Factualities for January 23, 2019
January 23, 2019
Statistics, statistics—More plentiful than snowflakes. Believe these or not.
- 8,600. The number of molly tabs a drug dealer in Tacoma, Washington, had in his possession. Source: The News Tribune
- 16 million. The number of US households receiving over-the-air TV. Source: TechCrunch
- $56 million. The amount of “dark net market” transactions in a single month. Source: Reuters
- 77 million. The number of Americans who talk to their vehicles. Source: Recode
- $500 million. The amount Microsoft is “providing” to address housing issues in Seattle. Source: Quartz
- 773,000,000. Number of email addresses offered for sale. Source: Wired
- $1 billion. The amount Disney lost in 12 months with its video streaming endeavors. Source: CNBC
- 20 to 40 percent. The percentage price increase for Tesla recharges. Source: The Verge
- 74 percent. The percentage of Facebook users in a Pew sample who did not know that Facebook keeps track of user interest and clicks in order to sell ads. Source: TechCrunch
Stephen E Arnold, January 23, 2019
Facebook User Awareness: Two Views
January 17, 2019
What happens when Silicon Valley centric “real” journalists contemplate the question, “How much do Americans know about data slurping, reusing, and monetizing.
For one view, navigate to “Most Facebook Users Still in the Dark about Its Creepy Ad Practices, Pew Finds.” The headline tells the story. I learned:
Pew found three-quarters (74%) of Facebook users did not know the social networking behemoth maintains a list of their interests and traits to target them with ads, only discovering this when researchers directed them to view their Facebook ad preferences page.
Now for another view. Navigate to “Don’t Underestimate Americans’ Knowledge of Facebook’s Business Model.” I learned from this write up:
But let’s take another look at the numbers. According to Pew, 26 percent of Americans are aware that Facebook records a list of their interests and uses it to target ads at them. There are roughly 214 million Americans with Facebook profiles. If that’s the case, then over the past decade, 55.6 million people have educated themselves about how ad targeting works. Facebook itself has played no small role in this effort, regularly describing their ad targeting system in software and marketing materials, and recently even started building pop-up events around it.
And to add beef to the argument:
Pew surveyed more than 3,400 U.S. Facebook users in May and June, and found that a whopping 44 percent of those ages 18 to 29 say they’ve deleted the app from their phone in the last year. Some of them may have reinstalled it later. Overall, 26 percent of survey respondents say they deleted the app, while 42 percent have “taken a break” for several weeks or more, and 54 percent have adjusted their privacy settings.
Nothing like interpreting data from a survey from the left coast.
Stephen E Arnold, January 17, 2019
We Have Said It Many Times, “Old People Are Stupid”
January 10, 2019
Yep, get old, get stupid. Not only am I old, I am stupid. Many people, but mostly younger folks, have told me I was indeed stupid. I was stupid when Linda Rosen and I wrote “Managing the New Electronic Products” and pointed out that control was darned near impossible. Yep, stupid, but she got hired by Microsoft. Go figure.
I was stupid when I published “The Google Legacy” in 2004. How could a five or six year old company put a legacy in place. Yep, stupid even though Google technology is pervasive today. How is that Android phone data slurping working out for you. Yep, stupid.
I was stupid when I pointed out that Amazon’s policeware would destabilize the cozy world of law enforcement and intelligence software. I began explaining this in 2017 and one conference organizer told me, “You are stupid. Quantum computers are more important.” How is that JEDI procurement doing? Oracle? Microsoft? Any thoughts. Yep, stupid. But that individual can buy an IBM Q computer for his home I suppose. Stupid? Meh.
Quite a track record of being told I am stupid.
I read “People Older Than 65 Share the Most Fake News, a New Study Finds.” See I just shared this write up. Stupid, right?
Stephen E Arnold, January 10, 2019
False Positives: The New Normal
January 1, 2019
And this is why so many people are wary of handing too much power to algorithms. TechDirt reports, “School Security Software Decided Innocent Parent Is Actually a Registered Sex Offender.” That said, it seems some common sense on the part of the humans involved would have prevented the unwarranted humiliation. The mismatch took place at an Aurora, Colorado, middle school event, where parent Larry Mitchell presumably just wanted to support his son. When office staff scanned his license, however, the Raptor system flagged him as a potential offender. Reporter Tim Cushing writes:
“Not only did these stats [exact name and date of birth] not match, but the photos of registered sex offenders with the same name looked nothing like Larry Mitchell. The journalists covering the story ran Mitchell’s info through the same databases — including Mitchell’s birth name (he was adopted) — and found zero matches. What it did find was a 62-year-old white sex offender who also sported the alias ‘Jesus Christ,’ and a black man roughly the same age as the Mitchell, who is white. School administration has little to say about this botched security effort, other than policies and protocols were followed. But if so, school personnel need better training… or maybe at least an eye check. Raptor, which provides the security system used to misidentify Mitchell, says photo-matching is a key step in the vetting process….
We also noted:
“Even if you move past the glaring mismatch in photos (the photos returned in the Sentinel’s search of Raptor’s system are embedded in the article), neither the school nor Raptor can explain how Raptor’s system returned results that can’t be duplicated by journalists.”
