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....
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 deletes /
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
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