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MIT Project "Gaydar" Shakes Privacy Assumptions

theodp writes "At MIT, an experiment that identifies which students are gay is raising new questions about online privacy. Using data from Facebook, two students in an MIT class on ethics and law on the electronic frontier made a striking discovery: just by looking at a person's online friends, they could predict whether the person was gay. The project, given the name 'Gaydar' by the students, is part of the fast-moving field of social network analysis, which examines what the connections between people can tell us, from predicting who might be a terrorist to the likelihood a person is happy, fat, liberal, or conservative." MIT professor Hal Abelson, who co-taught the course, is quoted: "That pulls the rug out from a whole policy and technology perspective that the point is to give you control over your information — because you don't have control over your information."

46 of 508 comments (clear)

  1. Solution by kk49 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Friend Everyone...

    --
    You can have your god back when you are old enough to handle the responsibility.
    1. Re:Solution by wild_quinine · · Score: 3, Funny

      Friend Everyone...

      At best that will categorise you as 'angsty teenager'.

      At worst, as 'All things to all men - especially those free and easy men at MIT'.

  2. I'm still safe... by celibate+for+life · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just hope they don't invent a virgin-radar.

    1. Re:I'm still safe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you're posting on Slashdot you've already been outed.

    2. Re:I'm still safe... by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny


        +5 Virgin

  3. It's simple really... by mikael · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are a couple of fields of personal data in facebook which state your marital status, and whether you are looking for a man or woman. It might just be possible from analyzing these details, which way you swing.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  4. I buy my gaydar... by Chysn · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...at Sharper Image.

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    --I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
    -- See?
  5. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it also take into account if all your friends are women? If they're all members of a musical theatre troupe? If one of your friends is your mother...

    --
    Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
    altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
  6. They'll really have something when... by jafo · · Score: 2, Funny

    They can tell me if the person I'm talking to online is wearing pants.

    Sean

  7. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by bertoelcon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where can I download this "real world" you speak of? Is it a one time purchase or a subscription fee?

    --
    Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
  8. Re:I beg to differ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    There aren't any, and that's how I want it to be :-)

  9. Re:Well, that seems cut & dried... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your coin toss program might work for we of the SchrÃdinger's Cat orientation, who don't yet know, however, based on my MIT friends, if it works in that environment, I don't see this would have any application in the real world.

  10. MIT Project "Gaydar" Shakes Privacy Assumpitons by Threni · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's an Assumpiton?

  11. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, someone should set up a company where people put in their interests and stuff, and it finds another member who matches then introduces them. Sounds like a possible application for them there newfangled computer doohickeys.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  12. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    [Spock eyebrow raise]

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  13. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by mobby_6kl · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or whether your last session originated from a Mac or not? And how about if you talk about, or have pictures of, Mazda Miatas in your profile?

  14. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by scragz · · Score: 4, Funny
  15. Re:Party games by quantaman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just like sleeping with large numbers of the same sex does not make one gay

    fixed that for you

    --Ted Haggard

    --
    I stole this Sig
  16. My program predicts much more by webbiedave · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have a program that can determine if someone on facebook may be gay, liberal, conservative, plus what their top 5 movies are, their top 5 albums, if they're bored, and even sometimes what they're eating! I call it: a browser.

  17. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by T+Murphy · · Score: 2, Funny

    One-time purchase. It's a trap, though- they don't charge you until you close the program.

  18. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Joebert · · Score: 2, Funny

    That is solved by socially accepting homosexuals, not by probing them.

    Wait, I thought the gays liked being probed ?

    --
    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
  19. Re:Well, that seems cut & dried... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I once wrote a computer program that predicted coin tosses. I didn't check, but I'm pretty sure that if I had tossed a coin that the predictions would have been accurate.

    Congrats! Your program seems to do a slightly better job than mine, but mine I consider a success, too:

    I also once wrote a computer program that predicted coin tosses. I didn't check, but I'm pretty sure that if I had tossed a coin that the predictions would have been accurate half the time.

  20. Re:I beg to differ by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 5, Funny

    And yet you registered for a slashdot account.

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    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  21. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    [Sulu eyebrow raise]

  22. Re:I beg to differ by chromas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Data miners mining minors' data

  23. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not worth it it only comes in lo-def and you only get a trial version that expires after a short period, but worst of all its closed source so you never know whats going on!

    --
    IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
  24. Oblig. Futurama by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Funny

    Amy: This is Bolt Rolands. Bolt is a hyper-sled racer with ten wins on the pro circuit.
    Bolt: Hello, beautiful!
    Bender: (whispers) I think she means ten wins on the gay circuit.
    Bolt: (chuckling) I wish! Those cats can really fly.

  25. Rick Romero is on the scene. by captjc · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think the MIT people are simply too infatuated with cult of technology.

    This just in, people at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology love technology!

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    Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
  26. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Nerdfest · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would expect that your tendency to burn in sunlight would indicate that you are in fact, a vampire.

  27. Re:I beg to differ by oldhack · · Score: 2, Funny

    They find you out through your ever-accumulating enemies. MUAHAHAHAHAH!!!

