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Concerns Over Microsoft's Internet User Profiling

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the like-they-don't-already-know dept.

jcatcw writes "Microsoft research on Internet user profiling could lead to tools that help repressive regimes identify anonymous dissidents, the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group warned last Friday. Microsoft's new algorithms correctly guessed the gender of a Web surfer 80% of the time, and his or her age 60% of the time. "In China, it is conceivable that this type of technology would be used to spot Internet users who regularly access such 'subversive' content as news and information websites critical of the regime," the group said."

13 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. If I were head of an oppresive regime... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd be uneasy about partnering with a bunch of totalitarian control freaks like Microsoft.

    1. Re:If I were head of an oppresive regime... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That said, I reckon I could guess the gender of a web surfer 80% of the time.

      if (site.equals("slashdot.org")) male = true;
      else if (site.equals("cutepuppydogs.com")) male = false;

  2. oh noes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unless you happen to be the only 20-25 year old male in China I think you're safe.

    1. Re:oh noes! by Short+Circuit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Microsoft's new algorithms correctly guessed the gender of a Web surfer 80% of the time, and his or her age 60% of the time. "In China, it is conceivable that this type of technology would be used to spot Internet users who regularly access such 'subversive' content as news and information websites critical of the regime," With that kind if inaccuracy, it could hardly be considered a reliable indicator of identity. It seems much more tuned to generating demographic data.

      Not that China couldn't use that in targeted propaganda...
      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  3. Poor accuracy by mws1066 · · Score: 4, Informative

    80% and 60% are both actually very poor accuracies. I wouldn't be worried; this won't be taken seriously as any type of reliable profiling.

    --
    Nothing is more dangerous than a programmer with a screwdriver.
    1. Re:Poor accuracy by Lockejaw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I am worried about such low rates. People seem inclined to believe anything a sufficiently large computer says.

      --
      (IANAL)
    2. Re:Poor accuracy by ajanp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That same day, Erik Bratt, a Microsoft marketing communications manager, fired a preemptive salvo about the company's age- and gender-guessing research. Bratt first downplayed the research results, saying: "[The researchers] actually found that they could not, with a high degree of accuracy, predict age from Web browsing activity." He also swore the Redmond, Wash. developer off using the resulting algorithms. "Microsoft currently has no plans to use the capabilities found through this research in our products and services," Bratt said. So... they tell people that they have the ability to kind of, maybe, sort of, predict age and gender, but that their current algorithms are basically just a bunch of BS. Then they decide to also mention that despite the fact that the foundation for this technology doesn't really work accurately and the have no plans to use it in any products, they're going to continue working on it anyways.

      Microsoft's researchers said they would expand their work to other demographic attributes, such as occupation, educational degree and geographic location I mean, ofcourse that's the logical thing to do so that they could hopefully get it to work more accurately, but why mention that you're even working on the technology if you're going to immediately dismiss it by saying that it doesn't really work.

      Then again, now I guess it solidifies the opinion about why Microsoft is really so sore about the Google-Doubleclick deal http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/16/021720 3. Google's got a leg up on what they have apparently already been working on and now they're at a disadvantage.

      --
      File Deletion is Murder.
  4. If you were a totalitatian regime by supersnail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... wouldn't it be easier to look up the IP address and persuade the ISP to hand over the user details?

    The old ways are often the best.

    --
    Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.
  5. Here's my algorithm: by erroneous · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you read this post you are probably male. (80% correct)
    You are probably in the 20-35 age group. (60% correct)

    (I know I'll only get negative responses to this post of the type "I'm reading this and I'm a 47-year-old woman!" That's Ok. You're in the other bracket.)

    My algorithm is as good as Microsoft's. Can I have a research grant please?

    --
    erroneous: look me up in a dictionary
    1. Re:Here's my algorithm: by spellraiser · · Score: 4, Funny

      You got me pegged. Curse you!

      Can I have my privacy violation lawsuit settlement, please?

      --
      I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
  6. Not too bad for now... by taupin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Printable Version

    Right now this doesn't worry me too much - after all, how much "identification of anonymous dissidents" could someone do based only on one's gender and a rough estimate of age? On the other hand, if Microsoft do expand to geographical location, occupation, and educational degree as mentioned, then it's rather worrying.

  7. O Rly? by vivaoporto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First things first: why China? (The same question applies to Venezuela, Russia, Brazil or whatever is the target of the Slashdot "fifteen minutes of hate" of the day). Of course people should be concerned about what these countries do wrt losses of privacy and basic rights, but what about U.S. and E.U.? As we talk, they are working on a new agreement to share data from passengers on trans-Atlantic flights, a much more effective way to profile people, because it contains name, address, gender, destination, credit card number, everything, without needing to make any kind of assumption, everything is plain and clear. This is why I think that not only "in China", as the summary states, but in most countries in the world, this information can and will be used to tag people indiscriminetaly, subversive or not, terrorist or not, law abiding or not. So, take care of your own backyard before to point the poison ivy in your neighbor one.

    Second, it is not like if Microsoft was the only one researching and developing on this field and, more than that, it is not like if Microsoft was not researching on this field, any government interested on this kind of technology would not research itself, or fund research on its public universities. So, throwing Microsoft name on the mix only reinforces my point, this submission is nothing but a flamebait, being the flame targets the usual suspects, proprietary software and communism.

  8. I know who it is! by Phat_Tony · · Score: 4, Funny

    Right, so they're about 50% sure that it's someone who's both male and aged 24-30, living in China. It should be easy to pick out the individual from there.

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