DNA Edit: Harvesting data

The virtual world’s power over real-world outcomes, especially, in deciding the fate of elections, cannot be overstated. That Cambridge Analytica could manipulate the electoral process of the US Presidential elections and send shockwaves through India’s political establishment underscores the London-based firm’s immeasurable reach across the globe.

In India, the ugly battle of words played out between the BJP and the Congress over the use of the company’s illegal services strikes at the heart of democracy. If political parties employ such a firm to manipulate electoral processes, then the role of the Election Commission, entrusted to ensure free and fair polls, becomes redundant.

Illegally harvesting the data of millions of Facebook users – India currently has the maximum number of users after the US – is akin to, nay, far worse, than cricket match-fixing. It makes a mockery of democracy and severely damages the credibility of institutions like the EC. An independent probe into the allegations and counter-allegations, levelled by the BJP and the Congress at each other, would be one of the ways to deal with this malfeasance.

If Facebook can’t be trusted to protect the data of its users, then its founder Mark Zuckerberg should accept moral responsibility for the worldwide crisis that a series of exposés has triggered and shut down operations. In today’s world, as an individual’s online footprint is rapidly expanding, a data breach can create unprecedented chaos that can throw societies and governments into a tizzy. It has been revealed that Cambridge Analytica often works through front organisations, which means that it must be having offices in India as well.

Since the Congress says that it is basing its allegations on the claims made by a website called Ovleno Business Intelligence, an Indian Affiliate of Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, which allegedly had furnished data to BJP and JD(U) prior to 2014 general elections, it is now incumbent upon the government to prove such allegations wrong through the due process of law.

Concurrently, if there is a remote possibility that Congress President’s Rahul Gandhi’s tremendous surge in online popularity has to do with the analytics firm, then the government must, with equal zeal, track down that connection and make Gandhi and his party accountable for their actions.

IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has set the ball rolling by promising to take stringent action against any incident of data breach. If Zuckerberg is indeed complicit, even his ignorance in such matters makes him guilty, then he should be ready for penal actions and pay for the damages for which the social media giant is largely responsible. His apology – “I’m really sorry that this happened – in a TV channel interview doesn’t qualify because of his monumental failure to protect the identities of at least 50 million FB users who have fallen victim to Analytica’s nefarious designs. These are indeed dark times for democracy.