Here’s how you can defeat algorithms
Big Tech are constantly using their algorithms to surveil us, use our private data and steal our personal information. According to a new study, we can now fight back. But the question is how?
Easy!
Algorithms are useless without valid and usable data. Hence, we can exploit that weakness by providing misleading data and confusing the hell of Big Tech’s algorithms.
And what’s more important is… we can win!
The question is how to defeat those damn algorithms (Watch this video to find out more https://youtu.be/zQaBfmUFgJI)
Every day, your life leaves a trail of digital breadcrumbs that tech giants use and abuse to track you. Whether you send an email, whether you order a meal, or whether you stream a show.
Big tech is always there waiting, lurking like a thief in the dark, to steal your data and learn all they can about your preferences.
Later on, they feed that data into machine-learning algorithms to target you with ads you don’t want to see and suggestions you don’t want to hear.
And whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, Google cashes your data in for over $120 billion a year of ad revenue. And they don’t even need your permission to do that!
What happens after that is even more horrendous. Day after day, you become caught in their spider web with no escape routes. You become a victim in a den of thieves where your life information is stolen right in front of your own eyes and you can do nothing about it. Increasingly, you can no longer opt-out of this arrangement that you never agreed to in the first place.
In a recent article, MIT Technology Review told the story of Kashmir Hill, then a reporter for Gizmodo, who famously tried to cut five major tech giants out of her life. She spent six weeks being miserable, struggling to perform basic digital functions. The tech giants, meanwhile, didn’t even feel an itch.
Now researchers at Northwestern University are suggesting new ways to redress this power imbalance by treating our collective data as a bargaining chip. Tech giants may have fancy algorithms at their disposal, but they are meaningless without enough of the right data to train on.
If this means anything is that we can win.
In a new paper being presented at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency conference, researchers including Ph.D. students Nicholas Vincent and Hanlin Li proposed three ways you can exploit this to your advantage.
The first is Data strikes. This is inspired by the idea of labor strikes, which involve withholding or deleting your data so a tech firm cannot use it. This would involve leaving a platform or installing privacy tools, for instance.
The second is Data poisoning. This involves injecting meaningless or harmful data into Big tech’s algorithms. Here’s an example you can use: AdNauseam is a browser extension that clicks on every ad you serve, thus confusing Google’s ad-targeting algorithms.
Then you have Conscious data contribution. This involves offering meaningful data to the competitor of a platform you want to protest, such as by uploading your Facebook photos to Tumblr instead.
Some People are already using many of these tactics to protect their own privacy.
So, why don’t you?
If you’ve ever used an ad blocker or another browser extension that modifies your search results to exclude certain websites, you’ve engaged in data striking and reclaimed some agency over the use of your data.
But unfortunately, sporadic individual actions like these don’t do much to get tech giants to change their behaviors.
So, what if millions of people were to join efforts to poison a tech giant’s data This may be happening already.
In January, millions of users deleted their WhatsApp accounts and moved to competitors like Signal and Telegram after Facebook announced that it would begin sharing WhatsApp data with the rest of the company. The exodus caused Facebook to delay its policy changes.
In March, Google announced it would stop tracking individuals across the web and targeting ads at them. It remains unclear whether this is a real change or just a rebranding.
It could be possible though that the increased use of tools like AdNauseam contributed to that decision by degrading the effectiveness of the company’s algorithms.
Meanwhile, the movement to resist Big Tech is growing and getting more and more exciting. People are already messing up their data and making demands with that threat. After all, it’s your data and only you can decide who uses it and who doesn’t.
On a different note…
Data is not the only personal thing that we’re losing to big tech. We’re losing control of our faces too. A new study of facial recognition data, the largest of its kind so far, has shown how much the rise of deep learning has fueled a loss of privacy.
There is still work to be done to make these campaigns more widespread. Computer scientists could play an important role in making more tools like AdNauseam, which would help lower the barrier to participating in such tactics.
Policymakers could help too.
Data strikes are most effective when bolstered by strong data privacy laws, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which gives consumers the right to request the deletion of their data. Without such regulation, it’s harder to guarantee that a tech company will give you the option to scrub your digital records, even if you remove your account.
However, more questions need to be answered first. How many people does a data strike need to damage a company’s algorithm? And what kind of data would be most effective in poisoning a particular system?
In a simulation involving a movie recommendation algorithm, researchers found that if 30% of users went on strike, it could cut the system’s accuracy by 50%. But every machine-learning system is different, and companies are constantly updating them.
