Algorithm and BIG data
An algorithm is a series of steps that a computer must take to solve a problem.
At facebook, for example, the goal is to keep you on the platform for as long as possible.
So the algorithm is designed to be the most likely to stay long, they do that by showing you messages similar to messages you have replied to in the past. If you respond you stay longer and come back more often to see what people think of your reaction.
The correct order is essential for an algorithm.
You can compare it to dressing yourself.
Suppose my problem is to find a partner. Today I'm going to date.
If I put on my jeans first and then my underpants then something goes wrong.
First eat macaroni and then drink boiling water with it goes wrong.
The order is important.
An algorithm can also adapt to circumstances and it seems as if it can learn. Everything is a sequence of moves.
What is known about you?
We think the BIG Brother five know everything about us.
The big brother five? Those are Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo and Amazon.
But there are companies that know a lot more about us. They specialize in collecting and selling personal data.
Data traders, they collect data from all possible sources. Think of the basic registration, your public social media profiles, the land registry, the Chamber of Commerce. Bankruptcy data, your surf and online buying behavior. For example, we are divided into salable profiles with more than 70 characteristics per profile.
Whether we have a fireplace, a garage, an engine, for example, or we often search for medical terms. How creditworthy we are, how quickly we can be persuaded to buy products. All useful information for, for example, health insurance, mortgage providers and marketing departments of all kinds of companies.
The largest is international https://liveramp.com/ And in the Netherlands, for example https://www.focum.nl/
The information is for sale and is of course also entered into algorithms from companies and governments.
SyRI (systemic risk indication)
The system that should identify in which areas there are higher risks of crime. The system fails, today (July 3, 2019) Rotterdam decided to discontinue the system.
A social coalition is filing a lawsuit against the system. Mainly due to the lack of transparency. It is unclear what the algorithm knows. Entire neighborhoods with citizens are being vetted by the system with little result to date. But finding out that you are being vetted is of course detrimental to the confidence of citizens in the government.
In the illusion show Privacy brain juggler and actor Jochem Nooyen amazes you with miraculous delusions. He reads your mind and seemingly effortlessly finds out what you thought you could hide.
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