Cambridge Analytica Ethics

This report discusses the Cambridge Analytica case study from an ethical perspective. It analyzes the situation using the Doing Ethics Technique and the ACS Code of Ethics. The report concludes with appropriate recommendations.

Running head: CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA ETHICS
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA ETHICS
Name of student
Name of university
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Discussion......................................................................................................................2
Background to the case study.....................................................................................2
Analysis of the situation using the “Doing Ethics Technique”..................................3
Analysis of the situation from ACS Code of Ethics..................................................6
Conclusions....................................................................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
This report aims to discuss the aspects of the Cambridge Analytica case study from
the point of view of the various code of the ethics that could be applied. The background of
the case study has been clearly described in this report. The extensive analysis of the situation
on the basis of the Doing Ethics technique has been executed in this report. The brief analysis
of the situation on the basis of the ACS code of ethics has been briefly described in this
report. Lastly, this report concludes with the appropriate conclusion for the report.
Discussion
Background to the case study
The Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal was the major political scandal in the
early 2018 when there was the revelation that the Cambridge Analytics had significantly
harvested the personal data of the millions of people using the Facebook profiles without the
proper consent and it was later used for the political advertising intentional. This situation has
been referred as the Watershed moment in common public comprehending of the personal
data and this situation precipitated the massive fall within the stock price of Facebook and it
led to the implementation of the significantly tighter regulation on the use of the data by the
company [1]. This illicit harvesting of the data of the individual by the Cambridge Analytica
had been initially reported in the month of December by the journalist Harry Davies, who
worked in The guardian. It was claimed by him that the Cambridge Analytica had been
working with the United States and they were utilising the harvested data from the millions of
the Facebook story of the people and it was also claimed that the data was used for several
other things other than the investigation. Cambridge Analytica was under the heavy media
scrutiny when an operation done in the undercover sting revealed that the senior executives
were boasting regarding the psychological manipulation, the techniques of the entrapment

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and the campaigns of the fake news. With the effective collaboration with the social media
platform, Facebook, this London based consultancy for the elections is trapped in centre of
the ongoing dispute over alleged harvesting as well as the utilisation of the personal data [2].
These allegations comprises of the increased concerns over the decision where these kinds of
the data was actually utilised for the influencing the result of recent Presidential elections in
U.S. as well as the Brexit vote. In the explosive broadcast of exposing, the whistleblower of
Cambridge Analytica Christopjher Wylie disclosed the wrong doings that were being done in
the organisation that could affect the methods by which the voters could vote. It was claimed
that the data was collected and then in went through significant analysis and with the result of
the analysis, the common behaviour pattern of the people were judged and manipulated [3].
Analysis of the situation using the “Doing Ethics Technique”
The Doing ethics method could be described as the process that is used for the proper
analysis of the ethical issues that are associated with any scenario. But the issue is that there
is not particular assurance that the most appropriate solution could be discovered but is
significantly helps in thinking with the ethical viewpoint [4].
Q1: What’s going on?
This aspect deals with the issue of what the issue is. In the issue of the Cambridge
Analytica, there is the situation where this organisation is executing the task of the harvesting
the behaviour of the persons by the extensive analysis of the behaviour of the people and this
task is executed without the proper consent of the people [6]. this task was being executed
with the help of the effective collaboration with the Facebook who provided the required data
about the various people and the trends on the Facebook posts were significantly analysed for
gaining the effective idea about the common people behaviour and then manipulate the
thinking of the people [5]. this led to the significantly easy competition in the presidential

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elections and the result of the elections were manipulated. This analysis of the Facebook
profiles of the people was done by Cambridge Analytica for gaining the idea about social
behaviour.
Q2: What are the facts?
In this situation, there is the main facts of the situation could be described and listed
for the simplification of the processes [7]. In the considered case study, some of the crucial
facts that could be listed are that harvesting of the data was being done, the whistleblower
provided the evidence of the complete situation and the help in the resolving of this issue,
Facebook provided the required data that could be analysed and the pattern of the human
behaviour could be determined.
Q3: What are the issues?
In this section, all the issues that are associated with the act could be considered and
listed down. In the situation of the Cambridge Analytica, the major issues that could be
described are that data harvesting was significantly utilised, manipulation of the voting
tendencies was being done, Faceboook provided the required dataset that contained the
Facebook profiles and the posts of people that could be analysed and significantly extract the
crucial information from this dataset [8]. The organisation made the effective collaboration
with the presidential election candidates and provided the result of the analysis of the human
behaviour for the execution of manipulation of the voters
Q4: Who are affected?
Within this prospect, all the stakeholders of any issue could be considered and the
proper analysis of the individual stakeholders could be done. This particular requirement
might not be solely restricted to individual particularly that are mentioned in the situation,
there is the requirement of considering who else may be significantly affected by this issues

