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Sunday Special
MESSING WITH THE MIND
By Cmde BR Prakash,VSM(Retd)
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For the uninitiated, Internet of Things (IoT) is an umbrella term for multiple technologies that enable devices and gadgets to exchange data over a network to create a connected environment. In short, an algorithm driven environment, which would gradually take control of our lives and we would end up being the product.
There are a host of IoT-enabled gadgetry devices developed in recent times, which are fundamental to the idea of “smart home”. The concept of a smart bathroom is already here with WiFi enabled geysers and hi-tech shower systems, state of the art commodes with temperature controlled seats, mood enhancing music and lighting and of course Bluetooth enabled toothbrush to communicate directly with your dentist. The kitchen is not too far behind with smart self-stocking fridges and hi-tech cookware which provide instructions through the mobile to cook right. The living room has smart mood determined lighting, internet enabled UHD TVs which automatically put up the favourite soaps, automated body conforming recliners and Bluetooth speakers with cloud-based voice assistants. The bedroom has been transformed into a synthetic environment, where a Smart Bed and Smart Pillow use technology to ensure sound sleep in a controlled atmosphere, so that one is refreshed in the morning. Technology is used to track the soundness of the sleep and adjusting the firmness of the mattress to cater for the shifting posture. The pillow even reminds you not to snore with gentle vibration. These devices ride on the backbone of the internet and vie with each other to create a transformative consumer experience. The home has been perfected into a technological marvel and we are only too happy to be a part of the environment.
Also Read: Deepfakes and shallowfakes: Why seeing is not believing anymore
Little does one realise that this comfort comes with a stiff price tag, both in terms of cost and intrusion to privacy. These gizmos are data hungry monsters that even while ensuring a perfect experience every time, are surreptitiously capturing data continuously for an algorithm resting in the cloud to analyse and decipher your personality so that you can be subject to behavioural micro targeting by interest groups.
Volumes of personal data radiating from the mobile, tabs, laptop, etc is sucked into a swirling black hole that’s expanding and growing at an alarming rate. At the end of the day, the businesses would know much more about you than your own wife or mother! After all, businesses need to forestall your desires, develop new products and deliver them expeditiously.
The Cambridge Analytica revelations in 2018 have given us reason to be worried. While researching about the CA episode, I came across a reference to 2014 paper researched at Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre, called: “Computer-based personality judgments are more accurate than those made by humans” which formed the basis for a new kind of political message-targeting. The Psychometrics Centre is a Strategic Research Network at the University of Cambridge dedicated to research, teaching and product development in both pure and applied psychological assessment. One of their products advertised on their website is “The Predictive World”. Predictive World is an interactive online experience, in which users discover how much a cyber-system can predict about them using digital records of their behavior. It is amazing that Predictive World was used by over 1 million people within 3 weeks of its launch. Predictive World makes use of “Apply Magic Sauce API” to generate psychological predictions from users’ Facebook data, as well as a bespoke back-end data infrastructure constructed by researchers at the Centre over several months. Try it at websites such as watchdogs.ubisoft.com to discover what the Predictive World cyber-system knows about you.
Many years ago, when the first of the algorithms took charge to automate small tasks like auto correction of spellings while using word processing software, little did we realise that the seeds for future dependence were being purposefully sown. Algorithms have evolved over the last few decades, much like Darwin’s theory of evolution, to occupy centre stage today. The present generation of evolutionary algorithms is the basis for quantum computing and artificial intelligence. We are at the verge of time where ‘bots’ are looking to replace apps of our daily use. Slowly but inexorably we are becoming the product of these very algorithms we created. We have become utterly dependent on the ubiquitous search engines led by Google to nurse us through our day with daily dose of information.
