Thread by @jason_kint

Thread coming. Had the privilege of testifying in Ottawa to Parliament yesterday regarding data protection, monopolies, journalism, Facebook, Google and the like. Here are some of the key points I made to the Committee. /1

1st point was confirming the Committee's focus on the "Data-opolies." I walked them through our original duopoly analysis and that 2 companies are now taking most (approx 85%) of the growth and share (approx 70%) of the $150B+ North America + EU digital advertising market. /2

I then connected this dominance to their core business of data collection and microtargeting...pointed out Google and Facebook are able to collect data in a way that no one else can. "Data is the source of their power." Shared research on their mining location and browsing. /3

what I've called the original sin of the web, allowing for persistent tracking of consumers across multiple contexts...creates incentives for bad actors, particularly on “unmanaged platforms” like social media, where bias is for a click, whether it’s a consumer or a bot. /4

I also pointed out how G thru M&A/monopoly took ad tech. now having no peer in each stage of the ad supply chain whether buying, selling, transacting or measuring advertising. In finance, it is akin to being the stockbroker, investment banker, stock exchange and stock itself. /5

I amplified evidence in their strong Dec report from Professor @MauriceStucke, their competition office, @tristanharris, others. Mostly on shifting from price-central tools in evaluating free products exploiting data. ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer… /6

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris also, CA competition office makes a strong point on issues of services making privacy/quality promises to grow rapidly but then eroding their promises and changing how data is used once their dominant. Referenced new research from @DinaSrinivasan clearly making this case v FB. /7

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan Explained most of the issues: bot fraud, malware, ad blockers, clickbait, privacy violations and now disinformation importantly are all symptoms. The root of the problem is unbridled data collection at the most personal level imagined. /8

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan then walked through the many outstanding issues and questions with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica (see @CommonsCMS evidence). Made a fresh point FB's app violating Apple policy similar except Apple actually proactively did something. /9

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan @CommonsCMS interesting ppl think Cambridge Analytica is over, I flagged non-answers on executive awareness, cover-up, misleading testimony, Joseph Chancellor hiring/vanishing, lack of accountability in governance/leadership at Facebook. Saga continues. /10

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan @CommonsCMS I essentially laid on the table the outrageousness in Facebook's point to @IanCLucas that "the buck stops with Mark Zuckerberg" knowing full well nothing has happened to leadership and that it's unclear other than verbal promises, what would prevent it from happening again. /11

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan @CommonsCMS @IanCLucas Closed with points on privacy: data collected and used within a single context tends to meet with a consumer’s expectations because there is a direct relationship between these activities to the consumer experience. FB and CA violated this incredibly. /12

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan @CommonsCMS @IanCLucas closed with a question whether companies acting as service providers and passively seeing much of our browsing and location activity and outside the context of our service should have a higher bar to use that data for their own interests in other contexts. /13

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan @CommonsCMS @IanCLucas That's it. Sorry for the wonky thread but know privacy/industry ppl care. wanted to share key points, always open to anyone who wants to challenge the thinking. The audio is archived here (ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer…), my opening ten minutes start at 16:03:45. Cheers. /end

@MauriceStucke @tristanharris @DinaSrinivasan @CommonsCMS @IanCLucas last point from opening remarks (most evidence came from @CommonsCMS good work): "We now know Facebook spent significantly more time and resources in 2016 helping Cambridge Analytica buy and run ad campaigns than they did trying to
clean up their self-­titled “breach of trust.”