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IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

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Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#151

Post by voakbasda »

persedes wrote: post #91
refenestrator wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you can lose your job for posting a controversial opinion in the US, completely privatized. It's a way more stable system. Allow a very narrow band of opinions in practice while claiming that everyone's free to think whatever they want in theory.

I've heard that sentiment, but does that actually happen? At least without the company being sued for violating someones freedom of speech. The last very public case I'm aware of was Damore at google, which they must've settled outside of court.

Are you familiar with cancel culture? Free speech does not apply in private companies. Post something stupid on the inter webs, and you will lose your job and have no recourse.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#152

Post by encryptluks2 »

boredumb wrote: post #92
refenestrator wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you can lose your job for posting a controversial opinion in the US, completely privatized. It's a way more stable system. Allow a very narrow band of opinions in practice while claiming that everyone's free to think whatever they want in theory.

sure but you have the ability to post under a moniker that isn't tied to my SSN that private places are able to query against.

And businesses has the right to deny employment or fire you without reason. So, who knows if they paid their friend(s) over at Twitter or wherever to tell them what you're posting on your alts. It is a system ripe for corruption and that is all that matters.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#153

Post by dylan604 »

randomdata wrote: post #33
josephcsible wrote: post #5

Maybe instead of taking even more of our personal data, they should worry about fixing the algorithm they run on the data they already have. For example, paying off an auto loan shouldn't make your credit score drop 60 points.

Why shouldn't it? The credit score is a tool to provide a measure of how profitable you can be to lenders. If you're paying off loans, you are a less desirable customer than those who carry loans. The lower score reflects that.

Or it should show you've successfully paid one debt which means you are a good profit center and are now ripe for giving a new loan to now.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#154

Post by skocznymroczny »

tigershark wrote: post #34
gruez wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it disinformation? Is it because it's not currently being used for evil purposes that we can't say it will theoretically be used for evil purposes in the future? Should we label all the anti-apple CSAM blog posts as "disinformation" because apple says it will only be used for CSAM and definitely wouldn't use it for political purposes?

“The so-called pandemic may end someday” What is “so-called” in a pandemic responsible for the deaths of millions (tens of millions most likely) people in the world?

The infection rate is highly arguable, because it relies on extrapolations of PCR test results, which are unreliable for detecting number of infected. PCR detects remains of the virus, not active infections.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#155

Post by nanis »

msbarnett wrote: post #147
twiclo wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch this get downvoted to prove his point.

1984 was not a novel about getting downvoted by other people because they didn’t feel your point was a particularly good or insightful contribution to a discussion board, nor is a downvote in any way equal to censorship in any meaningful sense, so it seems a bit hysterical to suggest it somehow “proves his point”.

Last year, I tried to put together some sane information about the statistics of testing[1] plus a simple app that allows you to play with the arithmetic[2].

It took very little time to put it together. Everything on it is factually accurate. However, it took me three months to get all the bans on it removed by which point I had given up on the notion of providing sober commentary instead of constant breathless panic mode. At this point, I do not know if it still appears in any blacklists.

The simple fact was that with 5% of the population infected, a 2.5% false positive probability, and 10% false negative probability, fully 34.5% of all positive test results will be false. So, a lot of resources will be wasted in tracking, restraining, and constraining people who don't need to be and their absence from the labor market will have further repercussions. Sure, if 95% of the population is infected, the false positive rate will be really low, but then there is really no point to a massive testing infrastructure: Just assume everyone is infected instead of dealing with the fact that 33.9% of the negative results will be false.

Testing asymptomatic people repeatedly will likely not provide a net benefit beyond assuaging the fears of the perpetually panicked.

This is a recent example I am comfortable discussing in public.

[1]: https://www.covid2020.icu/false-positive-false-negative-simu...

[2]: https://www.covid2020.icu/false-positive-false-negative-simu...

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#157

Post by mindslight »

inglor_cz wrote: post #12
nabla9 wrote: post #2

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF and its Executive Board.

I consider such articles to be "test balloons" for ideas. If they encounter too much resistance, there is plausible deniability. If no, the idea creeps forward to a more formal setting.

I for one am thankful they're putting these pieces out. What they're describing is a straightforward result as the traditional surveillance industry (eg Equifax) merges with the nouveau surveillance industry (eg Google). We've had two decades of people ceding their computing autonomy to centralizing webapps, with critiques being dismissed as conspiratorial thinking. Despite growing up on scifi, most people in the tech industry seemingly need things to be written down to make the conclusion inescapable - this is always how "Web 2.0" was going to end up.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#158

Post by nanis »

jart wrote: post #102
cube00 wrote: post #60

From the IMF blog post[1]: > Even a well-paid expatriate moving to the United States can be caught in the conundrum of not getting a credit card for lack of credit record, and not having a credit record for lack of credit cards. > Fintech resolves the dilemma by tapping various nonfinancial data: the type of browser and hardware used to access the internet, the history of online searches and purchases. I enjoy the fr…

The fact that the IMF thinks your choice of operating system should impact your creditworthiness is something I've been warning people about for months because it shows why we need cosmopolitan software. Since it's nice to have the ability to pick up and move our apps elsewhere should we discover we're using the "wrong" one. Because political winds change, but good engineering endures. https://github.com/jart/cosmopo…

> The fact that the IMF thinks your choice of operating system should impact your creditworthiness is something

At some point in the past or maybe in another universe, a well known accommodation booking site might or might not have been offering better rates to people using Linux than OSX. Not confirmed, obviously.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#159

Post by dougmwne »

nanis wrote: post #54
NiceWayToDoIT wrote: post #13

Somehow I have a feeling that each passing day, things are getting tighter and tighter and private corporation and government institutions are getting more controlling and totalitarian. That feeling like slowly being boiled into 1984.

Various parts of the U.S. are already there. You know where those are if you live in them. Ask yourself: How many times have stopped yourself from asserting 2 + 2 indeed is four[1] in conversations with colleagues, neighbors, teachers, or even family because you may lose your income or worse if you did not at least remain silent in the face of assertions to the contrary? For those not familiar, here is the beginning…

You're absolutely right, even though I suspect I would strongly disagree with some of the things you would assert as self-evident facts. I might feel that the current majority consensus opinion on many things is good and right, but I can still be disturbed when I see the walls closing in on people who dare to think otherwise. The Overton Window is shutting fast and we may all find our fingers crushed sooner or later.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#160

Post by [deleted] »

jart wrote: post #102
cube00 wrote: post #60

From the IMF blog post[1]: > Even a well-paid expatriate moving to the United States can be caught in the conundrum of not getting a credit card for lack of credit record, and not having a credit record for lack of credit cards. > Fintech resolves the dilemma by tapping various nonfinancial data: the type of browser and hardware used to access the internet, the history of online searches and purchases. I enjoy the fr…

The fact that the IMF thinks your choice of operating system should impact your creditworthiness is something I've been warning people about for months because it shows why we need cosmopolitan software. Since it's nice to have the ability to pick up and move our apps elsewhere should we discover we're using the "wrong" one. Because political winds change, but good engineering endures. https://github.com/jart/cosmopo…

[deleted]
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