Just when you thought it was safe to go online
Sometimes there are times when you read something that makes you consider the future in a very poor light. Having this particular program made publically available at this early stage of development is also a cause for concern of how skewed the world will become in the near future.
Many people will have by now at sometime in their adult life joined , have a close friend or family member that has experienced one of the online dating services. The services generally rely heavily on the basis of instant attraction. In many, you are presented with a visual of the person before any details of the personality are supplied to the browser. Again on the visual impact, the browser can choose to like / skip etc.
Think now to the newly released python script, from Charles F. Jekel and Raphael T. Haftka of the University of Florida [arXiv:1803.04347 [cs.CV]], that based on just 20 of your likes is able to build a generic facial representation, which when applied to further images has an accuracy of 60% of knowing if you will like that image.
Once trained on 406 profiles, where each like represented a different classifier, it was over 70% accurate. Being one of the first algorithms in the area, accuracy is likely to improve over time. The question being then is where will this lead ?
Will you be able to take your liking profile from one supplier and use them with another. The reality of how oddly familiar this all seems, think about where else your liking data is used for marketing. Marketing teams will see the usefulness of this data being collected. Will the privacy agreement you’ve signed protect you liking data. The company you use could use that data for their own purposes as long as it is in their privacy agreement.
Fast forward a few years, and every website you visit could be presented by a computer generated personna that is facially configured to match your dream person. How could you resist not purchasing 63 pallets of widgets that you really don’t need just because you want to please them.
During the rise of computers we were wowed by the amazing graphics and realism that slowly grew as processors became more powerful. Soon the realism will not be realism but a distortion of reality based on our dreams and desires.
Back in reality however, it may just be time to think twice about how you let companies use your data, not all of your data is input by you on a clearly laid out form. Your data is how you navigate, how you interact, how you choose, what you look at. Under GDPR companies must release all your data they collect about you to you, and must tell you how they are processing it.
For more information about the FaceNet script see https://github.com/cjekel/tindetheus/ * arXiv:1803.04347 [cs.CV]
For more information about GDPR email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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