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[9]. In the situation of the Cambridge Analytica, the stakeholders of the company who
provided the required analysis are significantly affected along with the voters who have been
manipulated are severely affected, the Facebook company is another stakeholder who is
severely affected as they provided the required dataset for the execution of manipulation [10].
Q5: What are the ethical issues and the implications?
For this particular question, there is the requirement of the extracting solely the ethical
issues that have been identified. The ethical issues have been listed and then discussed them
in the terms classical theory and then discus the implication that could happen on the
community. In the situation of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, this issue violates all the
ethical issues that have been described in the classical ethical theory. On the basis of the
deontology ethical theory, it states that the people must adhere to the obligations and the
duties when they are engaged in the decision making when the ethics are being considered. It
denotes that any person would follow the obligation to any other individual or the society due
to the fact that the upholding of the due of the individual is significantly considered as
severely ethically correct [11]. In this situation, it could be discovered in the case study, it
was significantly unethical to analyse the dataset that was provided by the Facebook and the
Facebook have also violated the ethical theory as it violated the ethical duties of protecting
the confidentiality of their clients and the users. Utilitarianism states that the ability of any
individual of making the effective prediction of the consequences of any actions. For any
utilitarian, the option that provides the most advantages to the majority of the people is that
any individual is significantly ethically correct. The Cambridge Analytica scandal violated
the Utilitarianism theory as the university did not make the positive prediction of the
consequences and they executed the complete analysis of the dataset that was provided by the
Facebook and then provided the methods of manipulating the clients and the voters of the
nation [12]. As per the Rights ethical theory, the rights that have been implemented by any

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society are significantly protected and provided the major priority. The rights could be
considered as correct and significantly valid as it is endorsed by several individuals. As per
rights theory, the situation at the Cambridge analytica has violated the as the rights that have
been implemented by the society of protecting the privacy of the people has been violated by
this issue.
Q6: What could be done about it?
This particular question provides the common idea of the action that could be
executed for the resolving of any case, whether it might be the ideas could be practical,
possible or not. Commonly it dignifies the kind of the solution that is available. By the
consideration of the case study, the right action that could be done is the stopping of the
practice of the harvesting of the personal details of the common people and execute the
analysis of the behaviour of the people [13].
Q7: what are the alternatives?
This particular question deals with the requirements of the listing and then describing
in the significant details about the probable alternatives that may be accessible for the
resolving of any case. From this point of view, there is the requirement of the shutdown of
the practice of the analysis of the behaviour of the people and stop the department of the
Analysis. It could help in preventing any further use of this method for the manipulation of
the common people’s choice. It could be significantly utilised for the providing the
appropriate solution for future and it could be ensured that no actions like this are executed
ever again. Another option that could be executed is the use of the proper methods of apology
to the people who could be provided with the correct answer regarding the task that had been
executed and then ensure that this kind of action is never executed again [14].

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Analysis of the situation from ACS Code of Ethics
As the ACS member that is the major requirement of upholding and advancing the
honour and the dignity along with the effectiveness of being significantly professional. It
entails, along with being the good citizen and then acting as per the law, the individual must
follow the following ACS values:
The primacy of public interest
Within this context of the code, there is the requirement of considering the public
interest into the major precedence over the personal, sectional interests and the private
interests and all the conflicts must be resolved in the favour of public interest. It could be
considered from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it could be observed that the university
violated this theory as they did not consider the effect of the actions that were done by them
to the common people. it led to the becoming manipulated to be allowed to be voting for the
person they did not wish to. The Facebook company also did not consider the feeling of the
common people and executed the violation of the privacy and provided the university with
the dataset.
The improvement of the quality of life
This particular development of the ICT has impacted significantly on the society and
on the manner of the life. even though this particular impact has been significantly beneficial
to the significant extent like all the technologies, the ICT has had some of the negative effects
and would continue to do. From the consideration of the case study, it could be observed that
there was the negative use of the ICT and it was significantly utilised for the analysis of the
data of the people without the proper consent from the people. This issue did not maintain the
following of the right act of the improving the quality of the life of the people by the proper
utilisation of the ICT.