Just type a few letters into the search box of google, even with atrociously wrong spellings, and the search engine automatically fetches up a list of topics which you probably wanted to search. Maybe at first you did not notice as your job was completed in a trice. But if you pay attention, the search engine also starts to induce you towards new directions and influences the data you see. Many a time, with nothing better to do I kept following Google’s lead and ended up pursuing completely different topic from the original one. The algorithm has gradually and gently nudged you to pursue a different direction, which it wanted me to follow. On YouTube, I recently saw a video which described how Google used the microphone to clandestinely capture voice data and then target the user with specific advertisements analysed from the data captured. It may sound far fetched, but the capability exists. Any subsequent search by the user would have these specific advts popping up on the side, strategically positioned to capture your attention.
Shopping on Amazon is a cool experience. Easy availability of a range of products, with a host of sellers and a simple interactive interface completes the buying process in a jiffy. But do you notice, every time you select a product, the system subtly hints that other buyers also looked at the following products. You are cleverly induced to explore these suggestions. Every click is advertisement money for Amazon. In addition, clubbing other products to induce you to buy stuff which you may not require. All this data about your tastes, requirements etc. is stored, analysed and you are regularly bombarded by email. I also suspect that you are tracked, photos uploaded online analysed to suggest products. I had grown a beard and posted some photos online. Soon after there were emails recommending a beard trimmer, though I had never searched for it online. How?
I am a great fan of Google maps. It’s my one stop solution for driving anywhere in the city. Enter the first few letters of the destination and you have the exact location, the road options available and the time taken by each of the routes and a suggested route to reach the destination in the shortest time. This is really helpful and with the ubiquitous mobile to give you voice commands, an ideal and complete driving solution. You are the product being tried out by the maps application. Now just imagine if this tool can be used for micro targeting by subtly manipulating the choice of the road. It can recommend a route which it wants you to take with minor adjustments of driving time. Obviously, we have no means to verify the travel times displayed by the app and therefore often take the Google recommended route. The algorithm driven AI can route you through roads with shopping malls, or through roads with huge hoardings or any other road which it has mapped as your interests during the many searches which you have been doing. Even as you transit to the destination, the mind is unconsciously being bombarded with these images and is thus capturing all these minutiae and storing it away for a subsequently visit. The algorithm has accomplished its goal.
Google has a GPS based location tracker, which is always turned on by default to surreptitiously keep a 24X7 surveillance on all your movements. It’s scary that they have tabs on all the places you visit, the route taken and the time spent in the location. At the end of the month your timeline is presented for review. A couple of times I edited it, but then realised that it was a complete intrusion into my privacy and have now turned off “Location”, despite frequent prompts that many applications would not work correctly. However, there are other less accurate methods using cell towers for location to still track you. The data can be easily harvested using analytics to reveal eating locations, shopping preferences and a host of personal choices, so that you can be meticulously targeted with the precise advertisements. Today one does not need a tracking collar as we are enslaved to the mobiles and carelessly give away information.
When you search for a video on YouTube it automatically displays a list of seemingly related videos. Start to see one and the algorithm automatically starts the next one. Slowly after a period of time you are enticed to watch the videos which the algorithm wants you to watch. Your mind has been slowly seduced by the chaff. The system has amassed tomes of data over the years on every aspect of your life as you were innocuously web hopping various sites. This data is stored in the “cloud” where an algorithm is trying to figure your current mood and predict your immediate requirements. Just to test it out, I typed “Stanford Prison Experiment” to learn about Prof Zimbardo and his seminal experiment on psychological effects of perceived power. The search yielded a list with the second or third suggestion drawing me towards the movie on a similar subject. It displayed sites offering the movie online, which was not what I was looking. The subtle power of persuasion through suggestions can direct you away from the intended direction.
In conclusion, while we marvel at the pace of technology and embrace it with open arms for a transformative consumer experience, there is a need to be careful when you share personal data on the web. Predictive World by University of Cambridge has a database containing 6.3 billion data points and offers 70 data-driven predictions about the individual. It’s time to be cautious and vigilant on the electronic highway.
*The writer retired as Commodore from Indian Navy in 2017. He is an alumni of TS Rajendra and specialised in Missile and Gunnery and also served as Surface to Air Missile Officer and Gunnery officer on a number of Indian Naval ships. He commanded INS Vidyut , INS Ganga and was the commissioning CO of INS Sardar Patel.
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