Select a region
A Cambridge Analytica whistleblower is urging Jersey to become a global leader in helping citizens “take back control” of their data, and is pushing for CEOs to face criminal charges over privacy offences.
Brittany Kaiser visited the island last month to speak to Jersey’s Information Commissioner, politicians and digital company leaders about what a successful policy for protecting islanders’ personal information might look like.
Kaiser was previously a business adviser at Cambridge Analytica, but left the company in 2018 amid ethical concerns.
She went on to give evidence about the company’s activities in a House of Commons inquiry into fake news and misinformation.
Pictured: Brittany Kaiser previously worked at Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica was found to have improperly obtained data from 87million Facebook profiles through a personality quiz. That data was then used to manipulate individuals deemed to be “persuadable” with targeted political advertising.
The now-defunct firm also worked with Leave.EU during the UK’s referendum on European Union membership, and the Trump 2016 campaign.
Kaiser now describes herself as a “data rights activist” and has founded the Own Your Data Foundation.
She recently publishing documents on Twitter she claims confirm interference in dozens of countries’ elections, and touring the world to advise governments and bodies on data policy.
In an exclusive interview with Express, she explained that she thinks Jersey has an opportunity to lead the way with data rights legislation, acting as an example to other jurisdictions.
“It’s a complex task for big countries like the United States,” Texas-born Kaiser said. “We have 50 states and also federal legislation but in a place like Jersey it’s actually very possible to put together a legislative framework that makes sense for everyone.”
Pictured: Kaiser says Jersey has an opportunity to be a data protection leader.
“I’m not the type of person that says throw red tape at something and it’s going to fix the problem – you need to strike a fine balance, and in small jurisdictions it’s easier to do that and get everybody on board.”
There is also a potential economic opportunity. Kaiser notes that in the state of Wyoming, which has been looking to enhance its data legislation, "...We’ve had hundreds of companies move... tens of billions of dollars moving because of the legislative framework that we put in. Jersey has the ability to do that not just for Europe, but to be a global hub."
The current legislation governing citizens’ rights when it comes to their data is GDPR. It provides guidelines to companies for the collection, processing and protection of personal information and allows people to request that their information be removed from databases.
If companies don’t comply, they can face penalties.
But Kaiser says that Information Commissioners’ Offices (ICOs) across the globe – the entity responsible for enforcing the legislation – are now “drowning” in work since GDPR came in.
Pictured: Kaiser met with Jersey's Information Commissioner, Dr Jay Fedorak, when she visited.
“The ICOs in every country in Europe have been flooded with companies that are not compliant because they’re drowning in Subject Access Requests from people who want to know what data’s held on them, they’re drowning in requests for the right to delete, and it’s very difficult to get through all of them, so these are getting passed to the ICOs, who have put their hands up in most countries and said, ‘We cannot handle the amount of requests that have come in.’
“It’s great that a lot of people want to exercise their rights, but if you don’t get your Subject Access Request answered in a timely manner then it kind of makes the whole legislative framework null and void in a way. It has to be tangible for people to see what their rights mean.”
Cue Revoke – an app Kaiser heralds as “revolutionary” in making consumers’ rights “tangible”.
The brainchild of local tech entrepreneur Gus Fraser, the app allows users to ‘revoke’ their personal details from even the seediest corners of the web.
Pictured: Brittany Kaiser and Gus, CEO of Revoke.
Once they have signed up, Revoke notifies users of where their data is held and, crucially, which bits have been involved in previous data breaches and potentially traded on the ‘dark web’. They can then decide which bits of information they want to remove.
It launched for free to Jersey and Guernsey residents this week, with Fraser taking advantage of Jersey as a 'Digital Sandbox' to refine the app before taking it global, while also helping the island on its way to becoming a global data protection leader.
“This is one of the first platforms I’ve ever seen that gives individuals a very easy way to exercise their rights under the current legislative framework.”
She continued: “I think they have a solution that makes data rights tangible for individuals and something I struggle with the most is making people understand why people should care about their data rights and what they are because a lot of people don’t see it as easy to exercise.
“You’re going to pass laws, but how does that affect my daily life? You’re going to use a platform that shows how many data breaches you have been in. It’s shocking to a lot of people at first because they’re not thinking about it.”
Video: How Revoke works.
She laughs that she hasn’t needed to use it herself – “I’m very aware of all the data breaches my data has been in. I have a cybersecurity guard, who actually polices all of that for me” – but emphasises that, for individuals who wouldn’t expect to be targeted like her, “to have other people do the back-end work exercising your data rights on your behalf is revolutionary”.
