Posted on 09/20/2009 8:25:51 AM PDT by Saije
It started as a simple term project for an MIT class on ethics and law on the electronic frontier.
Two students partnered up to take on the latest Internet fad: the online social networks that were exploding into the mainstream. With people signing up in droves to reconnect with classmates and old crushes from high school, and even becoming online “friends” with their family members, the two wondered what the online masses were unknowingly telling the world about themselves. The pair weren’t interested in the embarrassing photos or overripe profiles that attract so much consternation from parents and potential employers. Instead, they wondered whether the basic currency of interactions on a social network - the simple act of “friending” someone online - might reveal something a person might rather keep hidden.
Using data from the social network Facebook, they made a striking discovery: just by looking at a person’s online friends, they could predict whether the person was gay. They did this with a software program that looked at the gender and sexuality of a person’s friends and, using statistical analysis, made a prediction. The two students had no way of checking all of their predictions, but based on their own knowledge outside the Facebook world, their computer program appeared quite accurate for men, they said. People may be effectively “outing” themselves just by the virtual company they keep.
“When they first did it, it was absolutely striking - we said, ‘Oh my God - you can actually put some computation behind that,’ ” said Hal Abelson, a computer science professor at MIT who co-taught the course. “That pulls the rug out from a whole policy and technology perspective that the point is to give you control over your information - because you don’t have control over your information.”
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
“Amazing science involved here, being able to tell if someone is gay by the pics of friends on their page.”
Now we don’t know if he’s gay...maybe he’s celebrating his ethnic origins, this is a traditional ceremonial costume in Burundi or somewhere.
The point of the article is that one can infer much about a person by analyzing his/her Facebook friends list and “profile” information, such as what pages they visit and what groups they belong to. That’s overstating the obvious. That’s why I have only a nickname on my FB page, and only “friend” a limited number of people and no one whom I don’t know. It’s also a good idea to take advantage of the privacy settings so as to allow only friends access to photos and such. FB is a good tool, but only if used properly. I think some education would be in order.
Well, it might be 100% accurate in finding gay men, but they are a very small group. Before we declare Project Gaydar a success, you need to know what the “false alarm rate” is for non-gay men.
Let me guess. The preferred currency of these two “students” is three dollar bills, right?
OB??
I figured I would have to go send emails to the few gay friends that I have. “Sorry but you gotta go. I like you and all but your cramping my lifestyle.”
No I wouldn’t do that.
Bingo.
I always had my doubts about the City of Brotherly Love....
You could just shout, "God Bless Sarah Palin!"
It's like throwing holy water on vampires.
I can tell by looking a picture of the person. Please send me a couple of million dollars to continue my research.
I’ve avoided facebook altogether. I also avoided the one before that, and whatever was before that, and twitter.
can we post that?!
There are some exceptions, like me. I would make a beeline for the person who said it just to say I approve.
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