I didn’t mean that you would owe personally because of your data being protected. I meant that you would owe to the scandal because, for instance, issues that you care about are coming more forward on the political agenda.

You might actually think this was not needed, and that the issue was already forward enough in the political agenda. But then I would argue the discussion/debate wasn’t inclusive enough, since it has obviously been considerably broadened recently. That was a blindspot on the part of activists, or if it wasn’t a blindspot — i.e. they knew about that lack of inclusivity — there was a lack of action there. And it’s not like nothing could have been done.

“At the same time I am concerned this may not have happened in the most constructive way possible” → do you want the debate to be framed in a particular way? Do you want people to approach this issue they have been under/misinformed on for years only in a positive way? Is this truly democratic?

I have taught mathematics in higher education from 1999 to 2016 (argument from authority). I have also tried my hands a few times teaching on topics of digitalization, personal data, etc, in very different settings. My experience is that it is impossible to discuss these issues constructively for as long as the naysayers don’t have a concrete example of harms to point to, in order to dismiss the yessayers as boundless optimists. This evens it out, because of course up until that point the yessayers dismiss the naysayers as boundless pessimists. This makes the playing field more even, as now it is more justified why one side would talk about realized positive outcomes while the other would talk about so far unrealized risks.

You are a particular breed: a boundless optimist presenting themselves as a cynic yet sorta refusing to entertain others’ cynicism. I think the Cambridge Analytica scandal will change one thing for you in the future: however much you might want the documentary to be only about the Pink Fairy Armadillo, if it is to reach mass appeal, it will have now to also include some bit with Gloomy Sunday music, or at the very least some acknowledgment that this is how others would have presented the Armadillo. This brings me to another idea, which we should all discuss on Slack chat.