Anyone could have done what Cambridge Analytica did....
You just need a Facebook account, agree (and ignore) a few Facebook TOS and you're good to go, you can start creating Facebook apps today.
What you can't do now which Cambridge Analytica did, is use the Facebook Graph API that was available before 2014 which gave developers far more liberties than Facebook ever should have allowed.
The major issue has been lack of oversight, Facebook makes no review of the systems it grants access to. The liberties that developers still have, present a tangible risk to people's privacy. Facebook is still relying on their users having some discretion and not just run around granting everything access to their Facebook.
So yes I imagine there are tens of thousands of entities out there using similar tricks with Facebook that Cambridge Analytica used. I doubt many of these companies have links to current and former members of the intelligence community and are using the data to distort the democratic process like Cambridge Analytica did. At least they're no where near as successful as Cambridge Analytica was.
Of course as linked here Cambridge Analytica is now Emerdata so there's at least one company that still exists that's exactly like Cambridge Analytica.
Go to a seminar on Quantum Computing, one thing you'll quickly pick up in the audience is that there are a lot of people who have experience with quantum physics.
There are also a lot of people who have great skills in computer programming. There's almost no one who has an understanding of both.
At some stage in the future quantum computing may be abstract enough for developers to not need an understanding of quantum physics in the same way most developers don't understand nand and nor gates transitors, multiplexors etc etc. However we're a long way from that and in the interim there'll be shortage of people who understand quantum computer design and programming
And when true AI finally does arrive it'll be on the back of tens of thousands of machine learning systems that have come before it which have been trained to treat people like they're something to be harvested. We're well on the way to the matrix, although it won't be at the end of a marxist robotic revolution rather than an inevitable evolution.
Firstly the one thing people need to understand is that the data mining that has been going on is by third parties through Facebook's APIs with API keys aka Facebook Apps, that anyone has the ability to create and get immediate public access to Facebook's user base without any scrutiny from Facebook. Now they've made a number of revisions to their APIs and wound back a lot of the privileges however the lack of scrutiny is the issue.
Developing apps on most other platforms which open up users in an ecosystem to data mining by a third party usually involves submitting the app to the company that created the ecosystem. The process of getting an app published on Google or Apples market places is quite involved. Many apps never get authorised by Google's/Apple's platforms due to the app not meeting the platforms technical or privacy standards.
What Facebook needs is to stop this free for all public access to their APIs and restrict public access to apps that have passed some form of review process administered by a team at Facebook.
It doesn't need a backdoor. It is the backdoor. Every anti-virus program out there has automatic update functionality. Kaspersky installs by default with "Download and install updates automatically." enabled.... need I say more?
The issue is that it's security software with low level access to your system which is controlled by a company which is controlled by Putin. It may not have malware in it now, but of course it has mechanisms in place to enable the distribution of malware very quickly.
As if any modern OS would not support API for telephony?
The days of disconnected devices and apps are pretty much over. Regardless of it's form factor or size these days you expect devices to have capabilities to initiate data connections, make calls, send text messages. I think this is an obvious evolution rather than an indication of an imminent product release.
We have trouble finding cities a few thousand years old. A few hundred million years is a completely different ball game. What does a city look like when you compress it down to a few inches? The process of fossilisation of organic matter depends on rapid decomposition followed by replacement of that matter with another like limestone. Again with inorganic structures that's going to be different.
I love the arm chair scientists on slashdot, They're so efficient.... no research required... just skip all that bollocks and jump straight to a hypothesis.
And you probably won't read this either. Anyhow here's a key quote from the PDF which totally refutes your statement
An intriguing hypothesis presents itself should any of the initial releases of light carbon described above indeed be related to a prior industrial civilization. As discussed in section 3.3, these releases often triggered episodes of ocean anoxia (via increased nutrient supply) causing a massive burial of organic matter, which eventually became source strata for further fossil fuels. Thus the prior industrial activity would have actually given rise to the potential for future industry via their own demise.
It was terrible because it was designed for devices around in the 90s. It wasn't designed to be used with fingers, it was intended to be used with a stylus, and this was because the technology to operate a touch screen hand held mobile device with a finger just wasn't practical at the time. Plus the processing power was such that the interface had to be minimal, with no fancy transitions or animations. The issue was they had to rebuild the Windows Mobile OS from nearly the ground up and it took Microsoft way too long to bite the bullet, get it built and get it to market.
The last thing anyone would say about the metro ui is that it's cluttered... especially compared to Android and iPhone. The UI is actually quite beautiful and I would describe it as very clean. Windows Phone failed despite it's UI... not because of it
The problem with it was timing and apps..... and the fact apple had iTunes back in 2001... which made the iPod a huge success and a natural lead to a very successful launch of the iPhone in 2007.
