Thread by @WolfieChristl

This is weird.

Aristotle, a major political data company in the US who provided a 'nationwide enriched credit file' to Cambridge Analytica also runs a ID verification firm that utilizes 'identity data' on '3.4 billion citizens across the world', and a UK credit reference agency.

Has this ever been discussed or reported on?

According to NationBuilder, Aristotle provides e.g. data on 'over 190 million U.S. voters from 3,100 counties and political data from 157 nations':
nationbuilder.com/aristotlenews

Aristotle's subsidiary "Integrity":
integrity.aristotle.com/about/

The strange website of this UK credit reference and fraud prevention firm 'Aristotle International Europe Limited' (aristotleint.co.uk) says '(c) 2019 Integrity' and directly links to aristotle.com and integrity.aristotle.com.

Aristotle owned a '35-million-person database for the U.K., which was used by at least one candidate in London’s last mayoral race' already back in the mid-2000s: vanityfair.com/news/2007/12/a…

Btw. Recently, Aristotle has also been working in Kenya @pasternack: fastcompany.com/40450037/trump…

@pasternack And this is what Aristotle provided to Cambridge Analytica: a 'nationwide enriched credit file' with '400 data points for 220m individuals', according to an internal doc leaked by Brittany Kaiser.

@pasternack 1) Firms that collect/analyze/sell extensive personal information about voters shouldn't exist.

2) Data processing for ID verification, fraud prevention and credit reporting must be strictly regulated. Data must not be used for other purposes, especially not for voter profiling.

@pasternack Perhaps Aristotle's businesses are strictly separated and they do not use any personal data across voter profiling and risk analytics.

But I think the fact that they are mentioned as a credit data provider for political campaigning should be enough to start an EU investigation.

@pasternack Even more so if this is (still) true and they run the UK credit reference agency to gain access to the UK electoral register. Thanks @EinsteinsAttic!

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic With regards to their identity verification business they claim to cover all EU countries (and many more):
integrity.aristotle.com/global/

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic According to the privacy policy, they 'have access to databases provided by governments' and others containing personal data such as addresses, phone numbers, 'government-issued identification data, IP addresses, social network data' +sensitive blacklists: integrity.aristotle.com/privacy-policy/

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic They claim to use a 'comprehensive database of government-issued ID’s for citizens of 135 countries around the globe', a 'database covering over 3.4 billion citizens worldwide':
integrity.aristotle.com/solutions

I really hope Aristotle doesn't use *any* of this data for voter profiling.

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic Whoa, I missed this when I scanned that Vanity Fair piece before (vanityfair.com/news/2007/12/a…). According to this article, GOOGLE owned 27 percent (!) of Aristotle in 2007 (and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp 13.5 percent). Who owns Aristotle today?

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic This from Aristotle's website (aristotle.com/data/) seems to show an app that shows detailed personal information to canvassers, including name, age, party, vote history and even info such as '2nd Most Recent Lender Name' and '2nd Most Recent Mortgage Am[ount]'.

…wait what?

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic The only take I've seen by now that covers both Aristotle's ID and voter profiling stuff is this comment to the FTC ...oddly, it's about about an application for a COPPA safe harbor program (which was granted ultimately): ftc.gov/policy/public-…

…again, found by @EinsteinsAttic

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic Another one via @EinsteinsAttic - in 2018, the U.S. Federal Election Commission(FEC) found 'probable cause to believe' that Aristotle 'violated' the 'sale and use restriction' imposed on FEC data.

Don't know the current status of this investigation: fec.gov/files/legal/mu…

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic A project closely linked to Aristotle is Predictit, a political-gambling site aka prediction market. This seems to be illegal in the US (bloomberg.com/news/articles/…), so it claims to be an 'experimental project operated for academic purposes'. What about the data? /thx @MatthiasEberl

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic @MatthiasEberl Is this the backstory of why Aristotle provides both political tech and ID verification? First, software for political campaigns, then: "We were increasingly using the software to verify the identities of people making contributions to political campaigns" telegraph.co.uk/finance/commen…

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic @MatthiasEberl In a SEC filing from 2000, Aristotle stated:

"We collect and compile information in our databases that we use in connection with our campaign products and services and for our targeted advertising products and our age and identity authentication services" nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/f…

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic @MatthiasEberl …this doesn't sound like strict separation.

Also in the year 2000, "VeriSign has struck partnerships with data companies such as Equifax and Trans Union, which provide credit data, and Aristotle International, a provider of voter data" for auth purposes: dmnews.com/customer-exper…

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic @MatthiasEberl In 2000, Aristotle started to license UK voter records from a third party and warned in its SEC filing (nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/f…) that there is the risk that the license could be terminated.

In 2003, they incorporated this UK credit referencing agency:

@pasternack @EinsteinsAttic @MatthiasEberl Correction: I misread this paragraph in the Vanity Fair piece (vanityfair.com/news/2007/12/a…).

It was not Google but WR Hambrecht, which owned 27% of Aristotle in 2007 (+ helped with Google's IPO + invested in other data companies e.g. LexisNexis, Salesforce: crunchbase.com/organization/w…)