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posted by mrpg on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the here-we-go-again dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Former staff from scandal-hit Cambridge Analytica (CA) have set up another data analysis company.

Auspex International will be "ethically based" and offer "boutique geopolitical consultancy" services, according to its website.

CA was shut down by its parent company, SCL Elections, which itself faces criminal charges over failure to supply data when requested.

Auspex will work in the Middle East and Africa initially.

The company was set up by Ahmed Al-Khatib, a former director of Emerdata, which was also created in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal to continue the work it was doing.

In a press release announcing the new company, he says CA's collapse was a "bitter disappointment" to him.

-- submitted from IRC


Original Submission

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Book Review: Rainbows End by Rudy Rucker 5 comments

I previously reviewed Rudy Rucker's Ware Tetralogy and Postsingular and found that Rudy Rucker's best work comes after ideas had the most time to percolate. Postsingular was a relative dud, although still far superior to Neal Stephenson's REAMDE. In contrast, Rainbows End is highly recommended. Indeed, it is essential reading for anyone concerned about the progression of software from desktop, web and mobile to augmented reality. The book has a shockingly similar game to Pokémon Go in addition to a plausible mix of tech mergers and new entrants in a near-future universe where smartphones have given way to wearable augmented reality.

Many books, comics and films have covered the purgatory of high school and some have covered the special purgatory of going back to high school (for a re-union or as a student). The film: 21 Jump Street is a particularly silly example of the sub-genre. Rainbows End covers a world leading humanities academic who spends years in the fugue of dementia, responds almost perfectly to medical advances and is enrolled in high school to complete his therapy. While he looks almost perfectly like a 17 year old, his contemporaries remain in decline or have bounced back with far more random results.

Although he has physically recovered, he has lost his razor-sharp insight and biting wit[1]. Like other patients, he finds talents in unrelated areas. His computer fluency, which was sufficient to publish in academic journals, is now 20 years out of date. During this period, laptops have become as thin as paper and also horrendously obsolete. Although the paper-thin laptops can be configured as a variety of legacy desktop environments and legacy web browsers, rendering data from the (almost) ubiquitous wireless network is less successful than accessing the current World Wide Web without images or JavaScript. However, this is only one slice of purgatory.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:21PM (8 children)

    by looorg (578) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:21PM (#708286)

    Auspex will work in the Middle East and Africa initially.

    Ah it will work in the lovely countries with political systems that are less bothered by the writings and attitudes of the western nations. With a strong secret police and black hole dungeons to put the complainers into. Good choice ...

    Overall tho this was hardly a surprise, it was not like all the people that worked for CA was all just going to forget the last few years, and the massive amounts of cash they got, roll over and die or take non-scummy analysis jobs.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Nuke on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:59PM (7 children)

      by Nuke (3162) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:59PM (#708309)

      Ah it will work in the lovely countries with political systems that are less bothered by the writings and attitudes of the western nations.

      Nothing to do with political systems. The entire culture of some of those places sees scamming as a skill to be admired, in fact they consider it to be normal business practice.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:24PM (6 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:24PM (#708333) Journal

        Bribery is commonplace in many cultures. Westerners are ill-prepared for it and are frequently aghast when they encounter it.

        Unfortunately, it's an infectious practice. When people from those cultures emigrate to new places, they carry those practices with them. If they are moving to places that don't do that it gives them an early advantage through the difficult transition of language, laws, culture. In the long term it can turn native-born against them or rub off on their hosts.

        Relative honesty in business dealings seems to me a key competitive advantage in Western economies, because it means lower transaction costs (in the econ sense of the term), but when the number of people in the marketplace who cheat, steal, bribe, and corrupt as a matter of course overwhelm those who prefer not to do that it might turn into a hindrance. The guy you used to do business with because he was trustworthy becomes the guy everyone wants to do business with because he has a giant sign on his forehead that reads, "Sucker."

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:58PM (3 children)

          by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:58PM (#708347) Homepage Journal

          I am absolutely serious.

          This often puts US firms to a disadvantage relative to companies from countries where it's legal to bribe.

          At least at one time this law was strictly enforced. I haven't heard anything about it under the Trump administration.

          --
          Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:01PM (2 children)

            by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:01PM (#708414) Journal

            It is, yes, but US companies simply use go-betweens like UnaOil [theage.com.au] to do it for them. They use other firms like Mossack Fonseca [wikipedia.org] to launder the proceeds and evade sanctions and that sort of thing.

            It has been shown that all that is an unnecessary bit of work, because companies doing business in the United States have been caught red-handed doing really bad stuff and have suffered no real consequences, such as HSBC laundering drug money for the Mexican and Columbian Cartels [reuters.com].

            Because of all those crimes there ought to be a corporate death penalty and nullification of personal indemnity for officers of those corporations who ordered those actions.

            --
            Washington DC delenda est.
            • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:09PM

              by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:09PM (#708419) Homepage Journal

              The legal Term Of Art for that is "piercing the corporate veil".

              There are certain unlawful acts for which a corporation's fiduciaries can be held libel if they don't fulfill their fiduciary duties to ensure the corporation obeys certain laws.

              Failure to file taxes is one such; the corporations officers and directors can be forced to pay the taxes owed by the corporation. I don't recall what other offenses lead the corporate veil to be pierced.

              Putting millions of people out of work as a result of your company's "investment" in subprime mortgage-backed securities is unfortunately not one of them.

              I'll write my congress critters about that this weekend.

