so my dad has this saying if you’re not
paying for it you’re the product I want
to talk a little about what an internet
based on this premise could mean for our
future let’s say I’m looking for new
shoes maybe I’m not even sure what shoes
I want so I go to a shoe store a big
shoe warehouse with rows of shoes as far
as the eye can see I want to explore my
options but the second I walk in a shoe
sales rep sees the Nikes on my feet and
scoops up a box of shoes and proceeds to
follow me around the store showing me
all the options of shoes he thinks I
want to see and obstructing my view of
all the numerous rows of shoes in the
warehouse in this situation it’d be
reasonable for anyone to say no thank
you please stop showing me shoes I’d
like to look on my own now but on the
Internet you don’t get this choice
almost everything you search for
everything you see and everything
suggested for you is targeted
specifically for you
it’s the cyber equivalent of this
salesperson this is an analogy for the
modern Internet but to understand where
we are and how we got here
we need to take a step back and talk
about the evolution of the Internet of
Things the Internet is great in so many
ways it connects us to people we’d never
be able to talk to otherwise and if I
were in the 90s looking at the Internet
as it was kicking off I’d be thinking
wow this is going to be such a great
advance for Humanity the knowledge and
discovery and communication are no
longer limited by location or education
or means it’s truly the democratization
of information flow where once big news
outlets controlled what was relevant and
printed now anyone can be a voice of
thoughts information knowledge each
website its own voice so wouldn’t that
improve discourse promote tolerance and
raise awareness of the world around us
presumably due to the diversity of
thoughts and information in the world we
constantly be presented with beliefs
some agreeable and some opposing our own
beliefs but we all know that’s not
really the case right now and why is
that gradually over time communities on
the internet developed repiy
people with specific interests could
congregate to share their beliefs and
relate etc in the early days of the web
this division of the general space of
the internet into small unrepresentative
pockets of people was very clearly
defined by chat rooms a user could step
from the general space of the internet
in and out of more specific information
in a chat room to more general
information on the Internet at large
over time more and more people began to
migrate to fewer and fewer access points
for information currently we only have
about a handful of content providers
Google Facebook YouTube to name a couple
these content providers are the internet
salespeople they’re selling you what
they think you want to see based on what
they know about you and this information
is usually some amount that has
accumulated since you started visiting
their site but sometimes the information
is bought so before you even visit their
site they have a pretty good idea of
what who they think you are this
provides us with the survival of the
fittest
we’ve put exceeding amounts of pressure
on these few companies to provide us
with what we want to see and the last 10
years has given us numerous ways to do
this content targeting algorithms are
just a statistical programming way of
sorting and predicting things with data
user data in this case it’s surprising
how well algorithms can predict this
when I open up Google I’m expecting to
see a smattering of information roughly
in ranked in terms of popularity when I
open up Facebook I’m expecting to see a
sample of everything that’s happening in
my social circles when I go to the front
page of YouTube I expect to see the
music and videos that are popular today
but what I’m ending up with is a real
small subset in reality I’m seeing what
these content providers think I should
see based on what they know about me and
lines dividing groups of people on the
internet today are completely invisible
I’m part of a group of people maybe even
as few as just myself
open up Facebook to see a specific
combination of information out of all
the possible things I could be seeing on
my newsfeed it’s not random there’s a
dollar sign attached to knowing
everything about you so where you’re
from what websites you visited and what
browser you’re on what computer you’re
using is all used and all determines
what you see online turning on the TV to
Good Morning America is now opening up
Facebook – good morning
Sam it’s scary how good these content
targeting algorithms are I’m going to be
graduating in a month and I keep seeing
post like ten worst job interview
stories of all times and six things you
should never put up with on your first
job and my personal favorite ten do’s
and don’ts when moving back in with your
parents
thanks Facebook real vote of confidence
there these machine learning algorithms
are absolutely brilliant you don’t even
need to know what you’re searching for
to happen upon some type of insight in
the population you’re studying but
unknowingly widespread use of these
algorithms is biasing how people see the
world around them and it’s affecting
their it’s reaffirming their existing
beliefs but what I’m really getting at
is the shoe warehouse is vanishing
before our eyes and our entire
perception of the Internet is becoming
the shoe sales person’s offerings it
sounds so simple but it’s really quite
invisible there’s just so much out there
in the vastness of the internet that
even the most small customized subset of