    --
    Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
  28. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Donkey_Hotey · · Score: 3, Funny

    [Kirk scenery chew]

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    (There is supposed to be a Sarcmark® here, but my $1.99 check hasn't cleared, yet...)
  29. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    That probably didn't come out exactly the way you expected.

    It was probably a surprise when it went in too.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  30. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by hedwards · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought the established custom was to buy them a couple drinks first.

  31. Re:I beg to differ by Knitebane · · Score: 2, Funny

    "It would help if we didn't make it so easy."

    That's right.  By wearing that short dress America was just asking for it.

    --
    "...history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." --Ghandi
  32. Re:I beg to differ by couchslug · · Score: 5, Funny

    "And yet you registered for a slashdot account."

    My social interaction is restricted to 4chan where my info will be respected.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  33. Re:you are wrong. by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sensuality + respect + kindness = the kind of man no woman can resist. Gotta respect yourself and her, though.

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    Qxe4
  34. Re:you are wrong. by Belial6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Where are the funny mods when you need them?

  35. Re:I beg to differ by bughunter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just assumed you had a cold.

    (And a speech-to-text interface.)

    --
    I can see the fnords!
  36. Re:FB's datamining for ads works the same way by glenstar · · Score: 2, Funny

    I often post on the walls of gay men, and that gay men often post on my wall

    Best.Euphemism. Ever.

  37. Save your time and money by davidwr · · Score: 2, Funny

    For the most part it gets poor reviews. A common criticism is that the world becomes uninhabitable in a few "billion years*". If a game is designed with such a critical flaw in the game-play, what other faults lurk beneath the surface?

    Another major criticism is less than half the players "win" the game. If you are the type that hates to lose, I recommend using the reincarnation option. If your "religion" is "Hindu" or "Buddist" it's turned on automatically for you.

    A word of warning: Do NOT start playing this game unless you have plenty of free time. A typical game lasts 70-80 "years" of in-game time, and that's without the "reincarnation" option. This is truly a game only for the idle rich.

    *Short periods of time are commonly expressed in "seconds" and small multiples thereof. Larger periods of time are commonly expressed in "years."

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  38. The sound of gay men's voices and "Gaydar" by Rick17JJ · · Score: 1, Funny

    My own ears serve as a fairly reliable "Gaydar," for detecting homosexual men. Over the years, I have noticed that most gay men usually have a just barely noticeable distinctive characteristic to their voices. For some reason, I have not ever heard anyone else mention noticing that.

    I first noticed that, several decades ago, when I would occasionally a hear gay men being interviewed on TV. They nearly always had that same distinctive quality to their voices. Whenever I would occasionally encounter someone who also sounded like that, my suspicions were sometimes later confirmed, by something I eventually heard or saw.

    One of the few exceptions for my "Gaydar" is Rock Hudson. I have never noticed that gay quality to his voice.

    I am probably somewhat better than average at picking up on subtle qualities to sounds. There are several people whose cars I hear a couple of times per day, and I can usually reliably recognize each of their vehicles as they pull up, without looking. I hear quite a few other vehicles throughout the day, yet I can usually tell the difference between the sound of their vehicles and all the other vehicles. That is despite the fact that some of the other vehicles, which I hear throughout the day, are of the same make, model, and possibly even the same engine type. I have also heard that many dogs can recognize the sound of their owners car from part way down the street. I wonder if blind people might have noticed what I am referring to. They frequently have a very well developed awareness of sounds.

    My auditory "Gaydar" only works for detecting gay men, not for detecting lesbian women. I have not had enough good tests for my "Gaydar" to say precisely how accurate it is. I am just wondering how many other people have been noticing the same thing about most gay men's voices.

    I do not feel any desire to go around "outing" people, or to possibly say something about someone which might turn out not be true, so I have always kept those observations to myself. Surely what I am describing must already be obvious to other people too.

  39. Re:I beg to differ by mgblst · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, each group of friend would probably only know one person with the same fullname. Now we have your name, friends, location, locations at certain times if the images have GPS in them, rough locations if no GPS (using flickr pool). We can do face matching to find out which one is you. We could find out your partner from these photos, with an error margin, and if they are on facebook we could get a lot from that, including here dob. From that we could find her address, and if you are sharing an address, your address. Or there might be a photo of you car in one of the pictures -> bam all the info we want.

    Staying of fb is no longer a guarantee that we can't track you down.

  40. Re:I beg to differ by cerberusss · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just assumed you had a cold.

    (And a speech-to-text interface.)

    He probably double the killer delete select all.

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  41. Re:I beg to differ by Zaphod+Beeblibrox · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thanks a lot, you insensitive clod!!

  42. Re:MIT Gaydar should be Facebook app by cerberusss · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would expect that your tendency to burn in sunlight would indicate that you are in fact, a vampire.

    Possible answers:

    - You know, being a vampire isn't a black-and-white issue.

    - That tendency to burn in sunlight is a bloody nuisance.

    - I got HMHVV via a blood donor.

    - I don't bloody care whether it's a he or a she

    Haha very funny. Laugh. Please try the veal.

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    8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
  43. Re:I beg to differ by jellybear · · Score: 3, Funny

    > certainly most countries (not all) in continental Europe were more tolerant about sexual preference 50 years ago than most Americans today.

    Indeed, the Germans INVENTED the fabulous pink triangle symbol that gays wear so proudly today!