              --
              Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
            • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:16AM

              by cubancigar11 (330) on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:16AM (#710237) Homepage Journal

              Just to make sure you understand who actually made"bribery" normal and acceptable, here is a read: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/how-our-british-rulers-legalised-bribery/article2442485.ece [thehindu.com]

              The "westerners" went around punishing honest "subjects" and over hundreds of years purposefully established a corrupt system that only serves the people at top. This should also give you some context on exactly what is going on in USA today.

        • (Score: 2) by Mykl on Wednesday July 18 2018, @01:52AM

          by Mykl (1112) on Wednesday July 18 2018, @01:52AM (#708615)

          Bribery is commonplace in many cultures. Westerners are ill-prepared for it and are frequently aghast when they encounter it.

          Absolutely.

          I did some work several years ago for a large 'energy sector' multinational who was standardising policies and procedures across all of their global offices. They actually had a formal policy for how to handle bribes, or "facility payments" in some of the places that they operated (e.g. mining in Africa). To their credit, the company absolutely forbade these transactions unless a country was below a particular corruption index figure (something like this table [transparency.org]). Even then, there were certain signoffs required, limits imposed, and only certain conditions under which it could be used. It was all in the policy - fascinating reading!

        • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday July 18 2018, @05:20AM

          by cubancigar11 (330) on Wednesday July 18 2018, @05:20AM (#708679) Homepage Journal

          Just to clarify, bribery is not an output of culture but income inequality. It does ride on culture though.

          If they are moving to places that don't do that it gives them an early advantage through the difficult transition of language, laws, culture.

          It requires 2 to tango. Since offering a bribe is also an offense, just as taking one, immigrants offering a bribe won't work if native won't take it. So then why would they? Only if there is huge income inequality, and most probably because law enforcer isn't getting paid well.

          In the long term it can turn native-born against them or rub off on their hosts.

          There is absolutely no basis behind assuming native-born aren't against immigrants from the beginning. They almost always are. This is basic sociology. [wikipedia.org] Logical conclusion is that immigrants are successful because of two reasons: perseverance and undeniable need for their work.

          In fact, hatred against immigrants is worst in western countries because most of the Europe is basically a bunch of tribes who got rich over the hard-work and cunning perseverance of its own immigrants.

          You are right about the advantages of lack of bribery-culture, but it is not a cause it is a symptom. It is important to make this distinction because otherwise it will crop-up in your country and guess who will be blamed for that? The same group of people who have been blamed for everything by Europeans since forever - out-group.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:37PM (6 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:37PM (#708295)

    Firstly, "ethical" datamining yields no revenues by definition. Data is worth something if you can extract information that the owner of the data wasn't prepared to give you willingly in the first place.

    Secondly, what in the name of [insert deity] is "boutique geopolitical consultancy"?

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by Booga1 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:51PM

      by Booga1 (6333) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:51PM (#708303)

      Read, "specializing in regime change || reinforcement." Contract wording depends on who's paying.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:54PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:54PM (#708305)

      Secondly, what in the name of [insert deity] is "boutique geopolitical consultancy"?

      Rosco, we provide exclusive, strategic advice, insights and contacts, giving businesses and institutions the knowledge, skills and networks they need to succeed around the globe. We also provide expert advice on navigating complex geopolitical situations, responding to trends and anticipating future developments globally and in specific regions and countries.

      With our customized intelligence briefings, reports and presentations set within their geopolitical context, you can address specific corporate and political situations. Given your obvious deficiences, we can also provide geopolitical coaching, training and development sessions.

      Please vist us at the AWS Summit today, booth 52, where we are a Tungsten Level Sponsor.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:58PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:58PM (#708375)

        Oh, I forgot to mention, Rosco.

        We'll go down on a goat in a heartbeat, if the price is right. We are your whores, if you have the money.

        And, please, please, please, visit us at the AWS summit!!

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:55PM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:55PM (#708306) Journal

      Nothing wrong with a set of moral principles based on exploitation, money, power, and data mining.
      All completely ethical, for someone evil.

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:30PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:30PM (#708335) Journal

      I don't think it's entirely true that ethical datamining has no value, but I do agree that ethical datamining probably has far less value than all other varieties. For example, it is useful for me as a marketer to know how many people are in the market to buy cars, if I am looking to market cars. But an anonymized set of data with gross numbers is worth far less than unmasked consumers I can market to directly.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:55PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:55PM (#708374) Journal

      Secondly, what in the name of [insert deity] is "boutique geopolitical consultancy"?

      You may have missed the number of women involved in this scheme. I would say that boutique is a buzzword, but women have been calling their favorite crapholes "boutiques" for many, many years. If you were a door-to-door salesman, selling manure, and somehow managed to get the word "boutique" into the name of your business and/or product, you could get rich quick.

      To me, "boutique" is synonymous with "overpriced bullshit".

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:35PM (2 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:35PM (#708338) Journal

    Taking a step back from the details of TFA, it occurs to me that the material uses and abuses and real effects on the world social media has on the world now are things we geeks started talking about 20 years ago (in the specific form of discussion and information over the Internet). Then, we wondered, incredulous, that no normies thought it was worth wasting time thinking or talking about. "Who cares?" and "You're weird" or blank stares were typical responses. Now it's the end of the world what people say online.

    So there we have a good rule of thumb for how long it will take our innovations to really change the world, in that it takes 15-20 years for non-techies to understand and use what we have built. Anyone with a startup should take that into account.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:35PM

      by acid andy (1683) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:35PM (#708368) Homepage Journal

      it takes 15-20 years for non-techies to understand and use what we have built

      Or for their kids to build up enough pocket money to buy and learn the tech for themselves and eventually teach the basics to Ma'n'Pa.

      --
      If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @04:06PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @04:06PM (#708381)

      This is why we should have genocided all the normies long ago.

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