To bot or not to bot!? Investment decisions

8

October

2021

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More and more youngsters these days are confronted with investment options for cryptocurrencies. They seem to be easily carried away by the idea of making money quickly, ‘easy money’, without having any knowledge or experience about trading stocks, forex or crypto. As a result, websites like eToro, a trading platform for all kinds of currencies, play in on the fact that people lack a lot of knowledge with regards to investment activities. eToro for example already makes it possible for its customers to select from a list of ‘experienced’ traders and make the same investing actions as they do automatically.

Furthermore, the quick rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made it possible for businesses to advance this into the creation of bots that make use of Artificial Intelligence. They are programmed in such a way that first they gather a large pile of data from multiple crypto, forex and stock tracking websites. This data is then analysed from which the rate of the stock or crypto can be estimated and predicted. After this has been done, the AI bot will make use of its data to compare for it to calculate when exactly the rate will rise or fall. It aims to notify the consumer to sell where the rate has peaked into a fall, and where the rate has hit its bottom and will rise again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LVT0X0r99M

Businesses nowadays make great use of programming AI bots that do such sort of things. They basically make use of the customer in some way, though it is the choice of the consumer themselves. How trustworthy AI trading bots are is something from which time will probably tell. It does make it easy for the consumer to gain experience and see what predictions turn up to be accurate or not. I do however advice every beginning investor to experience investing activities themselves instead of calling in the help from a bot and give the faith of money in the hands of the AI…

References:

https://www.etoro.com/nl/start?gclid=CjwKCAjwtfqKBhBoEiwAZuesiOyyXsjzXCqOVddYyYq4ng2SfwYfgMBWvOqaJoyFSA4vp5YOmpNvgBoC_nwQAvD_BwE

https://insidebitcoins.com/ai-trading

Cofnas, A. (2018). The Future of Forex Trading: Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, and Social Forex Trading. In Planet Forex (pp. 91-96). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

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Choose: citizens’ privacy or the fight against terrorism?

2

October

2016

5/5 (1) Two terrorists shot fourteen people dead in the city of San Bernardino on the 2nd of December 2015. They committed this terroristic attack after they publically stated that they were IS sympathizers. The FBI found the phone of one of the shooters, and wanted to check for any contacts with other terrorists. FBI investigators are now trying to enforce Apple, by help of the court, that they provide software to unlock the iPhone. The FBI wants to have a kind of back door which enables security services to crack encrypted iPhones in the future. The technology company refuses categorically, Chief Executive officer Tim Cook called it the “Software variant of Cancer”. The words used by Mr. Cook are straightforward, but is the metaphor founded?
Google, Facebook, Microsoft and dozens of other competitors from Silicon Valley supported Apple in the fight against the FBI. All these companies and the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations fear that the privacy of all users will be at stake. Moreover, they are worried that this case will be used as a precedent. The probability that Apple has to crack more iPhones will increase. During a hearing in the US Congress the FBI stated that it would indeed be a precedent, which confirms the fear of the IT companies. The last argument Apple alleges is about the software to unlock iPhone. The software can leak to cybercriminals or can be reproduced by the FBI or other law enforcement agencies. That is a lot easier if there is an example.
The FBI, supported by victims and survivors of the shooting in San Bernardino, also wants to unlock iPhones of suspected drug dealers. They indicate that unlocking the iPhones will promise benefits in the field of detection and prevention of criminal actions such as drugs activities. The latest news is that the FBI confirmed that they successfully unlocked the iPhone of the San- Bernardino shooter. This without any help of Apple. It is not disclosed what method was used by the FBI to release the data on the phone. The government do not want to say which third party helped the FBI. But several media reported that it is the Israeli software company Cellebrite. They successfully cracked the outdated software of Apple.
So, how will this ethical and privacy subject evaluate? Mr. Cook believes the technology companies should take part in a committee, to talk together about the implications of the police investigation and privacy. This commission might be able to judge in this situation on the most ethical and correct approach. I personally think that the fear of Apple is well founded. Companies and governments must be very mature, thoughtful and careful with the personal information of an individual citizen.

C. Cuijpers, S. van Schendel. Data protection by Design as argument in FBI vs. Apple debate, 2016, Vol 42 Issue 3, pp. 37-47.
http://www.nu.nl/internet/

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Facebook and WhatsApp: German regulations concerning privacy

29

September

2016

No ratings yet. Social media is becoming bigger and bigger. This can be recognized in the number of user of several social media platforms. According a study of Newcom Research and Consultancy, 9 out of 10 Dutch people that are 15 years or older are active on social media. According to Statista, the number of active users of social media network was 2.15 billion in 2015 and it is estimated that this will increase to 2.95 billion in 2020.

tabel 1

Worldwide number active users of social media, and a prediction for the future in number of users in billions

The revenue model of social media platforms is based on the data that this platforms collect from its users. This data can be used for personalized advertising. Worldwide Facebook is the biggest social media platform according to number of users (Statista). However, in the Netherlands Facebook is not the social media platform that is mostly used, WhatsApp is the most used platform(2016).

tabel 2

Worldwide users of social media platforms in active users in millions

tabel 3

Most used social media platforms in the the Netherlands with number of users in millions

In February 2015 Facebook bought WhatsApp for 19 billion dollar to enlarge its position in the industry. At the moment that WhatsApp was acquired, it created more involvement than facebook, was growing with 1 million users per day and it has a young target group. However, the major reason of the acquisition was the information about their users, although WhatsApp only has phone numbers and names of her users. Nevertheless, according to professor José van Dijck it is so-called ‘golden data’. When you install WhatsApp, it downloads your list of contacts, and till the acquisition of WhatsApp, Facebook did not had this data. By connecting the data of both companies, Facebook will become better in selling advertisements.

However, Facebook has to take certain regulations into account. During the acquisition by Facebook, WhatsApp promised that it would not share any information. However last month WhatsApp annouced that it was starting to share some of its users’ information with its parent company, Facebook. Many users expressed anger that their digital privacy could be at risk.

A German regulator now thinks that this digital privacy is at risk. According this regulator WhatsApp is not only misleading its users, but also violating the German privacy laws. Facebook is ordered to stop collecting and storing data of WhatsApp users in Germany. It should be the decision of the German WhatsApp users if they want to connect their account with Facebook. According to Facebook, it complies with Europe’s privacy rules and they are willing to work with the regulator to address its concerns.

In a world where the influence of social networks is growing it is an interesting case to follow. Because in a world where we want to connect with people, we still attach a high value to our privacy and also our digital privacy. This particular case only will affect German WhatsApp users, however it could have a big influence on social media networks in general.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ http://www.newcom.nl/socialmedia2016 http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/social-media-in-nederland-2016-whatsapp-overstijgt-facebook http://www.bndestem.nl/algemeen/economie/facebook-koopt-niet-zomaar-een-app-1.4228989 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/technology/whatsapp-facebook-germany.html?ref=technology

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