[Tfug] [Bulk] Re: Stallman vs Ubuntu

[Rich Smit]

Sure, Ubuntu is invasive to your privacy … so long as you pay for
everything with cash, didn't have to submit to a background check to get
your job, don't ever drive through a CCTV monitored revenue trap, keep your
cellphone switched off until you need it, and definitely never post photos
online that you took with a smartphone. So that about narrows it down to
one individual who (unfortunately) shares my first name.


On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 7:06 PM, Bexley Hall <bexley401 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi Keith,
>
>
> On 12/14/2012 5:50 PM, keith smith wrote:
>
>> I worked for an HMO about 15 years ago.  I built a model that determined
>> the risk of the groups that were utilizing under the different plans.
>> This info was used by underwriting and sales and service to set pricing.
>>
>> All I needed was their purchase info and I could have built a predictive
>> utilization model based on actuarial numbers.  If I could have obtained
>> their driving info from the black boxes, now being installed in some new
>> cars, I could have assessed their risk here as well.
>>
>> You eat too many burgers.... you became a higher risk.
>>
>
> What people *don't* understand is the non-obvious correlations that
> "big data" can make apparent.
>
> E.g., you figure eating lots of burgers is eating lots of red meat
> which has a higher probability of resulting in heart disease, etc.
> But, what you probably *wouldn't* "guess" is favoring "action"
> movies is correlated with higher resting blood pressure (I'm
> just making this up) which is correlated with higher probability
> of heart disease.  Or, reading lots of romance novels correlates
> with obesity which correlates with higher healthcare costs.  Or...
>
>     "The ratio of the length of a man’s index finger to that of his
>     ring finger may seem like a strange thing to measure, but new
>     research suggests that it’s linked with penis size. The lower
>     the ratio, the longer the penis."
>
> Who the heck ever thought to correlate these two (three!) data??
>
>
>  All the data is  out there today. Most of us use our credit or debit
>> card for every purchase.
>>
>
> <grin>  A "paranoid" friend shares my refusal to use "store cards"
> (Safeway, etc.) out of concern for purchase tracking, etc.  The
> look of smug arrogance on his face *melted* away when I asked him
> if he uses credit cards for his purchases... <grin>  He then
> understood why I always had so much CASH in my wallet!
>
> [I wonder if there are rules -- between the cc companies and the
> merchants -- governing how that data can be used (by the merchant).
> I.e., why would any company institute its own "store card" (NOT a
> credit card, just a "reward card") if they already have access to
> all this identifying information?]
>
>
>  This stuff is not rocket science. Almost anyone can create one of
>> these models.
>>
>
> And, data seldom gets stale.  Next year someone might come up
> with an off-the-wall correlation that is statistically significant
> (finger length vs. penis length???) that reveals something even
> *more* interesting!
>
>
>
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