Snooping Roomba...

[Dean Hoffman]

There\'s a longer article here talking about the information self driving vacuum cleaners spread around.
<https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuums-artificial-intelligence-training-data-privacy/>

 

[Don Y]

On 2/24/2023 7:27 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

There\'s a longer article here talking about the information self driving vacuum cleaners spread around.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuums-artificial-intelligence-training-data-privacy/

There is *lots* of information leaked by devices. Most folks
think these data are inconsequential.

But, most folks don\'t have access to \"Big Data\".

What if someone determines that there is a high degree of
correlation between the time you take a shit and your
propensity for developing stomach cancer (something I chose
to have very little *apparent* causality... but correlates
to a high degree).

And, as a result of this, opt to charge you a premium for your
health/life insurance.

Granted, they can\'t *prove* that you have a higher chance of
causing a higher *loss* for their company. But, they can\'t
prove that a given teenage male WILL get in more car accidents
than a female -- yet gauge their risk, accordingly.

How keen would you be to share that information? Note that
they aren\'t helping you (e.g., advising you to get more frequent
cancer screenings) with YOUR data but, instead, are helping
themselves (profit).

Now, think of all the little things that leak information
about you. Your phone tells store owners which departments
you visit -- even if you never make a purchase, there
(because you likely have BT and/or WiFi enabled and
they know who *you* are when you step up to the checkout
and present a credit card, store membership card, etc.)

With enough MIPS, they can determine that (farfetched
example) people who own Samsung phones AND visit the
sporting goods department at Target AND sleep early
AND drive more than 100 miles a week... are more likely
to become indoctrinated to denialist propaganda (so
should be surveilled!)

Or, <pick your other conclusion>.

Because they have lots of \"examples\" (data), they can decide
which issues are important to them -- and never even tell you!

<https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/>

Think about that each time you use an electronic device,
send email, surf the web, etc. (\"Who cares?\" OK, so you don\'t mind
someone else deciding what to disclose about you, even if it is
only \"probabilistic\" in nature? Your likely income level?
Chance that you are a substance abuser? Voting bias? etc.)