, Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler noted that his team does “not believe past regulatory concerns have impacted Facebook user engagement or advertising,” and maintained his $230 price target and buy rating.
In other words, everyone already knew that Facebook was ethically challenged, so short of people abandoning the platform in droves and/or advertisers pulling their money, the Cambridge news doesn’t change much. In Wall Street’s eyes, Zuckerberg would have to live-stream a dungeon where he harvests users’ organs for fun and profit for things to really take a turn for the worse. And even then, who knows.
China is preparing to hit Trump where it hurts
Later this week, Donald Trump is expected to announced $60 billion worth of China-targeted tariffs, on top of the ones he recently applied to steel and aluminum imports. And, shockingly, China is having none of it, and is reportedly ready to retaliate with a slate of measures that might as well say, “You wanna play hardball, Orange? We’re game”:
China is preparing to hit back at trade offensives from Washington with tariffs aimed at President Donald Trump’s support base, including levies targeting U.S. agricultural exports from farm-belt states.
China is likely to target U.S. exports of soybeans, sorghum, and live hogs, according to the people with knowledge of the matter. The U.S. is among the top suppliers of these products to China, which imports around a third of soybeans that the U.S. produces, data from the two countries show.
And despite Trump’s proclamation that “trade wars are good and easy to win,” not everyone is feeling so confident. “Bottom line, we’re terrified,” Brian Grossman, a market strategist at Zaner Group in Chicago, told The Wall Street Journal about the potential effect of Chinese retaliation. “It’s not going to be good for the American farmer.”
Travis Kalanick is back in the car business
Well, technically he’s in the parking lot real-estate business, but close enough:
After getting kicked out of the C.E.O. job at Uber Technologies Inc. in June, Travis Kalanick is getting back in the saddle. Kalanick said Tuesday he’s buying a controlling stake in a distressed real-estate company called City Storage Systems for $150 million and installing himself as C.E.O.
City Storage Systems redevelops distressed retail, parking, and industrial real-estate. “There are over $10 trillion in these real-estate assets that will need to be repurposed for the digital era,” Kalanick wrote in a tweet announcing the acquisition.
Ryan Zinke brought a security detail on his two-week vacation because of course he did
In fairness to the Interior Secretary, one could actually argue that this—unlike his first-class travel and special commemorative coins—is not a complete waste of taxpayer money.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his wife took a security detail on their vacation to Greece and Turkey last year, official documents show, in what one watchdog group said could be a “questionable” use of taxpayer resources. . . . Unlike Scott Pruitt, Zinke was not conducting government business during his two-week vacation, which included stops in Istanbul and the Greek Isles. The documents do not reveal exactly how many security personnel accompanied the couple, who paid for them, how much they cost, or whether they traveled with Zinke and his wife, Lola, for the entire trip.
“It’s not necessarily an abuse of authority or a waste of taxpayer dollars if there’s a credible threat, but it can be questionable if an agency chief just wants a big entourage and the trappings of power,” Nick Schwellenbach, director of investigations at government-watchdog group Project On Government Oversight, told Politico. “Security personnel are not errand boys or girls, and agency leaders are not royalty.” (For its part, the Interior Department said in a statement that “The United States Secretary of the Interior is in the presidential line of succession and has access to sensitive and classified information, which makes his protection a matter of national security.” As Interior Secretary, Zinke is eighth in the order of succession, making him the Princess Eugenie of the U.S. government.)
Elsewhere!
Powell says Trump's trade policy has become a growing concern among Federal Reserve members (CNBC)
Fed Lifts Rates, Steepens Path Through 2020 for More Hikes (Bloomberg)
How One Investor Made a Fortune Picking Over the Retail Apocalypse (W.S.J.)
Elon Musk Probably Won't Move to Mars After $2.6 Billion Pay Approved (Bloomberg)
Weinstein Co. Burns Funds from Baupost to Highbridge (Bloomberg)
RNC spent $424,000 at Trump-owned properties in the first two months of 2018 (CNBC)
Wisconsin firefighters save kitten using tiny oxygen mask (UPI)
