It's been said that the human brain is comprised of 300 million pattern matchers fed with data from our five primary senses and memories. In this age of distributed computing and cheap storage in the cloud, "thinking" without a biological brain is possible for the first time in history. The sensory input into this new, extracorporeal brain is big data.
Global data supply chains carry exabytes of government, corporate, and social data powering breakthrough uses in medicine, transportation, communications, and energy. However, equally fantastic is the specter of abuses by powerful players to exploit private information, subtly discriminate, or mistakenly prosecute the innocent.
This talk discusses the current state of these data supply chains, where they are headed, and the societal implications for privacy, security, and liberty. And it calls technologists, business leaders, and humanists -- i.e., geeks, suits, and wonks -- to together resolve the tension between cultural values and fast-paced technology.
Similar to Confessions of a “Recovering” Data Broker: Responsible Innovation in the Age of Big Data, Big Brother, and the Coming Skynet Terminators (20)
Confessions of a “Recovering” Data Broker: Responsible Innovation in the Age of Big Data, Big Brother, and the Coming Skynet Terminators
1. Confessions
of
a
"Recovering"
Data
Broker
Responsible
Innova.on
in
the
Age
of
Big
Data
and
Big
Brother
Jim
Adler
Vice
President,
Products
Metanau.x
jimadler@metanau.x.com
@jim_adler
hDp://jimadler.me
Markkula
Center
for
Applied
Ethics
Feb
25
2014
2. Plea
“Can’t
we
all
just
get
along?”
−
Rodney
King
Geeks
High-‐Tech
Mercenary
Social
Entrepreneur
Responsible
Innovator
Suits
Tradi?onal
Capitalist
Wonks
3.
4. Lesson
Eclectic
generalists
drive
innovation.
Richard
Feynman
Quantum
Physics
Steve
Jobs
‘nuff
said
Stephen
Hawking
Cosmology
Norio
Ohga
Sony
President
74
min
CD
Temple
Grandin
Animal
Handling
5. Confession
I
am
not
an
attorney.
Intelligence
Geek
Obsession
Dweeb
Nerd
Dork
Social
Inep.tude
6. Confession
You
can
often
do
more
good
from
the
inside
than
the
outside.
• Founded
in
2003
• 20B
public
records
• 30M
visitors
per
month
• 50M+
reports
sold
7. Confession
The
“public”
data
supply
chain
of
you
Payments
Civil
Suits
Criminal
Records
Commercial
Risk
Resumes
Government
Public
Posts
Names
Addresses
Blogs
Search
Phone
Numbers
Collection
Self-Reported
Big Data
Engines
Marke.ng
Directory
Background
Use
8. Confession
We
don’t
know
you
all
that
well.
Billions
of
Records
Millions
of
People
Philip
Collins
375
People
Jim
Adler
213
Records
37
People
Carol
Brooks
9800
Records
1250
People
Randolph
Hutchins
5
People
Gwen
Fleming
2
People
213
records
linked
to
the
correct
37
Jim
Adlers
Jim
Adler
Houston,
TX
Age
70
Jim
Adler
McKinney,
TX
Age
57
Jim
Adler
Has.ngs,
NE
Age
32
Jim
Adler
Canaan,
NH
Age
59
Jim
Adler
Redmond,
WA
Age
50
Jim
Adler
Denver,
CO
Age
48
9. Confession
BANKING
SERVICES
Lots
of
uses
for
your
data
…
some
regulated.
