The whistleblower, who last moved world, wears pink colored hair, camouflage clos and a five-day beard. Christopher Wylie is only 29 years old, but in world of data processing already a veteran.
He learned from Barack Obama’s top data expert what can be done with large holdings of personal information, he refined his knowledge for Canadian opposition – and he performed his masterpiece as he did for data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica invented a way to secretly exploit millions of Facebook user profiles for political purposes. He is gay Canadian vegan who helped build Steve Bannons psychological war Machine, says Wylie about himself, alluding to fact that he assisted Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Bannon. This war machine not only helped Trump 2016 win presidential election, but also played an important role in Brexit campaign, which persuaded British to leave European Union. At some point, Wylie doubts came. He turned to media, became a whistleblower and dissolved Facebook scandal that cost social network a lot of reputation this spring and forced Mark Zuckerberg to public.
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The Facebook scandal is most recent example of how global corporations that have become big on internet are drifting with personal data – and how a weapon can emerge from it in political melee. Big data, i.e. collection and evaluation of huge data stocks, plays a role in course of digital revolution almost everywhere, in groups such as Facebook or Google, but also at Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen or Lufthansa.
And Christopher Wylie is most recent example of how important it is for insiders to speak when y observe misuse of this data. That y don’t brood, wrangle and end up silent. But that y become whistleblowers.
A new foundation, “The signals”, has now set itself goal of supporting whistleblowers in this difficult, dangerous and sometimes existentially threatening step. The foundation, which was founded last year by French Gilles Raymond, offers legal advice and practical help, it wants to help insiders to take gang to public. Raymond had founded news aggregator in Silicon Valley and sold it for 57 million dollars last year.
His new foundation cooperates with international media, including Médiapart (France), The Daily Telegraph and WikiTribune (UK) and The Intercept (USA). In Germany, re is time.
When journalists ask what grievances re are in authorities or in dealing with data, it is not a call to accusations reign, but a urdemokratischen process. In democracy, public has a constituent role to play in controlling those who have power and influence. It is indispensable for process of checks and balances, as Americans call it. To pursue grievances, to appoint m and thus to provide society with basis for a process of self-healing – that is role of journalism in a democracy. For this process, however, public is dependent on assistance. Good journalism needs tips and insider knowledge. He needs whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, 1971 with Pentagon Papers, showing how US government had deceived public about Vietnam War.
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“Transparency leads to accountability and provides citizens with information about what ir government is doing,” said former US President Barack Obama, who made his own experience with it when 2013 Edward Snowden was monstrous Surveillance programs of National Security Agency revealed. Obama has not completely forgiven Snowden, but at least conceded at end of his tenure that Snowden had triggered an “important debate” as a whistleblower.
This article comes from time No. 26/2018. Here you can read entire output.
But in digital age, democracies are not only threatened by ir enemies or surveillance fantasies of governments. They are also threatened by transnational actors in economy who are only committed to ir shareholders and who are deprived of any independent supervision. While governments are accountable to control bodies such as investigative committees or parliamentary control bodies, all of this is lacking in private sector. The Facebooks, Googles or Amazons of this world are giants of which world can only recognize a glittering surface. What happens inside, what happens to all of our data and what limits are exceeded – hardly anyone knows. By appealing to potential whistleblowers to report to media involved, it is not a matter of snatching companies ‘ control of ir business model – but of trying to pursue illegal practices. In interest of something greater than any entrepreneur or politician: common good.
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