This looks like a mobile version of the PEBCAK error, and such mistakes will only increase as these verification systems continue to be implemented at schools and other facilities across the country. Cushing rightly points to this problem as “an indictment of the security-over-sanity thinking.” Raptor, a private company, is happy to tout its great success at keeping registered offenders out of schools, but they do not reveal how often their false positives have ruined an innocent family’s evening, or worse. How much control is our society willing to hand over to AIs (and those who program them)?
Cynthia Murrell, January 1, 2018
Factualities for December 26, 2018
December 26, 2018
Accurate data are everywhere on the Interwebs. Here’s a selection of rock solid factoids for your consideration. Believe ‘em or not.
1,700. Number of voice recording Amazon sent to a random person. Source: Threat Post
31. Number of major scandals in which Facebook was involved. Source: Buzzfeed
1. The number of requests from Slovakia’s government to Apple for help unlocking an Apple device. Source: Apple
1. Number of Microsoft products in wide use among Googlers. What’s the product? Visual Studio Code. Source: CNBC
11. Number of shirt buttons equipped as spying devices requested by the US embassy in Frankfurt, Germany. Source: Russia Today
1,000 dollars. The amount one would have to pay a Facebook user to quit the service. BoingBoing
Stephen E Arnold, December 26, 2018
Factualities for November 21, 2018
November 21, 2018
Believe ‘em or not.
- $1.17 million. Russian bank cash losses due to cyber attacks at Russian banks in the first eight months of 2018. Losses were down from $16.46 million in the same period in 2017. Source: Reuters
- 4,300. Number of blockchain start ups in the world. More than 200 are in Israel. Source: No Camels
- 35 million. Allegedly the number of US voter records for sale on the Dark Web. Source: TechRadar
- One. The number of Google pop up hardware stories in Bucktown, Illinois. Source: ABC 7 Chicago
- $2.2 billion. Size of the quantum computing market in 2025. Source: Site Pro News
- 33 percent. The percentage of university historians from ethnic minorities who experience discrimination. Source: Independent
Stephen E Arnold, November 21, 2018
Factualities for November 14, 2018
November 14, 2018
Believe ‘em or not. I am not the least suspicious of round numbers.
- 50 percent. Percent of WhatsApp users who do not know that Facebook owns the messaging application. Source: The Next Web
- $100 million amount PwC (a consulting firm) will spend on training employees who are self starters. Source: Techcrunch
- Less than one second. Time required to destroy a low end drone with a 50 kilowatt laser. (Your PowerPoint laser will be less than five milliwatts.) Source: Gizmodo
- One. Rank of the US in economic competitiveness. Source: Next Big Future
- Three years. How long an Apple iPhone will last. Source: Cult of Mac
- Six percent. Growth in global Internet access growth, which was down from 19 percent in 2017. Source: Technology Review
Stephen E Arnold, November 14, 2018
Factualities for November 7, 2018
November 7, 2018
Believe ‘em or not.
- 900 percent. Amount Facebook inflated its ad watching data. Source: Slashdot
- $390 billion. Size of the global cyber weapon market in 2014. Estimated growth rate: 4.4 percent. Source; Transparency Market Research
- 66 percent. Calculated segment of the US population which has
heard about software robots. Source: Pew - $1 billion. The amount Massachusetts Institute of Technology will spend for its Schwarzman College of Computing which will focus on artificial intelligence. Source: Digital Trends
- 2019. When Jeff Bezos will send tourists into space. Source: Recode
- $45 billion. Amount invested in Softbank’s Vision Fund. Source: Quartz
Stephen E Arnold, November 7, 2018
Factualities for October 31, 2018
October 31, 2018
Believe ‘em or not. More satisfying, symmetric numbers from assorted data mavens:
- 50 percent. The volume of government censor requests for censoring YouTube content.
Source: Inquisitr - 800. Number of spam accounts Facebook purged. Source: SFGate
- Zero. The number of times Google mentioned its Android operating system during its Made by Google 2018 keynote. Source: 9to5Google
- 40,000. Number of facial recognition cameras monitoring 11 million uighurs in China. Source: Business Insider
- 30 million. Number of DuckDuckGo searches delivered on one day in October 2018. By comparison, Google delivered only 3.5 billion daily searches. Source: Slashgear
- 111 million active profiles on Google Plus in 2015. (This number will soon be zero because consumer Google Plus has been killed off by lax security and possibly interesting management methods.) For a point of reference, Facebook has two billion active profiles or 18 times the traction of Google Plus. Source: CNet
Stephen E Arnold, October 31, 2018
Factualities for October 24, 2018
October 24, 2018
Believe ‘em or not, especially the nice, round, chubby numbers:
- 33 percent of US adults hit with identity theft. Source: DarkReading
- 45 out of 50 companies illegally void warranties for electronics. Source: Reddit.com
- 000000. Kanye West’s iPhone pass code. Graham Cluley
- $50,000 per hour. Cost of Flying the F 35 fighter aircraft for one hour.
Source: New York Times page A 19 October 12, 2018 - 29 million people. Number of individuals probably affected by the September Facebook breach. Source: Facebook
- 30 000. Number of US Department of Defense personnel records which may have been breached by hackers. Source: Cyberscoop
Stephen E Arnold, October 24, 2018
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