First, let’s dispense with the legalistic equivocating…

The claim that this is a data breach is completely false…no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked.

Yup, that little gem was extracted straight from Facebook’s news page on March 17th.

I beg to differ with the technocratic brain trust hunkered down in Menlo Park – splitting hairs over the definition of “breach” was a complete waste of time. However, I do like Merriam-Webster’s definition, particularly the first usage example, “a breach of trust”, because it sums up the situation perfectly.

C’mon, you do know Facebook has consistently exhibited a complete and utter disdain for the so-called “dumb f*cks”, (Mr. Zuckerberg’s words, not mine), who have chosen to surrender their digital lives to his stupid company, right?

As reported in the Guardian on Saturday, the Observer disclosed what whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, described as a concerted effort to harvest millions of Facebook profiles and then build psycho-graphic models of those people targeting what Wylie referred to as “…their inner demons.”

In the past several days, we’ve seen undercover footage of Alexander Nix, the now-suspended CEO of Cambridge Analytica, bragging about the absurd amount of influence his company had with the Trump campaign, claiming:

“We did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting. We ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy.”

Sure, this sociopath from England can’t speak proper English, but setting that aside, the implications of what he was caught on camera/tape saying are chilling, to say the least.

OK, so let’s recap: heartless technologists – 1, crusading politicians – 0… :-(

Sticking with what’s being reported by the Guardian, let’s now turn to the Chief-Executive-Apologizer’s™ tardy, non-committal, half-baked attempt at accepting responsibility for the entire company being asleep at the wheel:

“I’m really sorry that this happened.”

Yeah, definitely fell on his sword with that one, huh? Oh, did I mention he apologized for the “breach of trust”? Yeah, said that too… So Facebook attorneys, security geeks and public relations ‘droids chafe at the use of “breach”, but a handful of days later, ole’ Marky-Mark says he’s sorry for said breach [of trust]. And according to the same Guardian article:

Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, shared Zuckerberg’s post and added her own comment: “We know that this was a major violation of people’s trust, and I deeply regret that we didn’t do enough to deal with it.”

Oooh, impressive – way to lean in Sheryl, way to lean in…

E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, (paywall), opinion writer, thinks we should be outraged about the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, noting:

Zuckerberg’s statement Wednesday afternoon acknowledging “mistakes” and pledging to “work through this” largely repeated what we already know. He’ll have to do much more.

Agreed. Much more… Much, much more…

I’ll leave you with what New York Times, (paywall), technology writer, Nellie Bowles, quoted in a story about a former colleague of mine who, on Wednesday, suggested it might be time to #deletefacebook:

Employees may feel the freedom to rebel because of Silicon Valley’s success, both technologically and financially. The technology platforms have become more powerful — and the fortunes much bigger — than the programmers ever expected. So while the industry’s power disturbs them, the wealth allows them to speak out without fear of retribution…

True, but let’s not overlook the simple fact these rather public displays of righteous indignation are invariably launched after the check clears! Said differently, while you’re shoveling billions into your pockets, you’ll put up with just about anything…