The data brokage problem and the TikTok trojan horse "ban"

I spy with my many eyes !

While my goal today was publishing my Galectin piece, the second part of this one bear much more urgency, it has big repercussions.

Earlier today a friend, Kairon (who is also a writer on Substack, in Mercurial Space) tweeted the following.

Kairon @Kairon404

All data companies storage or analytics are weapons companies and should be classified as such

I stated it is factually accurate and true, and decided to write this. The majority of the population is completely unaware of how data is valuable, and the shadowy but financially profitable world of data brokerage. While I am in favor of the original form of capitalism (as described by Adam Smith) the business of selling data could be easily described as a form of “evil capitalism”.

What is data brokerage ? It is the business of collecting, compiling (creating groups/packages of specific data” and selling that data to any willing buyer. Yes, when I mean any, sometimes any average Joe can go and buy a data package. There are many different types of data and companies, but as happens in certain types of business, there is overwhelming consolidation of “power” within the business.

In a very simplistic description, data brokerage is the commoditization of private surveillance of the internet (which is already done by Intelligence agencies but with many caveats on how, where, why). I will leave the ethical and moral arguments aside, but these dynamics raise several concerns. The securities risk are self-evident, a short while ago Equifax suffered a massive data breach, here is a very good piece on data brokers and data breaches, but there are bigger problems than just breaches of financial, medical, or any other type of data held by these companies.

Problems with data brokerage are many, but the lack of transparency surrounding the data that is being collected and sold is one of the top ones. Consumers may not even be aware that their data is being collected or sold, and may not have given explicit consent for their data to be used in this way. This can lead to a loss of privacy and a lack of control over one's personal information. The circumvention of laws by law enforcement and Intelligence agencies is a known big concern.

The report, Legal Loopholes and Data for Dollars, finds that law enforcement and intelligence agencies have taken advantage of legal ambiguities to purchase data from brokers in an end-run around the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution and statutes such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).

“There’s a loophole in ECPA allowing data brokers to obtain ‘non-content’ communications data, and then, because data brokers are not regulated by that law, to turn around and sell that information to government agencies,” says CDT Policy Director Samir Jain.

One of the biggest buyers and users of data brokerage firms are Intelligence companies, both public and private, which raises massive concerns because once again, it is a very gray market, without many rules and anyone can buy the data given the right “means” or merely possessing the funds. There is a potential for data to be used in ways that can harm both an individual and societal level and especially toward a national security level.

I highly recommend you to read the entire following article by the US. Naval Institute, is really good, but here are the highlights from my perspective.

Adversaries can use this information in a myriad of ways. For example, they can use data sets to identify where service members work and then, armed with their health or financial information, bribe or blackmail personnel to gain access to restricted systems, sensitive information, or critical programs or infrastructure. Data allows these countries to track service members’ movements, impersonate personnel online or in email, and identify personnel working on specific tasks within the military.

Adversaries could also use this data to create psychological operations to influence behaviors, opinions, and decision-making. Russia and Ukraine have used this approach in their recent conflict: Russia has texted Ukrainian soldiers threatening messages while Ukraine has called the mothers of Russian soldiers, asking them to come to Ukraine and pick up their captured sons.¹⁰

Data brokers make spycraft easy. After obtaining a dataset of “location pings” and combining home and work locations with public information, the New York Times was able to identify “individuals belonging to the President’s Secret Service detail.”¹⁶ If journalists can do this, imagine what a foreign adversary armed with advanced technology and the power of the state can do.

These are merely some of the examples of the problems raised by data brokerage as of right now, and as many thought the future was distant, the future is already here. AI is advancing now on a weekly basis, with everyday a new form of AI usage being unveiled. Text to Image to create beautiful art, and beautiful photography that doesn’t exist, Image to Video to create animations, movies, and anything you may imagine, Text to Video was recently made public, Text to Music where you can create your own, personal music (and you can even earn money from it too), there are Substacks and Twitter profiles entirely dedicated to this.

The point is, the use of adversarial AI (meaning AI develop with the intent of offensive capabilities) will come, and unlike many thought, models such as ChatGPT will make any person with some funding and some brain cells into effective one-man Intelligence Outfits, able to wage cyber and cognitive war by themselves. And bad actors, either groups or hostile nations will be able to do it with ease in the near future.

I also have written about the use of AI in the development of both therapeutic and biological weapons. But AI usage or AI-assisted usage and analysis of large data goes beyond what I described, with data brokerage and AI you can purpose built any form of “biological” offensive, not only of nasty high fatality pathogens a bioweapons programs live, you can use the data to affect the already sick or at risk, while a “valid” use from a warfare standpoint, there are better, more nocive and damaging uses for AI, and such use doesn’t leave “traces”, it is as covert as one could get.

3D-printed viruses, synthetic biology and more

With access to an infinite amount of data and datasets, one will be able to train their models and AI to do any “mission objective” one may need. Blackmail, disinformation, propaganda, financial, targeted psychological attacks, or massive psy ops aimed at specific groups, and political inclinations, the possibilities here are endless.

The use of AI in Cogntive Warfare alone belongs in a specific substack on Cogntive Warfare. And at no other moment in history more data was generated or gathered and packaged than during the last 3 years because of the pandemic, the NIH themselves were looking for an “Honest Broker” back in July 2020. This brings me to the TikTok point.


All apps, regardless of country of origin, on many levels are data gathering devices, may free apps to make the majority of their revenue by *check notes… selling the data to data brokers, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, almost all of the most popular apps were in bed with Intel agencies and data brokerage firms selling the data to the highest or best bidder, so when the talks about TikTok ban started I already knew something was up. The valid criticism was there, but China has many other ways to spy on any population and effectively it is cheaper just to buy the data you want, rather than gathering, processing, and making effective use (data deluge is a massive problem to any Intel agency or company, excessive amounts of data that slow down your analytical process). So today on Twitter we were graced with the Trojan Horse that is the bill to ban TikTok.

Greg Price @greg_price11

The bill to ban TikTok is absolutely terrifying. It gives the government the ability to go after anyone they deem as a national security risk at which point they can access everything from their computer to video games to their ring light. This is a Patriot Act for the internet.

Greg Price @greg_price11

Believe it or not, it gets even worse: If you find you in violation, they can put you in jail for 20 years, fine you $1M, and seize your property. They can also deem any foreign government an adversary without informing congress and everything they do is not subjected to FOIA.

Add what you just read about data brokerage, and what we all lived through the last 3 years, what do you think would happen if this bill pass ?

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