Breach? What Breach?

Ladies and gentlemen, please stay calm.  What I'm about to tell you may shock and possibly enrage you.  But it's true. 

Yes, there was no breach of data at Facebook.   Nope.  None at all.  To call what actually did occur a breach is simply either naivete or outright propaganda.

Here's why.  Facebook is a thriving business that collects detailed information on every single user member, stores it, and then sells that information to other business concerns that require it.  For this, it makes an enormous profit.  It also sells advertising that is mated with users' personal interests, which is displayed on the particular page that that user is viewing.  For this it makes another enormous profit.

When the Democrat party, working for the Kenyan's reelection, needed a way to ascertain potential voters' political trends in 2008, they went to Facebook, who, as a matter of standard operating procedure, simply sold that data to the DNC.  No problem, congress, that's the business we're in.  

But when Cambridge Analytica, working for the Republican party and Donald Trump's campaign,  needed a way to ascertain potential voters' political trends in 2016, they went to Facebook, who, as a matter of standard operating procedure, simply sold that data to the RNC.  No problem, congress, that's the business we're in.  

It's ingenious, in a way.  While other data mining companies like Google and Amazon engage in stealth in their data collection methods, Facebook comes right out and asks users for it.  Right up front.  And  normal folks, most of whom love to talk about themselves, were eager to willingly provide detailed and intimate information about themselves, and upload that personal information to a public forum read by billions of people.  Facebook users completed detailed profiles of themselves, complete with sexual orientation and current domestic partnership information.  They breathlessly supplied a detailed list of their favorite books, movies, music, hobbies and interests.  They posted personal opinions, political leanings, and just idiotic and inane stuff freely.  And they "liked"  other users' ramblings.  Just so there would be no question as to who was actually posting this personal information and opinions, Facebook users added photos of themselves, along with their friends, family, colleagues, and even pets.   And they uploaded a lot of them.

All voluntarily.  Willingly.  Eagerly.  

Now, when this comes to light through a lopsided political revelation, these same folks are shocked - shocked! - that goofy little Mark Zuckerberg is actually Big Brother, watching - censoring and tracking - not only them but everyone they know!  One wonders if folks were thinking:  "What's the worst that could happen?"  Maybe.  You post your identity on the Internet and what did you think Facebook would do with it?

So it's off to Congressional hearings Marky-Mark must go, to testify that, well, this is the business we're in, but we just don't want the conservative right to be privy to any of this valuable and marketable information. 

In fact, we'll do whatever we can to censor their homophobic, racist, Islamophobic, misogynist, gun-loving hate speech, so as not to offend the more delicate left leaning members of our Facebook family.  And it's why we're shopping for lobbyists in Washington, DC right now, to ensure we can buy - er, persuade - congress to abide by our way of thinking.   We want to make sure that Facebook remains an open forum for all those who subscribe to our approved speech and thought.

So.  There was no breach.  Only selected preferred users are allowed access to data from our business model, certainly not improperly channeled to Cambridge Analytica to benefit the right.

Whoops.  Facebook stock has fallen 14% as of this writing.  That represents a $100 billion loss in market worth.  Advertisers are running for the tall grass.  And users are rethinking the ramifications of the Internet equivalent of the high school "slam book."

Well, maybe that's the rough justice that the market applies to those who would take advantage.  Hear that, Google and Amazon?