this vastness can feel like an entire
universe unto itself
every point of access to information on
the Internet is being censored with what
content providers think you want to see
it reminds me of this great book called
feed where every character has a device
embedded into their brainstem and
companies send them content right to
their eyes and ears the characters
entire world right down to their senses
is customized and sold right back to
them kind of sounds like the modern
internet experience these characters
become incredibly small-minded and
unaware as their world crumbles around
them a good example of the
dangers of content targeting algorithms
is the fake news outbreak that play 2016
for instance a group of Macedonian men
realized that it could be profitable to
write inflammatory and mind you
completely fake news stories and post
them on Facebook and generate revenue
from the ad banners on the sides
Facebook content targeting algorithms
would then extract keywords from the
articles and know to share them to the
right people who would probably agree
with the most this set off a chain
reaction where these people in turn
would share the articles and their
friends without maybe reading would
share and post and set so I’m putting
the blame on us broadly speaking the
humans involved we all sometimes click
and share without really reading through
or fact-checking
but most importantly I credit the
content targeting algorithms not once
did any of these algorithms stop to
think whether these articles made any
sense for had any hint of fact to them
they never paused to evaluate whether it
was even ethical to be spreading
information that was so unequivocally
false well nobody was watching fake news
spread like wildfire and when I say
nobody was watching is because anybody
who disagreed with or could have
otherwise critically evaluated the
content of these articles they weren’t
even being shown the articles fake news
is insidious just like spam and Mark
Zuckerberg has committed Facebook to
fact-checking his way out of this mess
he’s hoping that fake news will go the
way of spam we currently have excellent
programs sorting away junk mail so none
of it meets our eyes but this isn’t
really getting at the issue at hand what
we need is a jump out button for all of
our content providers get that shoe
salesman out of my face I’m feeling
adventurous today we need this button
because it would produce less bias less
infinite echo chambers less self
confirmation and most importantly less
fake news free is how the internet was
meant to be and we need to be able to
lift the veil of bias and misdirection
that we were being fed online so with
that in mind and looking to the future
let’s spark a change with how we
interact with information on the
Internet today thank you
you
paying for it you’re the product I want
to talk a little about what an internet
based on this premise could mean for our
future let’s say I’m looking for new
shoes maybe I’m not even sure what shoes
I want so I go to a shoe store a big
shoe warehouse with rows of shoes as far
as the eye can see I want to explore my
options but the second I walk in a shoe
sales rep sees the Nikes on my feet and
scoops up a box of shoes and proceeds to
follow me around the store showing me
all the options of shoes he thinks I
want to see and obstructing my view of
all the numerous rows of shoes in the
warehouse in this situation it’d be
reasonable for anyone to say no thank
you please stop showing me shoes I’d
like to look on my own now but on the
Internet you don’t get this choice
almost everything you search for
everything you see and everything
suggested for you is targeted
specifically for you
it’s the cyber equivalent of this
salesperson this is an analogy for the
modern Internet but to understand where
we are and how we got here
we need to take a step back and talk
about the evolution of the Internet of
Things the Internet is great in so many
ways it connects us to people we’d never
be able to talk to otherwise and if I
were in the 90s looking at the Internet
as it was kicking off I’d be thinking
wow this is going to be such a great
advance for Humanity the knowledge and
discovery and communication are no
longer limited by location or education
or means it’s truly the democratization
of information flow where once big news
outlets controlled what was relevant and
printed now anyone can be a voice of
thoughts information knowledge each
website its own voice so wouldn’t that
improve discourse promote tolerance and
raise awareness of the world around us
presumably due to the diversity of
thoughts and information in the world we
constantly be presented with beliefs
some agreeable and some opposing our own
beliefs but we all know that’s not
really the case right now and why is
that gradually over time communities on
the internet developed repiy
people with specific interests could
congregate to share their beliefs and
relate etc in the early days of the web
this division of the general space of
the internet into small unrepresentative
pockets of people was very clearly
defined by chat rooms a user could step
from the general space of the internet
in and out of more specific information
in a chat room to more general
information on the Internet at large
over time more and more people began to
migrate to fewer and fewer access points
for information currently we only have
about a handful of content providers
Google Facebook YouTube to name a couple
these content providers are the internet
salespeople they’re selling you what
they think you want to see based on what
