Thread by @veritasta

Aggregate IQ's Jeff Silvester: 'We're proud of what we've built right here in Canada.' Yeah I bet...
@J_amesp @PeterKGeoghegan @mrjamesob @profcarroll

Watch here: questions coming fast on #VoteLeave
parlvu.parl.gc.ca/XRender/en/Pow…

'How much were you paid by Vote Leave?'
'$140K CAD'
'I have £2.7m written here.'
'The rest was for advertising - it went to Google & FB.'
'Who was your VL contact?'
'VL's digital director: Henry de Zoete'...
Outlines work for DUP, BeLeave, Vets for Britain, VL...

'How did you communicate with Mr. Grimes?'
'Via a Slack channel.'
AIQ's asked to provide all its Slack communication.

Later: 'How did you get $5M in contracts on the Brexit vote? Through SCL?'
'No.'
'You're listed as head of SCL Canada. Did you go rogue?'
'We weren't a part of SCL.'
'Do you realise this is under oath?'

This hearing is making the FB Senate hearing look like a joke...

'Wylie said you siloed your work, and you told him your work was illegal.'
'Oh we were talking about the media story. I've never believed anything that was going on was illegal.'
'OK but - you can see how strange this looks. All these groups w marginal names funnel money to you.'

'Wylie said you all found it amusing, which I find interesting, given it's undermined institutions in all kinds of countries. How can you be listed as a partner in Trin/Tobego if you're not part of SCL?'
'We did work for them but we're not a part of them.'
'Was that work legal?'

'AIQ gave SCL info on popular websites in Trin/Tobego.'
'So Nix wasn't involved? Cos it's so odd-you're above an optometrist's, yr only web access is through SCL Canada, which you say you're not & all this money is going to you'
Silvester describes AIQ's VL pitch-voice is shaking

Panel: 'How did you contact the DUP?' @PeterKGeoghegan
AIQ: 'I can't recall... An introduction from someone we talked to.'
'Did you ever ask BeLeave, hey, how did you hear about us?'
'No.'

Discussion of AIQ's experience. 'You have no special skills, you have no coordination, you just get called out of the blue, and BeLeave asks you to do sth for the exact budget they have. Did they look you up via VL? Did you ask how they found you? '

'No, they just emailed us.'

AIQ: 'I don't know how BeLeave found us. They just emailed.'
Panel, dry: 'And that wasn't of interest to you, how they found you?'
'No, they just emailed.'

Ehm I'm not sure this is going well for AIQ

AIQ denies @chrisinsilico's testimony that he reached out to them to do work for SCL.

They say they've never worked in Kenya, and did work in Nigeria - for SCL. They cite Trinidad as the first work they did for SCL.

'We're not data harvesters, we don't do psychographic profiling. We place ads. We're tech guys.'

'Has AIQ ever used databases to affect elections in Canada?'
Answer is very carefully worded: door-to-door volunteering & signage is the equivalent of what AIQ does. Not a denial.

'At the end of our work, we delete our information.'

AIQ says they follow standard industry practice w encryption, certificates to protect data. They had a breach incident on 25 March (the Github stuff, @VickerySec?) that left things exposed that they've now deleted #AIQHearing

'Who gave you the Nigerian video to release?'
'SCL did.'
'Cambridge Analytica said they released it to you. But was it SCL?'
'We worked w SCL.' How did you work w CA & SCL?
'We didn't coordinate w them. We were unaware that CA existed.'
Panel: what??
'We worked w SCL.'

'During a campaign, we may have personal information. But we delete it afterwards, and don't transfer it anywhere except back to the provider. We haven't kept anything or shared it.'
CA profiles: 'SCL is the one we were contracted to' <- interesting phrasing...

Panel: 'Have you done any pro bono work?'
AIQ: 'We've not done pro bono work for campaigns or related... -- we've done some charity work but not for companies influencing elections.' [What's that?]
@carolecadwalla @WendySiegelman

Panel: Why does the UK ICO say AIQ hasn't been helpful to her investigation?
AIQ: I don't know. We responded to her.
Panel: Have you been asked to appear in hearings in the UK or US?
AIQ: Yes, in the UK. We'll be following up to schedule that.

Panel: CA says AIQ was 'our exclusive data & engineering partner'. Is that true?
AIQ: we can't tell you.. No.
Panel: Wylie says you're a franchise of CA & SCL. The group was set up as SCL Canada and then it was named AIQ. Is that true?
AIQ: No.

Panel: until 2014, SCL had a phone line that went to you as head of SCL Canada. Is that correct?
AIQ: It's come to my knowledge that that's the case. It was my personal phone.
Panel: So SCL had your personal phone number for this.

Panel: This must seem like an extraordinary conspiracy, that they have your phone, and all these ppl are lying. Why is everyone against you?
AIQ: I can't speak to this.

Panel: Why don't you just tell us what we're covering up for SCL Canada. How did you get listed as head for SCL Canada?
AIQ: We are not part of SCL or CA. [are not... ]
Panel: When did you become aware that SCL had a phone number that led directly to you?
AIQ: Just recently

Panel: Did you say what you were doing was totally illegal? This is on the record from Wylie.
AIQ Silvester: I don't know how Wylie came to this misunderstanding. I texted him.

✨Interjection from @DamianCollins, who has texted the Canadian panel! @profcarroll - UK ICO's Denham said AIQ refused to answer questions and is going to take further measures against AIQ.

Panel advises AIQ to be honest.

Panel describes oddly matching sums & orders and asks 'how is this not coordination btwn Vote Leave & BeLeave?'
AIQ: I'm not sure.

Panel: 'It's just normal to get a donation from Vote Leave for £625K on behalf of BeLeave. The same amt, within a couple of days? From a 22yr old kid? That didn't raise any flags for you?'
AIQ - Massingham: 'No.'

Panel laughs. @PeterKGeoghegan @profcarroll @mrjamesob #AIQHearing

Panel: Abt @DamianCollins text to us just now, saying AIQ refused to provide information to Denham. Who's lying, you or the British Information Commissioner?

AIQ: If she has additional q's, she can follow up.

Panel: She has the same q's. Who's lying?

AIQ: I've been 100% honest

AIQ: I don't think these things are opposed. If she's not happy w the answers, we can...
Panel: No! That's not what she said. Who's lying?
AIQ: I can only speak to what we've done. We've responded to her letters.
Panel: Nothing seems out of order to you? You've just misled us.

Panel: You said VL paid for BeLeave's invoice. VL PAID your INVOICE. You've told us there was no coordination. How did they know to pay the exact amount you got, if there was no co-ord?

AIQ are getting absolutely ripped to shreds @PeterKGeoghegan @profcarroll @mrjamesob

'Kaiser of CA is confident they would've had an agreement with AIQ to work on Cruz's campaign.'
AIQ: We worked for SCL. We have no contracts w CA.
Panel: did you get Cruz data?
AIQ: Yes through SCL

Panel: 'You can't even answer how you had a phone linked to SCL. How could people give you £625K if you have a phone linked to a company that you don't know about? Do you have anything to share about that?'

AIQ: *small voice* no.

Panel, in conclusion: 'Something doesn't smell right here. I'd challenge AIQ to do the right thing.' /ends

Christ alive. @DamianCollins, over to you to tear them another one.

Watch the whole hearing here: it's fantastic.
parlvu.parl.gc.ca/XRender/en/Pow…

[*Tobago o/c, autocorrect freakout... ]

Taster clip from the end of the session!

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And another: this one covers the UK ICO responding to AIQ's suggestion that they've been fully cooperative. Mid-hearing.

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