Tag: Adversarial interoperability

Bookmarked Tracking Exposed: Demanding That the Gods Explain Themselves (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Tracking Exposed is a small collective of European engineers and designers who systematically probe social media algorithms to replace the folk-theories that inform Algospeak with hard data about what the platforms up- and down-rank.

Cory Doctorow discusses Tracking Exposed, a collective of designers using adversarial interoperability to go beyond the guessing game of algospeak to provide a more concrete understanding of algorithms and content moderation. I really like Doctorow’s argument about moderation, comparing it with a boss keeping it secret what a worker’s job is.

The gold standard for a security system is one that works even if your adversary understands it. Content moderation is the only major domain where “if I told you how it worked, it would stop working” is considered a reasonable proposition. 

This is especially vexing for the creators who won’t get compensated for their creative work when an algorithmic misfire buries it: for them, “I can’t tell you how the system works or you might cheat” is like your boss saying “I can’t tell you what your job is, or you might trick me into thinking you’re a good employee.”

Bookmarked Privacy Without Monopoly: Data Protection and Interoperability (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

In this paper, we imagine a world where interoperability and privacy go hand in hand, and abusive monopolists are not deputized to act as a private arm of the state. We can, and should, have both competition and privacy—and users should be able to enjoy the many other benefits of interoperability as well.

In this EFF white paper, Bennett Cyphers and Cory Doctorow continue the conversation about adversarial interoperability and the means of breaking up big tech by opening it up to data flows that also have a focus on privacy. Doctorow also read the paper across three parts: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Replied to Decades behind where we should be (daily-ink.davidtruss.com)

How is it that in this day and age of connectivity, nothing likes talking to each other and every connection takes so much effort?

David, I wonder if this comes back to adversarial interoperability. Something that Cory Doctorow has been writing about for a while. This is also something that Seth Godin recently discussed on the Akimbo podcast.

Listened Netflix’s decline and why stricter regulation could strengthen the tech giants from Radio National

Netflix dominates online TV streaming, but for how long?

The market appears to be decentralising, as major content-makers decide to abandon Netflix and go it alone.

Also, Cory Doctorow on how more government regulation could inadvertently make the tech giants even stronger.

What is needed, he says, is an emphasis on encouraging competition.

And meet the Scottish developer trying to build a genuine alternative to today’s surveillance-ridden internet.

Antony Funnell leads a conversation about the state of technology. He speaks with Stephen McBride about the future of Netflix, Cory Doctorow about the potential of interoperability to break up big tech and Nick Lambert on the creation of Maidsafe, an alternative to the internet.

Doctorow provides a useful introduction to the discussion of adversarial interoperability. He discusses the fact that many of today’s giants – Facebook, Google – had their starts through interoperability, but once settled they closed such doors.

Liked Adversarial interoperability: reviving an elegant weapon from a more civilized age to slay today’s monopolies (Boing Boing)

Adversarial interoperability is the consumer’s bargaining chip in these coercive “negotiations.” More than a quarter of Internet users have installed ad-blockers, making it the biggest consumer revolt in human history. These users are making counteroffers: the platforms say, “We want all of your data in exchange for this service,” and their users say, “How about none?” Now we have a negotiation!

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