CALLER
ID
OF
HARASSING
PHONE
CALLS
ONLINE
SHOPPERS
VERIFYING
ONLINE
SELLERS
LEARNING
ABOUT
ADOPTED
KIDS
SEEKING
THEIR
BIOLOGICAL
PARENTS
A
BUSINESS
SOCIAL
NETWORKERS
LOOKING
TO
EXPAND
THEIR
FRIENDS
LIST
NON-‐PROFIT
ORGANIZATIONS
LOOKING
FOR
SUPPORTERS
CHECKING
OUT
A
PROSPECTIVE
TENANT
THOSE
IN
LEGALLY
ENTANGLED
LOOKING
FOR
COURT
RECORDS
RESEARCHING
A
PROSPECTIVE
EMPLOYEE
ALUMNI
GROUPS
ARRANGING
REUNIONS
NETWORKERS
SEEKING
BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES
GENEALOGISTS
CULTIVATING
THEIR
FAMILY
TREE
ANYONE
RETRIEVING
COURT
RECORDS
SHARING
FIND
OWNER
OF
DOG’S
RELATIVE
FOR
TRANSPLANT
RESEARCH
SALES
PROFESSIONALS
LOOKING
FOR
NEW
PROSPECTS
CHECKING
OUT
A
PROSPECTIVE
DATE
FIANCÉS
AND
THEIR
CURIOUS
FAMILY
MEMBERS
ENFORCEMENT
SOCIAL
WORKERS
WHO
NEED
TO
KNOW
MORE
ABOUT
THEIR
CLIENTS
LAWYERS
NEEDING
QUICK
ACCESS
TO
COURT
RECORDS
BUSINESSES
THAT
NEED
TO
UPDATE
CONTACT
INFORMATION
ON
CUSTOMERS
ANYONE
CURIOUS
ABOUT
WHO'S
EMAILING
OR
CALLING
THEM
AIRLINES
TRYING
TO
RETURN
LOST
LUGGAGE
PROFESSIONALS
LEARNING
ABOUT
COLLEAGUES
AT
CONFERENCES
SINGLES
CURIOUS
ABOUT
THE
PEOPLE
THEY
MEET
INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISTS
RUNNING
DOWN
LEADS
RECONNECTING
OUT-‐OF-‐TOUCH
FAMILY
MEMBERS
LAW
PARENTS
ENSURING
WHO
THEIR
KIDS
SAFETY
FINDING
PEOPLE
THAT
HAVE
THE
SAME
ILLNESS
AS
YOU
ANYONE
WHO
NEED
ADDRESS
HISTORIES
FOR
PASSPORTS
CHECKING
OUT
A
PROSPECTIVE
SOCIAL
NETWORK
CONNECTION
FINDING
LONG-‐LOST
FRIENDS,
MILITARY
BUDDIES,
ROOMMATES,
OR
CLASSMATES
REGULATED
10. Confession
Opt-‐out
doesn’t
always
mean
deletion.
Jane Hampton
Jane Hampton
Jane Hampton
06/23/1998
123 Main
Peoria, IL
123 Main
Peoria, IL
jane@facebook.com
(309)555-8931
12. Lesson
Can
I
have
a
little
narcissism
with
my
voyeurism?
• What
does
my
background
check
say?
• Privacy
controls
– Suppress
single
address
or
phone
number
• Comment
on
your
own
public
profile
13. Regulation
New
Data
Broker
Bill
Introduced
This
Month
• “Data
Broker
Accountability
and
Transparency
Act”
• Prohibits
“data
brokers”
from
using
decep?ve
means
to
collect
informa.on
about
consumers.
• Transparency
to
consumers
about
informa.on
about
them.
• Consumers
can
correct
the
data.
• Opt-‐out
of
having
their
data
collected.
• FTC
enforcement
14. Lesson
When
towns
were
small,
personal
anonymity
was
low
…
“The
only
thing
worse
than
being
talked
about,
is
not
being
talked
about.”
−
Oscar
Wilde
16. Confession
…
we’re
suffering
from
Privacy
Vertigo.
120
“Rockwell”
Era
“Good
Fences”
Era
Privacy Expectations !
100
“Privacy
Ver.go”
Era
80
Onli
nsity
ne
De
60
40
20
Urban
Density
0
1850
1890
1930
1970
2010
17. In
privacy
contexts,
Power
matters.
Privacy
Rights
!
Lesson
Peer
to
Peer
Corpora.on
&
Customer/Employee
Government
&
Ci.zen
Power
Disparity
!
Your
God
&
You
19. Mapping
Places-‐Players-‐Perils
Cases
Private
Curtilage
Governments
Employers/Landlords/Insurers
Public
M O R E
P L A Y E R
P O W E R
G A P
Lesson
Parents
Peers
M O R E
P R I V A T E
P L A C E S
20. Lesson
Places-‐Players-‐Perils
Cases
M O R E
P L A Y E R
P O W E R
G A P
US
deports
Bri?sh
tourists
over
Tweets
NSA
internet
ci?zen
surveillance
Georgia
teacher
FBI
GPS
criminal
fired
aXer
pos?ng
Google
privacy
surveillance
vaca?on
pics
policy
unifica?on
"Girls
Around
Me"
pulled
from
market
Ethically
Challenging
Target
finds
out
News
of
the
World
teen
pregnant
Health
orgs
use
phone
hacking
before
parents
Twi[er
to
track
illness
Actress
sues
IMDB
over
revealing
her
age
FB
user
sets
fire
to
home
aXer
de-‐
friending
GM
OnStar
tracks
users
M O R E
P R I V A T E
P L A C E S
Woman
caught
naked
by
Google
Street
View
Rutgers
student
commits
suicide
aXer
spied
by
webcam
21. M O R E
P L A Y E R
P O W E R
G A P
Confession
Big
brother
is
watching
(duh).
