In order for the technologies AIQ was developing to work, what they built was the interface between databases and online platforms that you could put advertising on. They were that sort of middle ground. You need to have access to the data in order to pull lists, in order to send it and to create a custom audience.
You can't build a targeting platform that doesn't have access to data, because then what are you targeting on, right? One of the things I provided to the DCMS committee here in Britain is an email from AIQ that specifically references searching the SCL databases on the Ripon project.
I don't know how else you can query a database if you don't have access to the database. I do not know how you can perform targeting if you don't have access to the database. Frankly, I'm surprised and really disappointed that Jeff Silvester and Zack Massingham have decided to try to obfuscate or hide what happened. You'll have to ask them why it is that they are taking this line, but in my view, that's just not true. What value would they offer, then, if they did not use any of the data?