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Honesty
It states that there must be no breach in the trust of the public within any profession or
any particular trust of the shareholders. The observance of the major honesty must be
underlie on all the professional decisions and the actions. By the consideration of the case
study it could be observed that the Facebook and the university was not honest with the
people and breached the trust of the people and executed the task of the analysis of the
personal behaviour of the people. They were not honest with the people as the people trusted
with the personal details but it was used for the manipulation of the people on the basis of the
personal views and the thoughts that were displayed on the social media platform.
Competence
It states that the individual must accept the works that they are significantly
competent in. No such task must be undertaken where the proper answer could not be
provided and affects the view of the people significantly. From this point of the view, the
university provided the proper analysis of the dataset that was later used for the manipulation
of the common people and they were manipulated into giving the votes to the person they
might not have wanted. They successfully executed the task of the execution of the data
analysis and the provided data was significantly successful in the manipulation.
Professional development
It states that it is required to be significantly informed regarding the recent
development of the technologies and the best practices that are presented in the modern
world. There is the major requirement of the encouraging the staff and the colleagues for
executing the similar tasks. The action must be undertaken for the ensuring that the hard won
knowledge as well as the experience are easily passed on in the manner that all the recipients

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not solely improves the effectiveness in the present work but also grow to be significantly
advance in the capabilities and then take the extra responsibilities.
Professionalism
It states that the ICT industry is significantly new and it has been characterised by the
swift changes. It did not have the major change of making the proper evolvement over the
years and also acquire the respective legislations and the standards. The considered issue was
also violated by the scandal that did not present the proper professionalism and executed the
manipulation of the people.
Conclusions
Therefore, it could be concluded that the action of the Cambridge Analytica could be
considered as the non ethical task that led to the manipulation of the people. The Facebook
Cambridge Analytica scandal was the major political scandal in the early 2018 when there
was the revelation that the Cambridge Analytics had significantly harvested the personal data
of the millions of people using the Facebook profiles without the proper consent and it was
later used for the political advertising intentional. Tis task was being executed with the help
of the effective collaboration with the Facebook who provided the required data about the
various people and the trends on the Facebook posts were significantly analysed for gaining
the effective idea about the common people behaviour and then manipulate the thinking of
the people. In the considered case study, some of the crucial facts that could be listed are that
harvesting of the data was being done, the whistleblower provided the evidence of the
complete situation and the help in the resolving of this issue, Facebook provided the required
data that could be analysed and the pattern of the human behaviour could be determined.

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References
[1] Cadwalladr C, Graham-Harrison E. The Cambridge analytica files. The Guardian. 2018
Mar;21:6-7.
[2] Persily N. The 2016 US election: Can democracy survive the internet?. Journal of
democracy. 2017;28(2):63-76.
[3] Isaak J, Hanna MJ. User Data Privacy: Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and Privacy
Protection. Computer. 2018 Aug;51(8):56-9.
[4] Zunger J. Computer science faces an ethics crisis. The Cambridge Analytica scandal
proves it. Boston Globe. 2018 Mar;22.
[5] Cadwalladr C. The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked. The
Guardian. 2017 May 7;7.
[6] Cadwalladr C. I created Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare tool’: Meet the data war
whistleblower. The Guardian. 2018 Mar 17;17.
[7] Ward K. Social networks, the 2016 US presidential election, and Kantian ethics: applying
the categorical imperative to Cambridge Analytica’s behavioral microtargeting. Journal of
media ethics. 2018 Jul 3;33(3):133-48.
[8] Laterza V. Cambridge Analytica, independent research and the national interest.
Anthropology Today. 2018 Jun;34(3):1-2.
[9] Martínez AG. Chaos monkeys: Obscene fortune and random failure in Silicon Valley.
HarperCollins Publishers; 2018 Jul 24.
[10] Common MF. Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: let this be the high-water mark for
impunity. LSE Business Review. 2018 Mar 22.
[11] Cadwalladr C. Google, democracy and the truth about internet search. The Guardian.
2016 Dec 4;4(12):2016.

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[12] Gonzalez RJ. Hacking the citizenry?: Personality profiling,‘big data’and the election
of Donald Trump. Anthropology Today. 2017 Jun;33(3):9-12.
[13] Baldwin-Philippi J. The myths of data-driven campaigning. Political Communication.
2017 Oct 2;34(4):627-33.
[14] Doward J, Cadwalladr CC, Gibbs A. Watchdog to launch inquiry into misuse of data
in politics. Sat. 2017 Mar;4:22-9.