NSA
internet
“We’re
being
asked
to
trust
US
deports
Bri?sh
ci?zen
without
being
able
to
verify.”
tourists
over
Tweets
surveillance
−
Alex
Howard
(big
data
journalist)
GPS
criminal
Georgia
teacher
FBI
fired
aXer
pos?ng
Google
privacy
vaca?on
pics
policy
unifica?on
surveillance
Target
finds
out
News
of
the
World
teen
pregnant
Health
orgs
use
phone
hacking
before
parents
Twi[er
to
track
illness
Pres.
Obama
calls
for
more
transparency
in
FISA
court
and
Woman
caught
Actress
sues
IMDB
surveillance
laws
naked
by
Google
"Girls
Around
Me"
pulled
from
market
over
revealing
her
age
FB
user
sets
fire
to
home
aXer
de-‐
friending
GM
OnStar
tracks
users
Street
View
Rutgers
student
commits
suicide
aXer
spied
by
webcam
NSA
chief
announces
plan
to
replace
1,000
sysadmins
with
machines
M O R E
P R I V A T E
P L A C E S
22. Lesson
Technology
grows
exponentially.
Wisdom
grows
linearly.
• Gov’t
doesn’t
trust
people
(at
least
sysadmins)
but
does
trust
machines
• LiDle
Transparency
• Wisdom
is
hard
to
come
by
• Sen.ent
(?)
brain
in
the
cloud
in
<
20
years
Wisdom
Knowledge
Informa.on
Data
23. Prediction
A
head
in
the
clouds
<
20
years
$100,000
Human
Brain
• 20,000
TFlops
• 2,500
Terabytes
More
than
$325M
per
year
$27,100
$13,500
Cost
per
Month
(000s)
$10,000
$6,800
$3,400
Chris
Westbury,
University
of
Alberta
Less
than
$700K
per
year
à
4
M
AWS
m1.large
nodes
$1,700
$1,000
$850
$420
$210
$100
$100
$53
$26
$13
$10
$7
$3
$2
$1
$1
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
2026
2028
2030
2032
2034
2036
2038
2040
2042
Year
24. Lesson
Big
data
inferences
are
not
thoughtcrimes.
“…
the
essen.al
crime
that
contained
all
others
in
itself.
Thoughtcrime,
they
called
it.”
–
George
Orwell
“Watch
your
thoughts,
they
become
words.
Watch
your
words,
they
become
ac.ons.
Watch
your
ac.ons,
they
become
habits.
Watch
your
habits,
they
become
your
character.
Watch
your
character,
it
becomes
your
des.ny.”
–
Lao
Tzu
26. Confession
“To
Serve
Man”
is
a
cookbook.
“If
you’re
not
paying
for
the
product,
you
are
the
product.”
−
Claire
Wolfe
(paraphrased)
27. Sometimes
you’re
in
a
public
place
when
you
think
you’re
in
a
private
place.
Confession
“Gaydar”
A 2009 MIT study found it was
possible to predict men’s sexual
orientation by analyzing the
gender and sexuality of their
social network contacts – even if
the rest of the information on
their profile was set to private.
29. Felon
Classiier
Sampling
Linking
250
M
Defendants
Cleaning
Objec.ve
If
someone
has
minor
offenses
on
their
criminal
record,
do
they
also
have
felonies?
15K
Labels
15K
Predictors
Feature
Extrac.on
Learner
Model
Bloomberg
ar.cle:
hDp://bloom.bg/1eMtnug
30. How
does
the
Felon
Classiier
work?
Gender
Eye
Color
Ta[oos
Male
(+0.1)
Blue
2
+
Female
Brown
(+1.2)
<
2
(+0.1)
Green
Criminal
Offenses
Score
Over
Threshold
of
3.5?
Likely
Felon?
Traffic
only
(-‐0.5)
4
or
fewer
misdemeanors
8
or
fewer
misdemeanors
YES
0.9
NO
NO
Hazel
Male
Female
(-‐0.5)
Blue
2
+
(+1.3)
Traffic
only
Brown
<
2
4
or
fewer
misdemeanors
(+1.9)
Green
8
or
fewer
misdemeanors
YES
4.4
NO
YES
Hazel
(+1.7)
Bloomberg
ar.cle:
hDp://bloom.bg/1eMtnug
Blog
widget:
hDp://jimadler.me
31. Confession
Classiiers
depend
on
policy
as
much
as
technology.