they know about you and this information
is usually some amount that has
accumulated since you started visiting
their site but sometimes the information
is bought so before you even visit their
site they have a pretty good idea of
what who they think you are this
provides us with the survival of the
fittest
we’ve put exceeding amounts of pressure
on these few companies to provide us
with what we want to see and the last 10
years has given us numerous ways to do
this content targeting algorithms are
just a statistical programming way of
sorting and predicting things with data
user data in this case it’s surprising
how well algorithms can predict this
when I open up Google I’m expecting to
see a smattering of information roughly
in ranked in terms of popularity when I
open up Facebook I’m expecting to see a
sample of everything that’s happening in
my social circles when I go to the front
page of YouTube I expect to see the
music and videos that are popular today
but what I’m ending up with is a real
small subset in reality I’m seeing what
these content providers think I should
see based on what they know about me and
lines dividing groups of people on the
internet today are completely invisible
I’m part of a group of people maybe even
as few as just myself
open up Facebook to see a specific
combination of information out of all
the possible things I could be seeing on
my newsfeed it’s not random there’s a
dollar sign attached to knowing
everything about you so where you’re
from what websites you visited and what
browser you’re on what computer you’re
using is all used and all determines
what you see online turning on the TV to
Good Morning America is now opening up
Facebook – good morning
Sam it’s scary how good these content
targeting algorithms are I’m going to be
graduating in a month and I keep seeing
post like ten worst job interview
stories of all times and six things you
should never put up with on your first
job and my personal favorite ten do’s
and don’ts when moving back in with your
parents
thanks Facebook real vote of confidence
there these machine learning algorithms
are absolutely brilliant you don’t even
need to know what you’re searching for
to happen upon some type of insight in
the population you’re studying but
unknowingly widespread use of these
algorithms is biasing how people see the
world around them and it’s affecting
their it’s reaffirming their existing
beliefs but what I’m really getting at
is the shoe warehouse is vanishing
before our eyes and our entire
perception of the Internet is becoming
the shoe sales person’s offerings it
sounds so simple but it’s really quite
invisible there’s just so much out there
in the vastness of the internet that
even the most small customized subset of
this vastness can feel like an entire
universe unto itself
every point of access to information on
the Internet is being censored with what
content providers think you want to see
it reminds me of this great book called
feed where every character has a device
embedded into their brainstem and
companies send them content right to
their eyes and ears the characters
entire world right down to their senses
is customized and sold right back to
them kind of sounds like the modern
internet experience these characters
become incredibly small-minded and
unaware as their world crumbles around
them a good example of the
dangers of content targeting algorithms
is the fake news outbreak that play 2016
for instance a group of Macedonian men
realized that it could be profitable to
write inflammatory and mind you
completely fake news stories and post
them on Facebook and generate revenue
from the ad banners on the sides
Facebook content targeting algorithms
would then extract keywords from the
articles and know to share them to the
right people who would probably agree
with the most this set off a chain
reaction where these people in turn
would share the articles and their
friends without maybe reading would
share and post and set so I’m putting
the blame on us broadly speaking the
humans involved we all sometimes click
and share without really reading through
or fact-checking
but most importantly I credit the
content targeting algorithms not once
did any of these algorithms stop to
think whether these articles made any
sense for had any hint of fact to them
they never paused to evaluate whether it
was even ethical to be spreading
information that was so unequivocally
false well nobody was watching fake news
spread like wildfire and when I say
nobody was watching is because anybody
who disagreed with or could have
otherwise critically evaluated the
content of these articles they weren’t
even being shown the articles fake news
is insidious just like spam and Mark
Zuckerberg has committed Facebook to
fact-checking his way out of this mess
he’s hoping that fake news will go the
way of spam we currently have excellent
programs sorting away junk mail so none
of it meets our eyes but this isn’t
really getting at the issue at hand what
we need is a jump out button for all of
our content providers get that shoe
salesman out of my face I’m feeling
adventurous today we need this button
because it would produce less bias less
infinite echo chambers less self
confirmation and most importantly less
fake news free is how the internet was
meant to be and we need to be able to
lift the veil of bias and misdirection
that we were being fed online so with
that in mind and looking to the future
let’s spark a change with how we
interact with information on the
Internet today thank you
you
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