Women in Data Science invited me to a panel on «Data and Ethics», where I talked about privacy challenges using the example of Clubhouse. Here is one of my statements:
Clubhouse is the epitome of ‘moving fast and breaking things’: move fast, get all that data, grow fast without any respect for collateral damages. And know that you earn hopefully enough money while doing so to be able to pay for compensation later. But the damage created by privacy violations is irreversible. It’s not like, say, CO2 compensation where you can [allegedly] compensate the CO2 you emitted by planting trees that capture the same amount of CO2 somewhere else.
Watch the video here:
TedX Zürich: «AI – freedom within, freedom without»
AI frees us from having to solve complex problems ourselves, but does it also deprive us of the ability to think for ourselves? In my
Robinhood: democratized finance on shaky ground
More than 900 years after the heroic figure Robin Hood set out to steal from the rich and give to the poor, two American entrepreneurs borrowed his name to establish a fintech company that claims to “democratize finance for all”. But the new Robinhood’s claim of ‘democracy’ is on shaky ground. Just as the company can make financial markets accessible to everyone, it can also deny access within a split second. This is what happened when they shut down Gamestop trading on January 28, 2021. Thousands of investors were presented with a fait accompli.
Privacy conundrums in early 2021 — on violators and accomplices
How is it possible that an app that simultaneously breaches privacy principles and that, for the time being, undermines ideals of inclusiveness, is so successful? And why do even people who are usually strong advocates of the very values Clubhouse violates, hop on this latest trend?