Microsoft sought a deal with the music industry for years and failed to broker it until 2004 and by that time the iPod craze was well underway. I believe it was Steve Jobs and the connections he brought with him from Pixar that helped catapult Apple into becoming the major player in the digital music and film industry.
It was the access to content that was a key issue. What is the point of developing a platform for content you don't have access to?
Well my point is Facebook didn't sell them down the river. They sold themselves down the river. Firstly they signed up to Facebook then they signed up to sites and apps affiliated with Cambridge Analytica and granted them access to their Facebook data.
Although Facebook does bare some responsibility, they created the API/ecosystem on which this occurred. They really should have a vetting process to protect "the idiots" on their platform from the sharks like Cambridge Analytica.
Currently all you need is a Facebook account and sign up for a developer account then you can just start creating Facebook apps with no vetting process of any kind and then publish this to the general public with Facebook havubg bi review of what the developer is offering Facebook users, and what Facebook data they're attempting to access.
Facebook should have some sort of system for reviewing apps similar to what Microsoft, Apple and Google have where you submit your app for review, they check it out and then grant you public access if it looks reasonable. e.g a personality quiz that attempts to get facebook users to grant them permission to access everything they have should be getting caught and rejected before any of "the idiots" have a chance to click OK lets go with that one.
Whether the UI is merged or not is completely superfluous, you can be guaranteed that your data from Instagram is used to profile you in much the same way as it is on Facebook and that whilst the data is presented as being separate, if it has not already done so, Facebook will be will be working to amalgamate these systems on the back end which creates a common pool of data on everyone.
I mean seriously, is it a huge surprise that invasion of privacy is a concern on Facebook. That's the whole point of the site, sharing private moments with the public or with their "friends".
I think the main issue with this whole thing is that even after the the Cambridge Analytica disclosures, the general public remains uneducated. They don't understand how Cambridge Analytica acquired their data, many are under the allusion that representatives of Facebook made a specific deal.
In truth the data was acquired by means any one of us could use without doing any kind of deal with Facebook, other than agreeing to the TOC for their graph API. And after that it's simply a matter of duping fools into granting your Facebook apps access to their private data. e.g. fill out this personality quiz, see what you look like as someone from the opposite sex..... the fool goes click, click, click.... not reading any the parts about...oh and in exchange for this gimmick you agree to give us access to EVERYTHING we can possibly get our hands on through your Facebook account.
It reminds me of the late 90s when people just discovered there possibility of trojans and malware on the internet. Same old same old, idiots and technology... it gets messy.
The internet itself is based on intellectual property paid for and developed by the US military. GPS systems which are at the core of many computer applications we all love and use is run off a system originally used developed for the US military... there's hundreds more examples.
Technology is just that. It can be used for multiple purposes, very often the original intent of the technology can end up being used in completely ways, meaning that technology intended for military use can end up becoming something like the world wide web and technology not intended for military use can end up being used to take lives e.g.chlorine gas is used widely within industry for thousands of purposes... other than gassing people in idlib
I don't see how desiring anonymous payment processes is backward. At present cash is the only anonymous scalable transaction system. You might suggest crypto currencies but at present they're not practical as a mass consumer market payment system. There are exchanges offering Visa cards, but this isn't any better than a normal Visa card, all your transactions go through the Visa card system and are tracked!
Do you really want everything you buy, the quantity you purchase it in, the time you purchase it and the location you purchase these items from to be recorded and used by a 3rd party? Sweden says no
You may see no value in privacy, but I'm sure one day you will.
This is all very reminiscent of early attempts at flight 100 years ago that featured crowds and officials gathering to watch a revolutionary new technology only for it to embarrassingly fail.
Full realistic ray tracing to provide real global illumination be it real time or otherwise has always been impossible. Ray tracing is only a simulation and has always employed artificial cutoffs and other hacks. Why? Well light is analogue, to simulate it properly requires a literally infinite amount of processing power. I doubt there'll be anything different about this tech, it's just a new api.
A human driver had a chance to avoid the collision and instead they were not focused on the road. The backup driver only had to take the steering wheel or put their foot on the break pedal.
The car had a single occupant who was not focused on the road. In a test vehicle, regardless of how autonomous the vehicle is if one person is required to monitor computer systems whilst the car is travelling, they need a second occupant to monitor the road.
The Lidar system should work with no light at all, its an infrared laser system, it emits its own light! In fact if anything it would probably work better in complete darkness!
This was obviously a major technology failure, however it needn't have resulted in someones death.
The greatest failure here is not in the technology but in Ubers testing procedures.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone could have done what Cambridge Analytica did....
You just need a Facebook account, agree (and ignore) a few Facebook TOS and you're good to go, you can start creating Facebook apps today.
