Cambridge Analytica: Data Collection and Ethical Issues in Cyber Technology

Cambridge Analytica
Data Collection: “Harvesting” Personalities Online

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA 1
The continuous use of communication technology in the modern world is an
opportunity for an individual, institution and business organisation but it also raises some
difficult ethical and legal problems. Internet reached into all business segments which
increased the issues due to emerging computers, telecommunication and other media. It can
be said that there are many benefits of new technologies such as industry development, e-
learning system and many more. But in the developing world, an individual faces many
challenges due to new technology of communication. Such as in the case of Cambridge
Analytica, users of Facebook faced the problem of data theft. Facebook leaked its user’s
personal data to Cambridge Analytica; the company used this data to predict the voting
preference of the people (Xu, Liu, Xiong, Wang, & Zuo, 2017). This case raised many
problems for the users. This paper focuses on the ethical issues related to the cyber
technology. In this paper a case study is taken into consideration to analyse the ethical issues
of cyber technology by implementing the ethical theories. These ethics theories mainly
include utilitarianism, deontology, contract, and virtue. To solve these issues; the
recommendation is also provided at the end of paper.
Utilitarianism theory is an action that produces the hapiness and the greatest benefit to
the people (Mill, 2016). In the case of Cambridge Analytica, Cambridge and Donald Trump
get the benefit from the action of the company. The firm used the personal data for the
prediction of election; it helped Donald Trump to win the election of the president (Raicu,
2018). Despite of being happy, people are getting disappointed with the services of Facebook
because Cambridge cheated the society by used their personal data which affected the people.
It can be said that Cambridge and the political parties got the utility but the society faced the
challenges. From the analysis, it has been recommended that the organisation has to secure
the data of its people. To gain the advantage of technology, it is necessary to spread the

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA 2
awareness and educate the people to secure their personal data. The online organisations can
hire the security experts or the people can install the intrusion detection application which
helps them to detect the hacking software (Mill, 2016).
Deontology theory defines the action whether it is right or wrong under the rules.
According to this theory, an organisation has the responsibility to do the right action for the
society so the people can live free (Dörr, & Hollnbuchner, 2017). But in the case of
Cambridge Analytica, it is observed that the company used personal data for impacting the
election of America. It is a wrong action which is done by the company towards the society.
The action of the company for the political parties is right because it was established with the
aim of providing the good advice to the political parties. Direct action of Cambridge
Analytica disturbs people’s personal lives and the economy. It can be suggested that to
construct the strong cyber system it is necessary to adopt the new technologies to detect the
crimes at the initial stages. As per the case, Facebook has to keep their data secure by
adopting the new technologies from which only the users can see their profile. The
organisations must ensure that the actions taken by them or legal and are not wrong
(Paquette, Sommerfeldt, & Kent, 2015).
Contract theory defines an oral agreement which is made by the people who live
together in the society (Jayawickreme, Meindl, Helzer, Furr, & Fleeson, 2014). People have
certain responsibilities to follow the agreement. Society is an important stakeholder for an
organisation; it can be said that an organisation has many responsibilities towards the society.
As per the case, Cambridge also has the responsibilities towards the society to keep their data
safe and secure but it cheated the society by using their personal data to predict the voting
preference of people. From this scam, people got affected and disappointed with the
company. Despite performing the responsibilities towards the society the company cheated its
people which do not fulfil the requirement of the theory. It can be said that the company