False
Negative
Rate
A N A R C H Y
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
Threshold:
1.1
FP
Rate:
1%
FN
Rate:
40%
Threshold:
0.66
FP
Rate:
5%
FN
Rate:
22%
Threshold:
-‐1.82
FP
Rate:
19%
FN
Rate:
0%
20.0%
0.0%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
False
Positive
Rate
T Y R A N N Y
15.0%
20.0%
32. Ruling
NYC
Stop
&
Frisk
Found
Unconstitutional
90% of Criminals
are Minorities
Minorities
50%
Criminals
“The
city
…
believes
that
blacks
and
Hispanics
should
be
stopped
at
the
same
rate
as
their
propor.on
of
the
local
criminal
suspect
popula.on.”
−
US
District
Judge
Shira
Scheindlin
All NYC Residents
33. Lesson
“Half
the
money
I
spend
on
advertising
is
wasted;
the
trouble
is
I
don't
know
which
half.”
Bayes’
Rule
PMinority is a Criminal =
Minorities
50%
10% of
Criminals
are Not
Minorities
Criminals
5%
90% of
Criminals
are
Minorities
PCriminal is a Minority
PCriminal
PMinority
PMinority is a Criminal =
90%
5% = 9%
50%
PMinority is NOT a Criminal = 100 − PMinority is a Criminal
= 91%
All NYC Residents
If
it’s
not
ok
to
stop
99%
of
the
general
popula.on
for
nothing,
why
is
it
ok
to
stop
91%
of
minori.es
for
nothing?
34. Lesson
When
might
Stop
&
Frisk
be
OK?
Bayes’
Rule
PMinority is a Criminal =
Asians
10%
Criminals
5%
PCriminal is a Minority
PCriminal
PMinority
PMinority is a Criminal =
90%
5% = 45%
10%
PMinority is NOT a Criminal = 100 − PMinority is a Criminal
= 55%
All NYC Residents
If
it’s
not
ok
to
stop
99%
of
the
general
popula.on
for
nothing,
is
it
ok
to
stop
55%
of
minori.es
for
nothing?
35. Lesson
What
about
Newark’s
Stop
&
Frisk?
hDp://www.ny.mes.com/2014/02/25/nyregion/newark-‐
stop-‐and-‐frisk-‐data-‐is-‐analyzed.html
Bayes’
Rule
Minorities
50%
Criminals
20%
PMinority is a Criminal =
PCriminal is a Minority
PCriminal
PMinority
PMinority is a Criminal =
90%
20% = 36%
50%
PMinority is NOT a Criminal = 100 − PMinority is a Criminal
= 64%
All Newark Residents
If
it’s
not
ok
to
stop
96%
of
the
general
popula.on
for
nothing,
is
it
ok
to
stop
64%
of
minori.es
for
nothing?
36. Lesson
Hilary
Mason’s
Maxim
Math
+
Code
=
Awesome
Quants
Making
a
killing
on
Wall
Street
but
s.ll
can’t
impress
the
chicks
Weakonomics.com
38. Prediction
“The
beatings
will
continue
until
morale
improves.”
Overton
Window
Unthinkable
Acceptable
Radical
Facebook Newsfeed
Ad Targeting
Facebook Beacon
Pre-crime
Skynet
Popular
Sensible
Policy
39. Lesson
Living
within
a
Filter
Bubble
(with
apologies
to
Eli
Pariser)
…
but
then
we
reshape
our
tools
…
“We
shape
our
tools
…
…
and
thereawer
our
tools
shape
us.”
−
Marshall
McLuhan
40. Lesson
“No
one
here
gets
out
alive.”
−
Jim
Morrison
Listen,
Learn
Geeks
Suits
Wonks
Scru.nize,
Incen.vize
Adapt,
Invent
41. Questions?
Jim
Adler
www.metanau.x.com
jimadler@metanau.x.com
@jim_adler
Editor's Notes
NSA sphereBut it's for a good reason -- keep us safe. Security and privacy play the roles of the pig and the chicken at breakfast. Like the pig, security requires commitment, Privacy, like the chicken, is merely involved.Privacy loses to security by default … unless we are vigilant.For security, the peril is often felt immediatelyWith privacy, the peril is often felt much later. Why we discount privacy perils so much – the present cost of a distant future disaster is zero.Privacy and Civil LIberties Oversight Board. (PCLOB)Data, information, knowledge, wisdomNext: Not so sure this is wise …Ref“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law” ― Martin Luther King Jr.