S.I. Aydin

5/5 (2)

The future of algorithms

A lot has changed at Facebook since 2006. It went from a very simple website with a tiny amount of functions, to an intelligent platform with a lot of algorithms involved. An algorithm is a set of mathematical instructions that produce certain outputs by telling it certain inputs (comparable with the ingredients, supplies and steps for baking a cake as output). The input at Facebook is all your information, your likes, interactions, searches, friends and your posts for example. This is all used to produce the output for you and make everything personalized.

You constantly see personalized information and ads when surfing on the website. With the introduction of the News Feed, all these developments were introduced at a rapid pace. Facebook used algorithms from the start, to filter all the content its user could see. This was needed, according to Facebook, since there was too much information to view. With time passing, the algorithms evolved, determining what is presented to the users. When these algorithms work how they are supposed to work, these personalizations can help users discover content that matches their interests. Unfortunately, this is not always the case; people are exposed to toxic content and misinformation. Facebook earns money by letting people scroll and exposing them to as many ads as possible, which they accomplish with these algorithms. It is very difficult to eliminate toxic algorithms since multiple teams build various algorithms and nowadays, algorithms learn things themselves and use a tremendous amount of data as input.

Haugen, a former Facebook product manager and now-called whistleblower, has shown her critique about this topic. She thinks that these algorithms of Facebook fuel polarization, misinformation and other toxic content. A lot has to be done to improve these algorithms. I hope that with the rise of media attention to this topic, changes will be made to avoid these high risks. I think that Facebook has a lot of power and can lead easily to polarization and more distance between groups of people. What do you think?

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Google has plans to introduce mandatory multifactor authentication (MFA). This is also known as two-factor authentication (2FA). Google plans to introduce this for 150 million users by the end of 2021 to better protect these users.

This decision has arisen because of the vulnerability of the traditional passwords, and the unwillingness of users to adopt MFA themselves. Google sees this addition as important since an added form of authentication can protect accounts from attackers drastically and avoids unauthorized persons getting access to your account. In traditional passwords, even the strongest ones can be compromised by attackers. This is why organizations nowadays invest in security controls.

In the last couple of years, Google has been busy innovating the technology behind these added authentication methods, and in the future, all Google accounts will get these settings as default. These methods include the Google Smart Lock app and Google Identity Services. With these methods, users can use their phones as their secondary authentication method. Google expects that threats will decrease by using these methods. Only Google accounts, that are appropriately configured, will get these additions. With appropriately configured, you can think about an attached phone number and/or a secondary email address. Most users do not use MFA, because an extra step is inconvenient, but in the long run, it is to their advantage.

Google is also busy with other initiatives to protect user data, like an Inactive Account Manager service, which deletes data from inactive accounts in certain circumstances. This will protect the digital legacy of users.

Source: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252507788/Auto-enrolment-begins-for-Google-multi-factor-authentication

Algorithms gone wrong – Facebook’s whistleblower

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Multifactor authentication, the new norm at Google.

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