A
Drop in the
Ocean ?
Over the past two days there is a lot of news / debate
in online/offline media about Facebook having “ leaked “ private data of some
50 million of its users to a UK based company called Cambridge Analytica [ CA ]
It is said that CA
analysed this data using technologies such as AI – BIG DATA analysis – Machine Learning
etc., and advised Donald Trump on his campaign-targeting strategies – which seemed
to have worked !
CA's chief executive, Alexander Nix said, CA and its parent company Strategic Communications Laboratories had worked in more than 200 elections around the World, including India....
CA's chief executive, Alexander Nix said, CA and its parent company Strategic Communications Laboratories had worked in more than 200 elections around the World, including India....
Some expert on a TV show last night , said :
“ Fighting
election based on facts known to the
public , is stupid . It is all about unearthing the hopes and the fears of the
voters and manipulating the same “
Another panellist said :
“ Big online
companies ( Google – Amazon – Facebook ) selling user data is nothing new . It
is going on for many years “
Although Mark Zuckerberg is
silent for past 3 days , he could argue :
“ You , the users , sign up for dozens of online services
or download hundreds of mobile apps , from all over, by just clicking on “ Log
in with Your Facebook Profile “ , thereby granting access to that third party
to all of your personal data on Facebook .
For all I know , you may even be
accepting that this party can use your data in any manner it likes ! So , why
blame Facebook ? “
He has a point !
Imagine the following scenario :
Between them , mobile service providers of India ( Reliance
– Airtel – Vodafone etc ) , serve close to one BILLION users
On an average , each user talks for ( say ) 2 hours per
day
That adds up to TWO BILLION hours of “ speech “ ( log )
getting recorded on the computer servers of these MSPs . That is approx. 100 BILLION MB of
private / personal data getting harvested , EVERY SINGLE DAY !
For all you and I know, these MSPs may be already using
powerful “
Speech – to – Text “ software to convert those “ spoken words “ into “ written texts
“ !
{ If they are
not already doing so , rest assured that they will start after reading this blog ! }
Then subjecting these huge data to AI ( a database of “
Human Intentions “ ? ), to
decipher words ( now appearing as TEXT , instead of VOICE ) that reveal our innermost
feelings of :
·
Love / Hatred
·
Contempt
/ Greed
·
Sympathy
/ Forgiveness
·
Fairness
/ Justice
·
Pity
/ Ego
·
Rage / Anger ……………etc etc
There was – and probably still is – a time when people
revealed their innermost / hidden / suppressed “ feelings “ to a Psycho-Analyst , while
reclining on a couch in her office
Most likely once a week and only if they could afford to
pay her, Rs 1,000 per hour
Now a billion Indians precisely do the same “ revealing “ , to their
Mobile phone !
Every day for 2
hours and almost FREE ! Without a worry about how those Mobile
Service Provider use their private / personal conversations ! May be they have
given an implied consent !
In one of my recent blogs , I said :
==============================
==============================
Parallel to the ” Theory of Thermodynamics “ , I would like to
propound the
following , as far as the “ Theory of
Information “ is concerned :
“ Like
Entropy , content keeps growing with each and every human
interaction , either
with other humans or with his environment , and content
can no
longer remain hidden , nor can it be destroyed “
===============================
Ever since Project Manhattan , we are familiar with a self-sustaining " Nuclear Chain Reaction " - which once unleashed, was impossible to stop
What we are witnessing thru a billion Mobiles is a similar " Information Chain Reaction "
To know how it feeds on itself, we need to go back to the epic of RAMAYANA , where Lord Rama was confronted by twin demons , Ahi-Ravana and Mahi-Ravana
When Lord Rama's arrows pierced their bodies and blood dripped onto the earth , from every single drop of blood , arose another identical demon !
With every arrow wound , the demons just kept multiplying , until Hanuman killed the bees which brought up drops of nectar from " Paataal " and sprinkled on those drops of blood !
We have yet to discover that " Anti - Nectar " but it is possible that one of these days, some S/W geek develops an operating system which delets / erases , all that AUDIO LOG from the servers of MSPs, as soon as conversation ends !
================================
===============================
Ever since Project Manhattan , we are familiar with a self-sustaining " Nuclear Chain Reaction " - which once unleashed, was impossible to stop
What we are witnessing thru a billion Mobiles is a similar " Information Chain Reaction "
To know how it feeds on itself, we need to go back to the epic of RAMAYANA , where Lord Rama was confronted by twin demons , Ahi-Ravana and Mahi-Ravana
When Lord Rama's arrows pierced their bodies and blood dripped onto the earth , from every single drop of blood , arose another identical demon !
With every arrow wound , the demons just kept multiplying , until Hanuman killed the bees which brought up drops of nectar from " Paataal " and sprinkled on those drops of blood !
We have yet to discover that " Anti - Nectar " but it is possible that one of these days, some S/W geek develops an operating system which delets / erases , all that AUDIO LOG from the servers of MSPs, as soon as conversation ends !
================================
Just wait till the manufacturers of Mobile Phones and
the suppliers of Operating Systems ( Android / iOS etc ) realize that there is
a ton of money to be made by picking up all those billions of hours of mobile
talks !
And when they do , don’t expect them to ask for users’
permission !
No doubt , Hon. Judges of the Supreme Court have anticipated
this before delivering their final order on the Aadhar case
=============================
=============================
21 March 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
No comments:
Post a Comment