{"id":250,"date":"2009-09-21T11:12:26","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=250"},"modified":"2014-09-12T12:02:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T18:02:13","slug":"profiling-via-web-presence-or-the-company-you-keep-tells-us-a-lot-about-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2009\/09\/21\/profiling-via-web-presence-or-the-company-you-keep-tells-us-a-lot-about-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Profiling via web presence (or, the company you keep tells us a lot about you.)"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

I’ve always told people that they should assume that anything they put on the web should be considered public, whether it is on a public site or not. If you don’t want the information known, then don’t put it out there.<\/p>\n

Thanks to modern data mining techniques, we can now predict whether or not you are gay by looking at your friends on Facebook.<\/p>\n

That’s kind of interesting, though personally, I don’t really care if someone is gay or not. It doesn’t (or shouldn’t) affect their ability to be a decent person.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I am FAR more interested in finding out whether they are honest or not;\u00a0 loyal or not; bullies or not. THAT would be useful. I wonder if looking at someone’s FB friends can tell us that?<\/p>\n

I have now lost track of how many people I *thought* were my friends, who have let me down by not standing up for honesty and integrity and for treating people decently and fairly. They always have an excuse, but the truth is, it is easier to lie than to be honest, and it is easier to be indifferent than decent. Cowardly, but definitely easier.<\/p>\n

One thing I have learned is that people who defend someone who is dishonest or mean are a bad risk.<\/p>\n

A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. – Proverbs 12:26<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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At MIT, an experiment identifies which students are gay, raising new questions about online privacy.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n