7WCM0005 Semester B: Chris Wylie Presentation - Hero or Traitor?

This presentation analyzes the actions of Chris Wylie, a key figure in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It explores his role as a whistleblower who exposed the data profiling activities and potential influence on elections. The presentation delves into the ethical considerations of Wylie's actions, examining them through the lenses of Kantianism, Utilitarianism, and Social Contract Theory. Additionally, it assesses his conduct in relation to the BCS Code of Conduct. The presentation provides an overview of the scandal, Wylie's revelations, and the ethical frameworks used to evaluate his actions, ultimately aiming to determine whether his actions were those of a hero or a traitor in the context of data privacy and political influence. The presentation concludes with a summary of the key arguments and a final judgment on Wylie's role in the scandal, supported by references to relevant sources.

Chris Wylie – Hero
or Traitor?

Introduction
• Christopher Wylie is a Canadian who used to work
as a data consultant in Cambridge Analytica.
• Cambridge Analytica refers to a firm that carried out
the work of provisioning political consultation
(Gordon 2019).
• The firm had been opened by Alexander Nix.
• In the year of 2018, he laid down documents that
was referred to as the Facebook-Cambridge
Analytica.

Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal
• This is a major political scandal that had
occurred in the year of 2018.
• The scandal was all about an accusation that
Cambridge Analytica had harvested data
from millions of Facebook profiles without
the consent of owners (Laterza 2018).
• This had led Facebook to suffer huge
depreciation within the prices of the stock.
• The first instance of data harvesting by
Cambridge Analytica was observed in the
year of 2015.

Actions of Chris Wylie
• On 18th march, in the year of 2018, Chris Wylie was interviewed by
“The Observer” making revelations of his work time in Cambridge
Analytica.
• He acted as a whistleblower at that particular time giving up any
information regarding what activity had been carried out in
Cambridge Analytica (Cadwalladr and Graham-Harrison 2018).
• Wylie admitted of being the primary source who was anonymous
behind this whole scandal.

Actions of Chris Wylie (contd.)
• On March 27, in the year of 2018 Wylie provided
evidence to multiple sources related to the
parliament in United Kingdom (CAMPOS 2019).
• This consisted of further revelations regarding the
activity of the allegation that he had whistle blown.
• Apart from this, Christopher had also placed forward
criticism regarding Mark Zuckerberg of spreading
religious intolerance in whole of Sri Lanka (Scott
2018).

Chris Wylie’s actions in Kantianism
• Kantianism is judged by the completion of
duty and not by the fact that the deed is good
or bad.
• Chris Wylie was a part of the activity that was
carried out by Cambridge Analytica but
realized facts regarding the privacy of personal
information (Bendall and Robertson 2018).
• Hence, in terms of Kantianism, he performed
a right activity that was supposed to be his
duty for maintaining a clean chit.

Chris Wylie’s actions in Utilitarianism
• In terms of the theory, the proceedings refers to a
stretched process in which the right from the wrong
is analyzed on some specific scenario or situation
(Henriksen 2019).
• Christopher Wylie accepts that he was a part of the
Cambridge Analytica and had played a primary
contributor towards the data harvesting that was
wrong.
• On the contrary, he was brave enough to come
forward with the evidences and whistle blow the
entire thing that had taken place under the roof of
the organization. This was a right step taken by him.

Chris Wylie’s actions in Social Contract
Theory
• Social Contract Theory primarily states forward the
meaning that the view in a person regarding any of the
moral or the political obligations are entirely dependent
upon a particular contract or agreement (Lyon 2019).
• In regards to this theory, it can be stated that Chris
Wylie was never bound to a contract working back at
Cambridge Analytica. As a result, he took this particular
step towards the whistle-blowing activity.
• Apart from this, Chris Wylie considered the fact to be a
potential social responsibility to let know of the people
whose personal data had been compromised and
harvested upon (Baldwin-Philippi 2019).

BCS Code of Conduct
• This states the IT professionals to follow
the rules as well as the regulations of
the business organizations within the
field of IT.
• Protecting of information should be
considered the primary activity for the
professionals towards their respective
organizations (Glassman 2019).
• However, the professionals should also
have the ability to judge what is right
and what is not.

BCS Code of Conduct in Chris Wylie case
• Chris Wylie on the primary part was totally abiding by the policies of
Cambridge Analytica and acted as a primary contributor towards the
procedure of data harvesting. He maintained the BCS Code of
Conduct (Filibeli 2019).
• On the contrary, as the Code of Conduct states that the employee
should be judgmental enough to analyze what is right and what is not.
In regards to this, Chris Wylie realized the fact that compromising the
personal information of individuals is not a part of the Code of
Conduct and took the right step towards revealing the entire scandal
(Vercelli 2019).

Conclusion
• The entire Facebook-Cambridge Analytica was a scandal that was
primarily worked out by Christopher Wylie acting as a Whistle-Blower.
• The actions have been analyzed using the theories of Kantianism,
utilitarianism as well as Social Contract Theory (Van den Boom 2018).
• Chris’s actions have also been analyzed with the usage of BCS Code of
Conduct.
• The discussion can be concluded with the fact that Christopher Wylie
gave up all the information for the well-being of the users on
Facebook.

References
• Gordon, J., 2019. When data crimes are real crimes: voter surveillance and the Cambridge Analytica conflict (Doctoral dissertation).
• Laterza, V., 2018. Cambridge Analytica, independent research and the national interest. Anthropology Today, 34(3), pp.1-2.
• Cadwalladr, C. and Graham-Harrison, E., 2018. The Cambridge analytica files. The Guardian, 21, pp.6-7.
• CAMPOS, M., 2019. Cambridge Analytica, Microtargeting, and Power:“A Full-Service Propaganda Machine” in the Information Age. TRAIL SIX, p.24.
• Scott, M., 2018. Cambridge Analytica helped “cheat” Brexit vote and US election, claims whisteblower. Politico. URL: https://www. politico.
eu/article/cambridge-analytica-chris-wylie-brexit-trump-britain-data-protection-privacy-facebook/[April 29, 2018].
• Bendall, M.J. and Robertson, C., 2018. The crisis of democratic culture?.
• Lim, M., 2018. Challenging technological utopianism. Canadian Journal of Communication, 43(3).
• Henriksen, E.E., 2019. Big data, microtargeting, and governmentality in cyber-times. The case of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal
(Master's thesis).
• Lyon, D., 2019. Surveillance capitalism, surveillance culture and data politics. Data Politics: Worlds, Subjects, Rights. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.64-
77.
• Baldwin-Philippi, J., 2019. Data campaigning: between empirics and assumptions. Internet Policy Review, 8(4).
• Glassman, D., 2019. Facebook is creating records—but who is managing them?. Archives and Manuscripts, pp.1-14.
• Filibeli, T., 2019. Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning Algorithms: A Descriptive Analysis of the Digital Threats in the Post-truth
Era. Galatasaray Üniversitesi İletişim Dergisi, (31), pp.91-110.
• Vercelli, A., 2019. Facebook Inc.-Cambridge Analytica:(un) protection of personal data and global disinformation campaigns. Electronic Journal of
SADIO (EJS), 18(2), pp.57-70.
• Van den Boom, R., 2018. Shifting Political Discourse. The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare, 1(1).