Kaiser said she first found out about the app at the launch of her new book, ‘Targeted’, where he was the opening speaker.
Both “ethically aligned”, the pair said their key objective during Kaiser’s visit – which was facilitated by Fraser – was to help improve Jersey’s odds of becoming a more secure jurisdiction, starting with an updated legislative framework.
Kaiser explained that efforts to increase compliance should be at the heart of that.
“Companies and governments must understand that their protocols are only as good as their weakest staff member - they need to know how to spot a phishing attack, for example.”
Of course, some smaller companies might struggle – a solution Kaiser explains California has resolved by allocating a portion of its government budget to help them.
Pictured: Kaiser thinks education is central to the campaign to help citizens 'own' their data.
She notes that things should get easier in future: “A lot of this is going to be automated, so less heavy-lifting for humans because we will have cutting-edge technology that helps with data management, and tracking and consent structures.”
Kaiser also advocates going a step further: making companies’ CEOs criminally liable for ‘negligence’ with regards to citizens’ data.
“Right now I think civil cases against these companies are bothersome and expensive and bad for PR, but I think actually it doesn’t force companies to make the ethical decision unless they really care about image more than just paying the fines all the time.
“I’m in conversation with quite a few countries for creating liability for negligence around not just data protection… Most CEOs probably don’t want to go to jail for negligence but they’re very happy to pay all day long…
“I think criminal liability on these issues is incredibly important and something I would push for here.”
Pictured: Kaiser says CEOs should face jail for negligence with citizens' data.
But is anything we do now a case of reacting after the horse has bolted?
After all, millions of individuals have already had their data stolen and manipulated – and are continuing to leave information breadcrumbs across the internet every day.
By Brittany’s own admission, things are going to get “much worse before they get better” with regards to targeted messaging and (mis)use of personal data.
“Unfortunately, so many people saw how successful Cambridge Analytica was that there are now hundreds of Cambridge Analyticas. So that’s why I think regulation is so important right now because we now have propaganda as service companies who are finding new ways to manipulate data that Cambridge Analytica couldn’t even dream of.
“So this year with the American elections, we’re seeing already that it’s much worse than 2016 so that’s why this topic couldn’t be more relevant or important. Yes, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. We need to concentrate on what we can do to make it better and how quickly.”
There is some hope, however.
Kaiser, who wears a necklace saying ‘Own Your Data’, says education is key in the fightback.
She says she wants to raise awareness of DQ – a measure of digital literacy – particularly among younger people.
It covers everything from cybersecurity protocols to cyber-bullying, and even touches upon digital addiction.
“Last year was the first year this has ever been taught in schools. I started by getting it into as many schools as possible for this school year and next school year in the US and hoping that Jersey is interested in doing some pilot programmes on that here in schools.”
Increasing awareness of digital manipulation techniques should also protect against those who think they are ‘too clever’ to be duped by targeted advertising.
“Everyone is persuadable,” Kaiser says. “You don’t realise how persuadable you are until you look back and realise – like I was in that situation, somehow I went from working for Barack Obama to Trump. If it could happen to me, it could happen to everyone.”
Battling to protect consumer rights should also include paying closer attention terms and conditions, which she recommends can be done via plug-in BEACON - developed by friend and ex-Google employee Joe Toscano - which distils T&Cs into an easy-to-read format.
She goes on: “Also if you are using any website or any app then they are tracking some of your data unless you have blockers and you constantly clean out all of your cookies – most people don’t do those things, but if you’re reading this article then you should go do it for the first time today!”
Together, Increased consumer awareness, apps like Revoke, and new laws should pave the way for the ownership of data to fall back into citizens’ hands and ensure future generations are safer online, Brittany says.
However, she says she doesn’t see the future as “privacy-driven”.
“I see the future as driven by consensual data sharing so that we can use AI and data science to solve many of the world’s problems that we have right now.”
She elaborates: “There are billions of people who will begin to start taking advantage of this and employ their own data assets for their own benefit as opposed to just a company or government that has decided to take their data.
“Data has the possibility to become the great equaliser really, where people who in general have normally been disadvantaged may start being able to employ their own data assets in terms of monetisation and will be able to feed themselves and their family everyday off of that. We’ll become data equals.”
Echoing the infamous slogan of Leave.EU, she Kaiser notes: “I really see it not being a huge long wait before we have a lot more power. It’s about taking back control.”
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.