#algorithms - The Black Box Society

Can a computer program be racist? Every day, corporations are connecting the dots about our personal behavior—silently scrutinizing clues left behind by our work habits and Internet use. The data compiled and portraits created are incredibly detailed, to the point of being invasive. But who connects the dots about what firms are doing with this information?

This month we'll be reading Frank Pasquale's Black Box Society (2015).

In The Black Box Society, Pasquale argues that we all need to be able to do so—and to set limits on how big data affects our lives.

Hidden algorithms can make (or ruin) reputations, decide the destiny of entrepreneurs, or even devastate an entire economy. Shrouded in secrecy and complexity, decisions at major Silicon Valley and Wall Street firms were long assumed to be neutral and technical. But leaks, whistleblowers, and legal disputes have shed new light on automated judgment. Self-serving and reckless behaviour is surprisingly common, and easy to hide in code protected by legal and real secrecy. Even after billions of dollars of fines have been levied, underfunded regulators may have only scratched the surface of this troubling behaviour.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-raps8OMKoUA/VBrwrZkkybI/AAAAAAAAALU/9u7WiS6tj3c/s1600/BBS.jpg

SLATE has called the book: "An important read for anyone who is interested in the hidden pitfalls of “big data” and who wants to understand just how quantified our lives have become without our knowledge."

Also, as an introduction to the topic here's a great keynote from Zeynep Tufekci at the Ethics of Algorithms conference organised by the Centre for Internet and Human Rights, earlier this month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7exygaylmY

And as always, some recommended reviews:

SLATE - The Code We Can’t Control (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/01/black_box_society_by_frank_pasquale_a_chilling_vision_of_how_big_data_has.html)

Interview on the Black Box Society (http://balkin.blogspot.ie/2014/09/interview-on-black-box-society_19.html)

We will be hosted by CORRECT!V, first nonprofit investigative newsroom in the German-speaking world.

The main purpose of this book club is to bring together people with an interest in technology and the desire to discuss it.

1. If you haven't managed to read the entire book - no problem. Simply focus on one chapter that caught your attention, think of one good question you'd like to discuss and post it in the group.

2. If you've read the book already - even better. Bring along some good book reviews or read another book / article by the same author and post one question in the group.

3. Everybody else. Think of a good question you'd like to discuss and post it in the group.

Before each meetup I'll try to put your questions in some logical order. We'll spend about 90 minutes on the book until we open the floor for freestyle techno-philosophising and general hanging out.

This Book Club is inspired by my friend Sara and her Tech Book Club in Boston (http://www.saramwatson.com/blog/lets-read-tech-books-together-in-boston).