Re: Is There a Privacy Risk in Google Flu Trends? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: November 17, 2008 11:54:21 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Is There a Privacy Risk in Google Flu Trends? - Bits  
Blog - NYTimes.com

Am I the only person who is troubled by the issue of *validity*?

A scientist who said that it looked like burning involved the release  
of a bright substance and named it phlogiston would be laughed out of  
the AAAS today.

But mere speculation, cloaked with statistical analyses of  
uncontrolled "experimental" data, can be used to make the case for all  
kinds of false inferences.

For example, there is no scientific validation of the core claim that  
queries about "flu symptoms" are correlated with epidemiology.   All  
we are presented with is a suggestive correlation, coupled with wild  
speculation that the CDC ought to adopt it because it is supposedly  
"better" than the currently available systems.

Better? Maybe.   Waste of time? Maybe.

I'd like the public to become educated enough to tell Astrology from  
Astronomy.  speculative inferences from actual scientific results.    
If we don't achieve that, we will be taught pseudo-science by the PR  
departments of high tech companies.  Maybe that's already the case.

David Farber wrote:
> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/does-google-flu-trends-raises-new-privacy-risks/
>
> > "I talked to Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic  
> > Privacy Information Center, and he agreed with me to a large  
> > extent. “I think Google Flu Trends makes clear an ongoing problem  
> > with the use of Google search which has not been resolved,” said  
> > Mr. Rotenberg, one of two co-signers of the letter to Mr. Schmidt.
> >
> > But he insisted that, by highlighting the unresolved problem,  
> > Google Flu Trends made things worse. “I think this does change the  
> > game,” he said. “Google is inviting public health officials to make  
> > more of search information. In doing so, it has heightened the  
> > privacy risk to p"
>
>
> -------------------------------------------
> Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
> RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
> Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com




-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com