Intentional Consequences

by Charles Harris

  “I wasn’t aware he was doing this. Thanks for the heads’ up. Do you still have the commercials?”

  “No, I had to do a video share with my ad agency to see them.”

  “Have you talked with Rakesh about what’s next?”

  “He’s planning to socialize the pilot videos and some other materials over the next few weeks. His goal is to launch no later than July 4th.”

  “Good to know. If you get anything you can pass on, I’d love to see it. Would also be helpful to know who he’s talking to about this. Text me the name of your ad agency. Have fun on the roller coasters!”

  ◆◆◆

  Later that afternoon, Bernbach reached Billings and told him about Alice’s report. “How the hell did we not know about this? Do you think Rakesh was already planning this project when we met him in New York? That was only a few weeks ago. I’ll find somebody to make some calls to find out who else he’s talked to. I’ll also get a line into his ad agency. In the meantime, call Franks and tell him we need to turn up the heat on Bluebonnet. Also, get him thinking about what we can do to target Jain. We need more political bitterness and contempt, not less. It’s bad enough to have to put up with whatever mainstream campaign Biden’s planning to run. We don’t need Rakesh Jain out there singing Kumbaya.”

  Chapter 33

  That evening, Bernbach had a call with Billings and Franks to talk about countering Rakesh’s plan. Bernbach said, “I’m not sure he’ll get the support he wants regardless of what we do, but we can’t take any chances. We need to fatally wound this before it gets any momentum.”

  Franks said, “This is one where the fear/greed mix is in our favor. We should use that.”

  Billings said, “Which means what?”

  Franks said, “Politics runs off fear and greed. Business too. Rakesh’s program sounds great on the surface. What could be more beneficial than saving American democracy? But the benefits are hard to measure, and the business risks of supporting Rakesh’s program are real. All we need to do is get the fear started. Which politicians are going to like Rakesh’s program, and which are going to dislike it?”

  Bernbach said, “Among the Democrats, Biden will like it most. The whole thing plays to his unification message and his tradition of service. Moderates like Delaney and Hickenlooper should be OK with it. All the progressives are going to dislike it. Because it could help Biden, Trump won’t like it. Plus, he’ll see ‘reunite America’ as a personal shot against him.”

  Franks said, “We’ll use the politicians who don’t like the program to create fear in the potential sponsors. We’ll get the right campaign aides to make some phone calls to the CEOs of likely sponsors, expressing concern their company is looking at sponsoring ads that favor one presidential contender over another and warning them this won’t go well on social media. Once we get some mileage there, we’ll leak the concerns to the media, which will amplify the risk. With luck, Trump will tweet something controversial before he has any idea what’s really going on.”

  Billings said, “Do you think Rakesh would go forward even if he can’t get the corporate support he wants?”

  Bernbach said, “He’s got the funds to spend a lot of money if he wants to.”

  Franks said, “He could try to create some impact on his own. If he tries, we can make him look like any other billionaire trying to use an issue-based Super PAC to protect his wealth. He may have some effect by himself, but it won’t be compelling. We can put a backup plan in place to target him with some character assassination that will help him decide to pull the plug. The work we’re already doing to reduce his wife’s credibility could be useful there.”

  Chapter 34

  Andy showed up as scheduled at 2:00 p.m. Easter Sunday. Eva buzzed him through the gate and opened the door as he walked from his car. Expecting to see a run-of-the-mill newspaper reporter, she was surprised. Wearing khakis, a black golf shirt and loafers with no socks, he looked like the male lead out of central casting for a romantic comedy. He was tall, trim and remarkably good looking, with brush-cut black hair, hazel eyes and a movie star smile. He said, “Hi, you must be Eva. I’m Andy Baker. Thanks for letting me come by on such short notice.”

  Eva shook his hand and said “Good to meet you. Let me take you to Dan’s study. Would you like something to drink?” Planning to do some work in her studio, she was barefoot, wearing white shorts and a red jersey top with cap sleeves, a modest front and a low cowl back, which showed off her tan and most of her back. Andy followed her though the living room.

  After some small talk, Andy and Dan agreed on the rules of engagement. Andy said, “OK, everything’s ‘on background’ and ‘not for attribution’. But just to be clear, I can use the information to chase other leads and I can use the information if I can corroborate it someplace else. If you want more protection, the best approach is not to tell me.”

  Dan said, “OK. Just understand I don’t want this meeting or anything I say attributed to me or my company, directly or indirectly.”

  Andy said, “Agreed.”

  Andy moved through his background to the technology discussion. “From what I’ve read, your company is a leader in political analytics and using targeted social media in political campaigns.”

  Dan nodded. “Correct. We like to think we’re the best in the country at what we do. It’s brought us a lot of business with influential candidates and office holders at the state and federal levels. Major stakeholders in the electoral process also use us to assess what’s going on in different elections—big companies, unions, non-profits, investors and wealthy contributors.”

