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FTC Creates Office Dedicated To "Algorithmic Transparency"

jfruh writes When Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm filters a meme you posted out of your friends' feed, you might find that annoying. When your bank's algorithm denies you a mortgage, that has a serious effect on your life. But both kinds of algorithms are generally opaque to customers and regulators, and the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection has set up an office dedicated to figuring out these algorithms affect our lives and intersect with the law. Perhaps they can start with how the IRS selects people to audit, and whether constantly shifting TSA policies make sense.

2 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Keep private things private by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This is all part of a paranoid witch-hunt to identify supposed racial discrimination hidden in algorithms.

    Regulators just can't believe that that there might be any difference in the races and that risk might correlate with race.

    Any difference in lending rates is seen as proof of discrimination.

    The only way lenders could avoid cries of "racist" was to try and automate judgement.

    Well now that the algorithms produce similar results, it must be racist algorithms denying loans to innocent victims.

    The same thing has happened in hiring. No judgement is allowed anymore. Hiring has become rule driven (must have a degree in X, must have Y years experience in Z) to avoid cries of "racist".

    No one is allowed to think lest their thinking reveal some hidden racist devil.

  2. Re:Gaming the system by jklovanc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You need to get a Credit Union. The credit union I deal with bends over backwards to avoid fees. For example, there have been times that my paycheck deposit has come late in the day but withdrawals have come out earlier and should have caused an overdraft fee. But because my regular pattern was to deposit my pay that day no fee was charged. That is one of the many reasons I deal with a Credit Union and not a Bank.