The Cellar

The Cellar (http://cellar.org/index.php)
-   The Internet (http://cellar.org/forumdisplay.php?f=8)
-   -   How Much of the Internet is Fake? (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=33978)

Undertoad 12-27-2018 12:19 AM

How Much of the Internet is Fake?
 
Really good take from NY Magazine: How Much of the Internet is Fake?

TL;DR: the nets these days are full of shit. fake people making fake clicks; fake followers/subscribers; fake users; fake metrics about the users; fake content; fake politics.

real people employed to appear to be real viewers/clickers. omigod this is not sustainable, not in the least bit

Clodfobble 12-27-2018 05:48 AM

Yep. I'm convinced that digital-age privacy will not be solved by enforcing privacy. It will be solved by flooding the system with bad data.

My YouTube history, for example, is heavily tainted by all the bullshit that the kids watch. For a while they were really into this weird string of Japanese-language songs, and during that timeframe I got two telemarketing calls in Japanese. Maybe it was a coincidence, but either way, the money that firm spent buying my information was a waste. Even at the best of times, my advertising profile is an amalgam of three people, two of whom are insane and have no buying power anyway.

xoxoxoBruce 12-27-2018 06:51 AM

Toad is real folks, honest, I've seen him. :yesnod:

fargon 12-27-2018 07:18 AM

All Hail the Toad!!!

Griff 12-27-2018 08:37 AM

Guess I'll hang out here with my fake friends then.

sexobon 12-27-2018 09:30 AM

I've always suspected that tw is a malicious AI.

Clay 12-27-2018 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 1021836)
Yep. I'm convinced that digital-age privacy will not be solved by enforcing privacy. It will be solved by flooding the system with bad data.

I've thought the same. Is there a good way to automate it? I've considered going through and planting false info throughout my online footprint but it seems like a pain in the ass.

Flint 12-27-2018 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 1021836)
Yep. I'm convinced that digital-age privacy will not be solved by enforcing privacy. It will be solved by flooding the system with bad data.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay (Post 1021854)
I've thought the same. Is there a good way to automate it? I've considered going through and planting false info throughout my online footprint but it seems like a pain in the ass.

You're gonna need a pretty big tinfoil hat to protect yourself from all the "smart" devices cross-referencing your conversations, biometric and face-recognition based logins, and usage patterns.

There is no privacy-- the time to plan for privacy was in science fiction books written fifty years ago.

Clodfobble 12-27-2018 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flint
You're gonna need a pretty big tinfoil hat to protect yourself from all the "smart" devices cross-referencing your conversations, biometric and face-recognition based logins, and usage patterns.

Sure--but if a company can sell fake users to a corporation, who's to say I couldn't hire a similar company (or better yet, utilize a free open-source app created by anarchists for just this purpose) to pepper my conversations, logins, and usage with fake conversations, logins, and usage?

If you're suggesting that Amazon, Google, and Netflix will form an alliance to pool their data and deduce that since I bought A, B, C, searched for C, D, E, and watched C, F, G, then the "real me" must truly be interested in C... I'd still maintain that it's just a question of noise volume--with enough noise there is no meaningful signal. And in the end, it's not about the reliability of their data anyway, it's about whether other entities trust them enough to pay for it. Like UT said, it's not sustainable, and I personally think we've already hit the "trust" tipping point.

Flint 12-27-2018 05:19 PM

Are we going to pretend that anything produced by consumer capitalism needs to make sense in order to continue existing, or that any amount of reasonable concern can stop make-believe things from being the central assumption of the systems embedded in our schizophrenic culture?

lumberjim 12-27-2018 07:25 PM

I had a customer email me her electric bill in pdf format as proof of residence one day last month. The other day, My Google assistant alerted me that I have a bill due in 2 days. When I clicked the alert, it took me to her email of her bill. Nothing in the actual email about the due date. Just the attached pdf.

She had a payment due in 2 days. In case you doubted that Google reads your email.

glatt 12-27-2018 07:53 PM

Facebook and Instagram think I want to buy hockey goalie pads. They are very excited to send me ads about them.

tw 12-27-2018 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 1021838)
Toad is real folks, honest, I've seen him.

Nonsense. Have you ever seen him croak?

tw 12-27-2018 08:25 PM

'Who' never matters. In fact 'who' says little about honesty. Only relevant are facts that must always have reasons why and with numbers. Otherwise nobody can confirm that statement.

A famous scam that almost everybody believed: smoke cigarettes to increase health. No facts said why. It was the first thing told. So an overwhelming majority knew it was true. Scams are that easily promoted because so many forget what is always required to know something.

Does not matter how honest a statement. If it does not provide perspective in those reasons why, then it is a lie.

We all saw this with Saddam's WMDs. It was clearly a lie. Numbers repeatedly said those could not exist. Every WMD claim came without the required reasons why and without numbers.

Lies are soundbytes. Does not matter is accurate or not. Soundbytes never provide perspective that must always say why a fact is believable and can be confirmed.

Problem was never the internet. The problem has always existed. So many are so emotional as to not do what is required to be logical. Logical means supporting facts with numbers.

Extremists liberals and conservative do not know how to do that. Some are so emotional (illogical) as to also be KKK, Nazi, or White Supremacist supporters. They believe only what they were ordered to believe by their political biases. Not by concepts we were all taught even in school science. That is why propaganda and 'fake news' works. It is not the internet. Problem is found inside so many minds.

tw 12-27-2018 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sexobon (Post 1021850)
I've always suspected that tw is a malicious AI.

I am Google's greatest creation. Invest in my father.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:42 AM.

Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.