Tuesday, March 20th, 2018

1

Faceplant

Facebook has an enormous amount of information about an incredible number of people, and yet somehow, they weren't able to predict how big this Cambridge Analytica story would get. After years of collecting and sharing the psychographic profiles of others, this might be a good time for the company -- and the broader tech industry -- to take a good look at itself. Wired's Nick Thompson and Fred Vogelstein on the hurricane that flattened Facebook. "The crisis was familiar in a way: Facebook has burned its fingers on issues of data privacy frequently in its 14 year history. But this time it was different. The data leakage hadn't helped Unilever sell mayonnaise. It appeared to have helped Donald Trump sell a political vision of division and antipathy. The news made it look as if Facebook's data controls were lax and that its executives were indifferent."

+ The hurricane is drawing its energy from two significant storm fronts. First, there's what we're learning about the way the folks at Cambridge Analytica do business, including the (probably overstated) message targeting, and the the fake news, the Ukrainian women, the bribes, and more. Channel 4 News went undercover. And even they had to be surprised at how much they got.

+ Then there's the Facebook part of the story -- the part we've been hearing about for years. As Slate's Will Oremus explains: The Real Scandal Isn't What Cambridge Analytica Did. It's what Facebook made possible. (Yes, selling your information is a feature, not a bug.)

+ Now the UK wants to talk to Zuck and the FTC is probing the company. And still, Facebook seems determined to keep a lid on the story when the lid has been blown so far off it's probably in the same orbit as Elon Musk's Tesla.

+ Editor's note: Dear Mark. You know more about tech than I ever will and you're a hell of a lot more successful at it. But I know a ton about media, so I offer this advice. Dude, say something...

2

Do You Care?

Now that we've talked about Facebook, let's talk about you. I'll start with a quick question. Do you care? We've gone so far down the internet highway that we rarely ask that question anymore. But it's still pertinent. Do you care that your privacy has been, and will be, repeatedly invaded — and that anything you share (willingly or otherwise) on the internet can and will be used against you? Based on my last couple decades of qualitative research, I don't think you do. From me: This is The Only Privacy Policy That Matters.

+ Buzzfeed: You should really look at your Facebook third-party app settings right now.

+ Anil Dash: 12 Things Everyone Should Understand About Tech.

3

Austin Bound

"A package exploded at a FedEx facility just outside San Antonio early Tuesday." And officials have confirmed that it's linked to the other four package bombs that have left Austin on edge. But this package also might have given investigators some clues. Here's the latest from CNN.

4

A Lie in the Sand

"The war's supporters made the moral case effectively: How could the United States allow a mad tyrant like Saddam Hussein to remain in power? The man gassed his own people! But those moral arguments blinded our thinking about second- and third-order consequences—in addition to honesty about our own limitations—and helped lead us into arguably the greatest strategic mistake in our nation's history." Andrew Exum: Fifteen years after the US invasion, there's no satisfying answer to the question: What were we doing in Iraq anyway?

+ "No one knows for certain how many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago. Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again. The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in the United States as a 'blunder,' or even a 'colossal mistake.' It was a crime." Sinan Antoon in the NYT: Fifteen Years Ago, America Destroyed My Country.

+ Matt Ufford in the NYT Mag: 15 Years Ago, I Helped Start a War That Hasn't Ended.

+ Shock and Awful: Looking back at photos of the war in Iraq.

+ "Nearly half (48%) of Americans say the decision to use military force was wrong, while slightly fewer (43%) say it was the right decision." Pew: The Iraq War continues to divide the US public. (Editor's note: Just wow...)

5

Climate Range

The increase in the number of refugees and the threat posed by climate change are two of the most troubling global trends. According to a new report from the World Bank, these two issues could become (more) closely connected in the coming years. "Climate change will transform more than 143 million people into climate migrants escaping crop failure, water scarcity, and sea-level rise."

6

Vlad to the Phone

"The call was initially disclosed by the Kremlin and subsequently confirmed by Trump in remarks at the White House. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he congratulated Putin on 'his electoral victory,' adding that he and Putin would get together 'in the not-too-distant future.'" WaPo: Trump congratulates Putin on his reelection, discusses U.S.-Russian arms race.

+ WaPo: Trump just hired a deep-state conspiracy theorist as his lawyer. Here's what Joe diGenova has said. When it comes to the Trump Russia-related legal team, the bigger news is who he didn't hire. Theodore Olson declined an offer to join the effort. Along with everything else, this is a really big part of the story. Mueller has America's best investigators. Trump is having a hard time getting a respectable lawyer to consider working with the President of the United States.

+ NYT: A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trump sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence.

+ You're sick of reading about the White House. But you want to read Olivia Nuzzi's look at Hope Hicks and the related cast of characters. It's not that these folks can't govern. It's that they couldn't possibly have any time left over from the drama to even try. What Hope Hicks Knows.

7

Nun and Done

"She's like another coach,' guard Donte Ingram told the Chicago Tribune. '[In my first ever game], it caught me off guard. I thought she was just going to pray. She prayed, but then she starts saying, ‘You've got to box out and watch out for 23.'" Sister Jean: how a 98-year-old nun became the hottest property in basketball.

+ To mark its 20th anniversary, ESPN The Magazine presents the definitive 20 for 20 -- the most formidable, awe-inspiring and downright dominant athletes of the past two decades. (They really should do this for newsletter writers...) If you want more, they made a list of dominant teams too.

8

Like Things Aren’t Weird Enough Already

"You could be forgiven for thinking you'd woken up in a science-fiction novel. At the very least, it is starting to seem non-crazy to believe. A recent study shows half the world already does." NY Mag on UFOs. 13 Reasons to Believe.

9

Fort Brag

Like many 11 year-olds, my son is obsessed with the latest video games. But this time it seems more extreme than in the past. And he's not alone. For fellow parents (or sufferers of the same addiction), here's everything you want to know about Fortnite, the video game that's taken over the internet. (I was able to get my son on the beta list for the iOS version of the game, and for like 5 minutes, he thought I wasn't a complete shlemazel...)

10

Bottom of the News

Number of the world's top 100 Scrabble players who live in Nigeria: 28. The latest Harper's Index is up.

+ AP: First lady to hold first public event on cyberbullying. (I ... This ... But ... Oh, forget it.)

+ That's Sir Ringo to you. Peace and Love. Peace and Love...