

Data Discrimination Means the Poor May Experience a Different Internet - raldu
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/520131/data-discrimination-means-the-poor-may-experience-a-different-internet/

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reginaldjcooper
Isn't this the least of their problems? They already experience a different
legal and education system.

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the-swa
The article title isn't very accurate. It's more about how big data and
analytics (whether coming from online sources or not) impact our day-to-day
lives.

"[Kate Crawford] and a colleague propose a system of “due process” that would
give people more legal rights to understand how data analytics are used in
determinations made against them, such as denial of health insurance or a
job."

The only reference to social status in the article comes at the end, citing
situations where social media may be used to prioritize relief from natural
disasters (if a particular neighborhood does not have this technology, there
will be no data, even though there may be a larger need for assistance.)

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judk
This is already a huge issue, where the working class don't have time to
attend govt meeting to discuss issues like his route planning.

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Houshalter
I read the article and I don't get where the source of the title comes from.
There isn't anything about poor people being censored from the internet, it's
just another technophobia article.

Data science shouldn't be feared. It's just making more accurate predictions
about things. Which is a good thing. And insurance companies for example have
been doing this since forever. Not much has changed. I don't know if they've
ever been required to explain to their customers how their statistics work,
and if they were that's kind of ridiculous.

People fear discrimination. They imagine a bigot that arbitrarily _hates_ some
group of people and refuses to do business with them or employ them, even when
it's in his own best interest. They don't imagine a completely unbiased
computer algorithm weighing _thousands_ of different pieces of information and
spitting out very accurate predictions. That when it says it's 99% sure of
something, it should be right _nearly exactly_ 99% of the time.

For example, using tweets to deploy resources in a disaster. Yes it will make
mistakes, but if it's more accurate on average than a human, then it will
still _save lives_.

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anamexis
For being the title, this didn't really explain at all how the poor might
experience a different internet.

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PaulHoule
Well shouldn't they?

I mean, a lot of the web is driven by commerce and it makes no sense at all to
try to sell them stuff that they can't afford.

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cynwoody
Did you read the article?

The title seems to imply that Google will show the poor one SERP and the rich
another. However, the article is actually about a proposal that, if you apply
for something (e.g., insurance, a job, credit) and are denied, that you should
have the right to an explanation of any role "big data" analytics may have
played in the adverse decision.

