‘Guided Democracy,’ Governed by Those Who Can Manufacture Consent

Cambridge Analytica is said to be negotiating “two potentially lucrative new contracts, one to boost the incoming Trump White House's policy messaging and the other to help the Trump Organization expand its sales.” Those who question President Trump’s conflict of interest in maintaining control of the Trump Brand may find that rumor worth chasing down. Not so sure I want a ‘guided’ democracy.

Cambridge Analytica's web site says

“We bring together a 25 year experience in behavioral change, pioneering data science, and cutting-edge technology to offer unparalleled audience insight and engagement services and products … We collect up to 5,000 data points on over 220 million Americans, and use it to model target audience groups and predict the behavior of like-minded people.”

That’s cool. There are any number of companies collecting personal data across various media and internet searches. How do you suppose Facebook and Google are able to feed you and me specific ads related to our search h…