As the Facebook fiasco unfolds, one image sticks in my mind: that of the Cambridge Psychometrics Centre physically nestled inside the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. It calls itself a “strategic research network”, meaning it does research, but also sells its services to commercial companies. It has come to international attention because its studies informed the development of an app that passed data from Facebook to Cambridge Analytica . The case highlights worryingly blurred boundaries between business and academic research.
Facebook数据泄露丑闻曝出后，一幅画面萦绕在我的脑海中，我不断地想到剑桥大学心理测验中心(Cambridge Psychometrics Centre)。该中心坐落于剑桥大学(University of Cambridge)佳奇商学院(Judge Business School)内，它自称是一个“战略研究网络”，这意味着它从事研究工作，但它同时也向商业公司出售服务。该中心已经引起了国际关注，因为它的研究促成了一个应用程序(APP)的开发，该APP将数据从Facebook传输给剑桥分析(Cambridge Analytica)。此事突显了商业和学术研究之间令人担忧的模糊界限。