cheatin' on big data

Will Democracy Survive Big Data and Artificial Intelligence? ^{25 fev 2017}

We are in the middle of a technological upheaval that will transform the way society is organized. We must make the right decisions now

The digital revolution is in full swing. How will it change our world? The amount of data we produce doubles every year. In other words: in 2016 we produced as much data as in the entire history of humankind through 2015. Every minute we produce hundreds of thousands of Google searches and Facebook posts. These contain information that reveals how we think and feel. Soon, the things around us, possibly even our clothing, also will be connected with the Internet. It is estimated that in 10 years’ time there will be 150 billion networked measuring sensors, 20 times more than people on Earth. Then, the amount of data will double every 12 hours. Many companies are already trying to turn this Big Data into Big Money.

Everything will become intelligent; soon we will not only have smart phones, but also smart homes, smart factories and smart cities. Should we also expect these developments to result in smart nations and a smarter planet?

The field of artificial intelligence is, indeed, making breathtaking advances. In particular, it is contributing to the automation of data analysis. Artificial intelligence is no longer programmed line by line, but is now capable of learning, thereby continuously developing itself. Recently, Google's DeepMind algorithm taught itself how to win 49 Atari games. Algorithms can now recognize handwritten language and patterns almost as well as humans and even complete some tasks better than them. They are able to describe the contents of photos and videos. Today 70% of all financial transactions are performed by algorithms. News content is, in part, automatically generated. This all has radical economic consequences: in the coming 10 to 20 years around half of today's jobs will be threatened by algorithms. 40% of today's top 500 companies will have vanished in a decade.

It can be expected that supercomputers will soon surpass human capabilities in almost all areas—somewhere between 2020 and 2060. Experts are starting to ring alarm bells. Technology visionaries, such as Elon Musk from Tesla Motors, Bill Gates from Microsoft and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, are warning that super-intelligence is a serious danger for humanity, possibly even more dangerous than nuclear weapons. Is this alarmism?

Terás que ler o original para mais. Mas on topic, de hoje: "Portugal’s media companies plan to pool user data to compete with the duopoly". Preocupado com o duopoly do Facebook e Google? Os media também. Daí a brilhante ideia que parecem ter tido.

In Portugal, where Google and Facebook accounted for 68 percent of digital ad growth last year, the country’s top six commercial media companies are putting aside competition and pooling data. Media companies, including Impresa, Global Media, Cofina, Media Capital, Publico and Renascença, which reach 85 percent of Portugal’s 6.5 million monthly active internet users, have been in talks for two years planning project Nonio. This summer, these companies plan to start asking users to log in to their sites. Users will only need to log in once to be recognized across the hundreds of sites owned by the media companies, including magazine and news brands, as well as TV and radio on-demand services.

Once signed up, the publishers can collect device, behavioral and purchasing data, and semantic and contextual website data. This is collected in a separate data-management platform.
in "Portugal’s media companies plan to pool user data to compete with the duopoly" ^{2 mar 2017}

Porque, enfim, todos têm que contribuir para o "amount of data we produce doubles every year". Alguma forma de ser ainda mais imbecil? Claro:

Project Nonio will involve media agencies and advertisers to guide how it segments audiences.
in "Portugal’s media companies plan to pool user data to compete with the duopoly" ^{2 mar 2017}

De que nos queixamos...? Claro que iam dar os dados às agências de publicidade: eram eles ou aos Big Brothers deste mundo, e esses haverão de os conseguir de qualquer forma - contamos também os dias até serem extraviados para usufruto de qualquer um que abra cordões à bolsa para que fins lhe proveite. Nos proveitos:

The benefit for publishers is they get access to a much larger pool of anonymized, aggregated data segments
in "Portugal’s media companies plan to pool user data to compete with the duopoly" ^{2 mar 2017}

Anónimo, por isso pedem login :) Acrescentamos, sobre um seu acrescento:

Our secret is we are a small market

...pelo que anomimato é praticamente impossível nessas condições para qualquer utilizador que não esteja minimamente preocupado com a sua pegada digital. Trust us, com um par de ferramentas off-tha-self perfeitamente legais e um pequeno pool de utilizadores, é indecente o que podes saber dos seus hábitos online.

Small print: o "cheatin' on big data" é um triplo pun. i) o óbvio: they cheat + respeitem a privacidade; ii) shame: nós também corremos analytics nos nossos sites mas só para trocar as voltas a picos de tráfico suspeitos; iii) we cheat again: dissemos que não haveríamos de citar artigos académicos e acabámos de vos referir a um paper na Scientific American... Há uma razão para essa referência - há sempre!- mais em breve.

digital over-lasting