  Andy continued, “I’ve read reams about using technology in politics, from Obama’s early efforts in 2008 to Trump’s work and the Russian interventions in 2016. I’ve also read about how AI and facial recognition will change the game even more. I’ve dug into the Chinese efforts in both of those fields. With all that, I’m still trying to understand the additional tools or assets someone would need to take political marketing technology up to a new level.”

  Dan said, “One area is data. Even if you’re not using AI, personal data on the people you want to target is essential. The more details you have on more people, the more effective you can be in targeting them and in building messaging that will provoke or excite them. Personally identifiable information, or ‘PII’ as we call it, is very valuable. If you’re using AI, data is even more important. You need lots of data to train your AIs, which is what we call the computers providing the artificial intelligence.”

  “How do you get the data?”

  “If you’re a company like Facebook, you build your database over time by vacuuming up personal information from your subscribers, preferably with help from thousands of apps feeding even more personal data to your system. If you’re a politician, you use that data when you advertise on Facebook, Instagram or wherever, but you also build your own database—from contributors, for example. If you’re a foreign country, you probably steal a lot of it. Especially in the world of big data and AI, being able to scan and link data on millions of voters from diverse sources, public and private, can aggregate a surprising amount of information.

  “We tend to worry about how Facebook is handling privacy. You mentioned the Chinese. Think about all the hacks of public and corporate information in the U.S., reported and unreported: passport data, driver’s licenses, voter registrations, government personnel records, insurance and health data. Then think about meshing all this data with social media PII and letting your AI computers combine it and paint a picture for you. The real magic is figuring out how to attribute anonymized data to PII you already have. If you want to go further, add in the ability to use facial images to attribute bits and pieces of PII to a single person. This is why the social media companies want you to turn on facial recognition.”

  Dan went on at some length. Andy made notes as they talked.

  Andy said, “Who are some of the players on the technology side?”

 
Dan gave him a few names.

  Andy said, “Do you know PaprW8?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you know their COO, Susan Ward?”

  “No, but Eva met her at a gallery reception in San Francisco last week.”

  “They must do targeted political ads as part of their business. Has your company worked with them or their political clients?”

  “I’m not going to talk about our clients. Having given you that disclaimer, it would be surprising if some of our clients had not used PaprW8, along with Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and many others.”

  “OK. I noticed Eva is an artist. Digital art using AI, cool stuff. I also learned she’s the co-founder of a company that’s working on digital editing software for images.”

  “You’re right on both.”

  “I was wondering if I could talk with her before I leave.”

  “She’d probably be willing if she has time. Subject to the same ground rules we talked about earlier.”

  “Agreed. Are you familiar with a Chinese company called CnEyeco Tech?”

  Dan thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think so.”

  Andy said, “I read Professor Johnson’s husband, Rakesh Jain, owns a majority of your company.”

  “Yes. He and I are the only shareholders.”

  After they talked for another half-hour, Dan took Andy to Eva’s studio and handed him off. Eva gave Andy her usual public explanation of her artwork and Daneva Tech.

  While she was showing him some of her digital flower pieces, Andy said, “Dan told me you’ve met Susan Ward, the COO at PaprW8.”

  Eva said, “I met her Thursday evening. She came to the opening of an exhibition of my work at a San Francisco gallery.”

  “Has your software company done any work with PaprW8 or a Chinese company called CnEyeco Tech? I would think they’d both be interested in your digital editing capabilities.”

  “We haven’t, although Susan was interested in learning more about what we do and how we do it.”

  “What do you do and how do you do it?” he asked, flashing his warm smile.

  “Sorry,” Eva said.

  “Well, you must do something interesting. I’ve heard In-Q-Tel is one of your investors.”

  “You have big ears. But sorry, again, no comment.” Eva said.

  “OK, can you show me any examples of images you’ve produced with your editing software?”

  Eva smiled and said, “Sure. The digital flower pieces in this room were created with my AI software, but not the new digital editing tools. I can show you some digital editing examples in the other room.”

  She led him into the windowless room where she did her computer work. She pulled up some images on one of the large video screens. Flashing through several photos that had one or two individuals in various rural and urban settings, she said, “All of these people are real. All the places are real. We edited the people into the settings, using AI to increase the speed and accuracy of the pixel by pixel editing. This isn’t green screen stuff.”

  “Could the same technology be used to detect fakes—photos that have been altered?”

  She smiled and said, “Conceptually, yes. I am not going to comment on what our software can do.”

  His eyes scanned the darkened room, searching for anything of interest on the walls. Walking over to a large purple cork board on the wall with some 8x10 black and white photos pinned to it, he asked, “Is this you?” He was pointing at a print of Eva’s topless photo on Fifth Avenue.

  “Yes. I forgot that was up there. We did that a few years ago when we were trying to get some attention about what our technology could do. The photo of me was taken here in this studio. The Fifth Avenue photo is a stock shot from Getty.”

  “Do you sell those prints?”

  She laughed. “No and you can’t have that one. We do license a series of images we’ve created that includes that photo and a couple of similar shots in other locations. The images come with an 80” 4K display and a controller. Collectors usually buy them.”