What you can't do now which Cambridge Analytica did, is use the Facebook Graph API that was available before 2014 which gave developers far more liberties than Facebook ever should have allowed.
The major issue has been lack of oversight, Facebook makes no review of the systems it grants access to. The liberties that developers still have, present a tangible risk to people's privacy. Facebook is still relying on their users having some discretion and not just run around granting everything access to their Facebook.
So yes I imagine there are tens of thousands of entities out there using similar tricks with Facebook that Cambridge Analytica used. I doubt many of these companies have links to current and former members of the intelligence community and are using the data to distort the democratic process like Cambridge Analytica did. At least they're no where near as successful as Cambridge Analytica was.
Of course as linked here Cambridge Analytica is now Emerdata so there's at least one company that still exists that's exactly like Cambridge Analytica.
Go to a seminar on Quantum Computing, one thing you'll quickly pick up in the audience is that there are a lot of people who have experience with quantum physics.
There are also a lot of people who have great skills in computer programming. There's almost no one who has an understanding of both.
At some stage in the future quantum computing may be abstract enough for developers to not need an understanding of quantum physics in the same way most developers don't understand nand and nor gates transitors, multiplexors etc etc. However we're a long way from that and in the interim there'll be shortage of people who understand quantum computer design and programming
And when true AI finally does arrive it'll be on the back of tens of thousands of machine learning systems that have come before it which have been trained to treat people like they're something to be harvested. We're well on the way to the matrix, although it won't be at the end of a marxist robotic revolution rather than an inevitable evolution.
Firstly the one thing people need to understand is that the data mining that has been going on is by third parties through Facebook's APIs with API keys aka Facebook Apps, that anyone has the ability to create and get immediate public access to Facebook's user base without any scrutiny from Facebook. Now they've made a number of revisions to their APIs and wound back a lot of the privileges however the lack of scrutiny is the issue.
Developing apps on most other platforms which open up users in an ecosystem to data mining by a third party usually involves submitting the app to the company that created the ecosystem. The process of getting an app published on Google or Apples market places is quite involved. Many apps never get authorised by Google's/Apple's platforms due to the app not meeting the platforms technical or privacy standards.
What Facebook needs is to stop this free for all public access to their APIs and restrict public access to apps that have passed some form of review process administered by a team at Facebook.
It doesn't need a backdoor. It is the backdoor. Every anti-virus program out there has automatic update functionality. Kaspersky installs by default with "Download and install updates automatically." enabled.... need I say more?
The issue is that it's security software with low level access to your system which is controlled by a company which is controlled by Putin. It may not have malware in it now, but of course it has mechanisms in place to enable the distribution of malware very quickly.
As if any modern OS would not support API for telephony?
The days of disconnected devices and apps are pretty much over. Regardless of it's form factor or size these days you expect devices to have capabilities to initiate data connections, make calls, send text messages. I think this is an obvious evolution rather than an indication of an imminent product release.
We have trouble finding cities a few thousand years old. A few hundred million years is a completely different ball game. What does a city look like when you compress it down to a few inches? The process of fossilisation of organic matter depends on rapid decomposition followed by replacement of that matter with another like limestone. Again with inorganic structures that's going to be different.
I love the arm chair scientists on slashdot, They're so efficient.... no research required... just skip all that bollocks and jump straight to a hypothesis.
You didn't read the paper.
And you probably won't read this either. Anyhow here's a key quote from the PDF which totally refutes your statement
An intriguing hypothesis presents itself should any of the initial releases of light carbon described above indeed be related to a prior industrial civilization. As discussed in section 3.3, these releases often triggered episodes of ocean anoxia (via increased nutrient supply) causing a massive burial of organic matter, which eventually became source strata for further fossil fuels. Thus the prior industrial activity would have actually given rise to the potential for future industry via their own demise.
It was terrible because it was designed for devices around in the 90s. It wasn't designed to be used with fingers, it was intended to be used with a stylus, and this was because the technology to operate a touch screen hand held mobile device with a finger just wasn't practical at the time. Plus the processing power was such that the interface had to be minimal, with no fancy transitions or animations. The issue was they had to rebuild the Windows Mobile OS from nearly the ground up and it took Microsoft way too long to bite the bullet, get it built and get it to market.
You've never used it right?
The last thing anyone would say about the metro ui is that it's cluttered... especially compared to Android and iPhone. The UI is actually quite beautiful and I would describe it as very clean. Windows Phone failed despite it's UI... not because of it
The problem with it was timing and apps. .... and the fact apple had iTunes back in 2001... which made the iPod a huge success and a natural lead to a very successful launch of the iPhone in 2007.
Microsoft sought a deal with the music industry for years and failed to broker it until 2004 and by that time the iPod craze was well underway. I believe it was Steve Jobs and the connections he brought with him from Pixar that helped catapult Apple into becoming the major player in the digital music and film industry.
