Haworth Connect: The Unintended Consequences of Technology

The Unintended Consequences of Technology with Dr. Tracy Kosa

Some people say technology is neutral, but that just isn’t the case. All technology requires a user to give up their privacy, but who actually benefits when we expose all that we are online? Dr. Tracy Kosa, privacy advocate, practitioner, and researcher, will take us through the unintended consequences of the great promise of technology.

Case in point, between 2013 and 2016, Cambridge Analytica paid a data scientist $800,000 to re-purpose an existing app and develop the GSRApp, sometimes referred to as “thisisyourdigitallife.” Facebook gave the app a platform, and with it, Cambridge Analytica had access to information from 250,000 to 270,000 users located in the United States, as well as 50 million to 65 million of those users’ Facebook friends, including at least 30 million identifiable US consumers.

The FTC alleges data was used to train an algorithm that generated personality scores for the app users and their Facebook friends. Cambridge Analytica matched the personality scores with US voter records, targeting advertising services based on its voter profiling leading into the 2016 election.

Join us to learn how and why computer technology—just like any other power—is available to the highest bidder, and what that means for the rest of us.

More on Dr. Tracy Kosa.

March 25
11 – 11:45 am ET