  “You mean your editing is precise enough to hold up on an 80” display in 4K?”

  That was enough. Eva couldn’t resist. She turned on one of the big vertical displays on the wall, pressed a few buttons on the controller and sequenced to her Fifth Avenue topless image. “There you go,” she said.

  He walked closer to the display. She left the image up. He gaped at the photo.

  After a full minute of silence, she said, “OK, tour’s over. Anything else we need to talk about?”

  He said, “No. That was, uh, very impressive. Thank you. You’re very, uh, very talented.”

  Eva shut off the display and said, “Thanks. Can I ask you a question?”

  “OK.”

  “When you do investigative reporting like this, do you ever worry about pissing somebody off who might come after you?”

  He looked at Eva for a moment, then said, “Did Professor Williams say something to you about that?”

  “No, but I think you just answered my question. Can I have one more?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You haven’t told me who you’re targeting for your story. You asked about CnEyeco. Any chance the Chinese are involved?”

  “Now it’s my turn for no comment.”

  Eva smiled. “Here’s my card,” she said. “My cell number’s on it. If you need to follow up, shoot me a text.” Andy gave her his card in return. “Valerie Williams said you have relatives in Austin. Any chance I know them?”

  “Debby Jenkins is my mother’s sister. Debby is my aunt. I stayed with Debby and Steve this weekend. Do you know them?”

  “I do, although we don’t see them often.”

  Eva took him back to Dan and returned to her studio. After another 15 minutes, Dan walked him to the door. Andy promised to stay in touch. Dan gave him his mobile number.

  ◆◆◆

  When Andy reached the crowded gate for his 7:30 p.m. JetBlue flight to Boston, he didn’t notice the woman shooting pictures of him with her phone. She or one of her associates had covered every flight from Austin to Boston that day, waiting for him to show up, just as she had done in reverse when he flew into Austin on Friday.

  Chapter 35

  Andy hit the office early on Monday, looking forward to his weekly progress meeting with his editor. The 10:30 a.m. meeting was a disaster. The rest of the day was worse.

  After listening to Andy’s update, his editor was less enthusiastic than he had been about the Bernbach project. The editor pressed Andy about what he really knew and what was merely speculation, repeatedly questioning why he didn’t have more corroboration. When Andy made the mistake of suggesting the editor wanted to kill the story because it was politically dangerous to the Democrats, the editor came unglued, jumping to his feet and saying “Don’t you ever accuse me of something like that! I’m the guy who put you on this story! It was my idea! You little bastard! You’re lucky to have this job.”

  Rather than apologize, or at least sit quietly, Andy shot back. Standing three inches taller and inches away from his pudgy editor, he said, “Mayer put you up to this, didn’t he? He’s not only trying to protect his political buddies; he’s trying to make sure he doesn’t get pulled into this too!”

  Glaring at Andy, the editor put his hands on Andy’s shoulders and shoved him backwards, once, twice, three times, until he was almost out the door of the editor’s office. “Get your ass out of here before I fire you right now. See me right after lunch and we’ll decide whether you still work here anymore.”

  Not waiting for lunch, Andy took the elevator downstairs. Andy walked along the Freedom Trail toward Park Street Station and the Boston Common. He didn’t notice the man across the street who tailed him as he left the building.

  Stopping for a couple of slices of take-out pizza, he strolled into the broad expanse of the Common and sat on a bench for 40 minutes overlooking the Frog Pond, watching moms and nannies push their babies around the colors of spr
ing. After downing his pizza, he walked south from the Common into the Boston Public Garden, circling the long pond there before heading back. As he entered his office building, his tail broke off, crossing the street to return to his watchful waiting. Upstairs, Andy went straight to his editor’s office. His editor wasn’t there.

  Back at his desk, Andy checked his work emails and voicemails. One voicemail caught his attention. A recorded male voice said, “Andy, you and I were students at UT-Austin together. I’m a software engineer in California. I have some information you may be interested in. Text me so we can set a time to talk.” He left his mobile number. Andy put the number in his phone and went back to his editor’s office.

  When Andy walked in, the editor said, “Since you mentioned his name this morning, I talked to Mr. Mayer. I was ready to fire you, but he stepped in and saved your job, for now. You’re a talented journalist, but you’re off base on this. You’re overreacting to my efforts to assure you have a story that will hold up. This could be an important piece and it needs to be done right. You’re on a witch hunt, and I’m not the witch. We’re putting you on paid leave for two weeks. Think of it as a cooling off period. When we finish here, you need to go by HR to sign the paperwork and get the details, which include leaving your notes here and staying away from the office for the full two weeks. I hope this works out for you and us.”

  Andy said, “That’s bullshit! I’m in the middle of a big story. You said that yourself. What if I don’t want to be put on leave?”

  “You can resign, now. That’s your only other choice. It’s your call, but the decision’s a no brainer. Take your two weeks with pay and think about your options. Worst case, you take another job when your leave’s over.”