It was the access to content that was a key issue. What is the point of developing a platform for content you don't have access to?
This sounds like the blurb you get at the start of a marvel comic, before things go horribly wrong.
Definitely not a trump supporter. I dont think you actually understand what I've said
Well my point is Facebook didn't sell them down the river. They sold themselves down the river. Firstly they signed up to Facebook then they signed up to sites and apps affiliated with Cambridge Analytica and granted them access to their Facebook data.
Although Facebook does bare some responsibility, they created the API/ecosystem on which this occurred. They really should have a vetting process to protect "the idiots" on their platform from the sharks like Cambridge Analytica.
Currently all you need is a Facebook account and sign up for a developer account then you can just start creating Facebook apps with no vetting process of any kind and then publish this to the general public with Facebook havubg bi review of what the developer is offering Facebook users, and what Facebook data they're attempting to access.
Facebook should have some sort of system for reviewing apps similar to what Microsoft, Apple and Google have where you submit your app for review, they check it out and then grant you public access if it looks reasonable. e.g a personality quiz that attempts to get facebook users to grant them permission to access everything they have should be getting caught and rejected before any of "the idiots" have a chance to click OK lets go with that one.
I'm guessing you skipped the bit in the article that says that it's a trial and they're planning to role it out across the country.
Whether the UI is merged or not is completely superfluous, you can be guaranteed that your data from Instagram is used to profile you in much the same way as it is on Facebook and that whilst the data is presented as being separate, if it has not already done so, Facebook will be will be working to amalgamate these systems on the back end which creates a common pool of data on everyone.
I mean seriously, is it a huge surprise that invasion of privacy is a concern on Facebook. That's the whole point of the site, sharing private moments with the public or with their "friends".
I think the main issue with this whole thing is that even after the the Cambridge Analytica disclosures, the general public remains uneducated. They don't understand how Cambridge Analytica acquired their data, many are under the allusion that representatives of Facebook made a specific deal.
In truth the data was acquired by means any one of us could use without doing any kind of deal with Facebook, other than agreeing to the TOC for their graph API. And after that it's simply a matter of duping fools into granting your Facebook apps access to their private data. e.g. fill out this personality quiz, see what you look like as someone from the opposite sex..... the fool goes click, click, click.... not reading any the parts about ...oh and in exchange for this gimmick you agree to give us access to EVERYTHING we can possibly get our hands on through your Facebook account.
It reminds me of the late 90s when people just discovered there possibility of trojans and malware on the internet. Same old same old, idiots and technology... it gets messy.
The internet itself is based on intellectual property paid for and developed by the US military. GPS systems which are at the core of many computer applications we all love and use is run off a system originally used developed for the US military... there's hundreds more examples.
Technology is just that. It can be used for multiple purposes, very often the original intent of the technology can end up being used in completely ways, meaning that technology intended for military use can end up becoming something like the world wide web and technology not intended for military use can end up being used to take lives e.g.chlorine gas is used widely within industry for thousands of purposes... other than gassing people in idlib
I don't see how desiring anonymous payment processes is backward. At present cash is the only anonymous scalable transaction system. You might suggest crypto currencies but at present they're not practical as a mass consumer market payment system. There are exchanges offering Visa cards, but this isn't any better than a normal Visa card, all your transactions go through the Visa card system and are tracked!
Do you really want everything you buy, the quantity you purchase it in, the time you purchase it and the location you purchase these items from to be recorded and used by a 3rd party? Sweden says no
You may see no value in privacy, but I'm sure one day you will.
This is all very reminiscent of early attempts at flight 100 years ago that featured crowds and officials gathering to watch a revolutionary new technology only for it to embarrassingly fail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Maybe in 20 years time I guess.
Full realistic ray tracing to provide real global illumination be it real time or otherwise has always been impossible. Ray tracing is only a simulation and has always employed artificial cutoffs and other hacks. Why? Well light is analogue, to simulate it properly requires a literally infinite amount of processing power. I doubt there'll be anything different about this tech, it's just a new api.
A human driver had a chance to avoid the collision and instead they were not focused on the road. The backup driver only had to take the steering wheel or put their foot on the break pedal.
The car had a single occupant who was not focused on the road. In a test vehicle, regardless of how autonomous the vehicle is if one person is required to monitor computer systems whilst the car is travelling, they need a second occupant to monitor the road.
The Lidar system should work with no light at all, its an infrared laser system, it emits its own light! In fact if anything it would probably work better in complete darkness!
This was obviously a major technology failure, however it needn't have resulted in someones death.
The greatest failure here is not in the technology but in Ubers testing procedures.
I think that's exactly right. In a lot accidents there is usually one or more parties involved for whom the accident was completely unavoidable