I wish more people in the machine-learning community can run similar simulations of different companies’ systems to identify their vulnerabilities.
Watch this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zQaBfmUFgJI.
“Create the life that you love, not the one others create for you.” — Michael Taifour, certified life coach by The Coaching Institute
GET YOUR OWN, PERSONAL LIFE COACH: Email me at michael@coacheacademy.com or WhatsApp me on https://wa.me/message/GY5ZX7BE6YQFE1.
50% DISCOUNT ON ALL SESSIONS FOR FIRST-TIME CLIENTS.
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS: https://g.page/r/CfkO97aIdN0pEAE
VIEW MY COACHE PRESENTATION:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mLwDOgG_sgzKSpj-SQWpX1bmxLkjq8vV/view?usp=sharing
SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL FOR DAILY VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFiLjwKvfkIhd9kkhEqVaQ
MY BLOG: https://mtay3141.medium.com/
MY PUBLISHED BOOKS:
· The Hidden Temple (2021, Ingram Spark, Australia): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hidden-temple-michael-taylor/1136975525?ean=9780646818412
· The Lions and the Wolves (2019, Amazon Kindle Publishing, USA): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088J2G3YF?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
MY LINKS
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheEldorado777
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFiLjwKvfkIhd9kkhEqVaQLINKEDIN: LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/majed-taifour-33965b164/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MichaelTaifour
PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com.au/michaelt7521/_saved/
MEDIUM: https://mtay3141.medium.com/
ABOUT ME
As well as a life coach, I am a Financial Advisor, Investment Analyst, Vlogger, YouTuber, affiliate marketer, public and motivational speaker, business strategist, and founder of the Transcendental Re-engineering technique.
In 1994, I was one of the winners of the Columbia University in New York Pan-Asia Journalism Award, in cooperation with Citicorp. I’m listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World Millennium edition. Together with a Masters’ degree in commerce from the University of Sydney, I’m certified by The Coaching Institute in Australia.
EMAIL ME: michael@coacheacademy.com or WhatsApp me at https://wa.me/message/GY5ZX7BE6YQFE1.
ABOUT COACHE ACADEMY YOUTUBE CHANNEL
This channel is all about the unknowable. It fathoms everything mysterious. It chases enigmatic and mystifying stories and tries to unravel their hidden and covert secrets. The aim is to learn everything new in the unknown territory, awaken you to the mystery of life, and encourage you not to stop questioning.
So, if you’re into the mysterious and the unknown, then this channel is right up your alley.
Subscribe to it, like it, watch it.
SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFiLjwKvfkIhd9kkhEqVaQ
ABOUT COACHE
COACHE is the life coaching and business strategizing company, which created the concept of TRANSCENDENTAL RE-ENGINEERING back in 2017. The company’s objective is to assist individuals and business teams to uncover their greater potential for success.
Its main focus is on the thought, knowing that the mind is everything and we are what we think. The TRANSCENDENTAL RE-ENGINEERING technique, that the company teaches, is simple and effortless. It helps the mind transcend to its unbounded essence. Through it, the mind unfolds its potential for unlimited awareness, where everything and anything is possible.
Email me at michael@coacheacademy.com. Enroll now and take advantage of my limited 50% offer. Don’t pay $300, pay only $150 for a limited time. Enjoy more discounts on 12 session memberships and for family and friends referrals.
“Don’t rely on others to know what’s right for you.” — Michael Taifour
#bigtech #cybersecurity #cybersecuritytrainingforbeginners #majed #taifour #majedtaifour #michael #michaeltaifour #tayfour #coache #coacheacademy #lifecoaching #businessmentoring #privacy #data #google #facebook #surveillance #tracking #humanrecognition #citizendata #cybercrime #cyberbots #techregulation #dataprotection #datacollection #businesstechnology #technology #artificialintelligence #ai #machinelearning #personaltechnology #data privacy and security #data privacy law #data privacy act #data privacy apple #data privacy and consent #data privacy awareness #data privacy breach #big data privacy #big data privacy and ethics #data privacy compliance #data privacy challenges #data privacy and cybersecurity #data privacy documentary #data privacy do’s and don’ts #data privacy vs data security #facebook data privacy scandal explained #edward snowden data privacy #data privacy facebook issue #facebook data privacy #data privacy gdpr #google data privacy #data privacy in healthcare #health data privacy #data privacy issues #data privacy iphone #data privacy jobs
