Data Misuse Quotes

I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.

Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.

Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.

When Facebook launched, it dove headfirst into a brave new world. No one knew that the cost of connecting people all over the world for ad revenue was eventually going to be Cambridge Analytica.

There is no reliable way to calculate from the number of recorded compliance issues how many Americans have had their communications improperly collected, stored or distributed by the NSA.

We spend our time bandying statistics about.

We all have a history of digital texts, posts, messages, reposts/tweets that are sitting out there and can be used by anyone for any reason.

[Statistics] The science that can prove everything except the usefulness of statistics.

If you entrust your data to others, they can let you down or outright betray you.

We live in a world in which data convey authority. But authority has a way of descending to certitude, and certitude begets hubris.

This marketization of personal information is a big mistake.

Who knows more about the usage of personal data than Cambridge Analytica?

Blockchain is like the new big data or AI - too many people are using it as a buzzword and not focused solving a real problem. We like to call them Blockchain tourists!

Statistics do not speak for themselves.

We're not interested in applications where you're spying on people.

It simply isn't acceptable for the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon and others, which amass data by the terabyte, to say, 'Don't worry, your information's safe with us, as all sorts of rules protect you' - when all evidence suggests otherwise.

Consent allows individuals to set conditions for the use of their data, access the information relating to them that others have obtained, verify the accuracy of that information, check to make sure companies comply with the rules, and seek redress for any harm that results from the misuse of their data. Remove consent, and the other privacy checks and balances collapse.

Generally, people's fear and hesitancy regarding greater computerization comes from a George Orwell/'1984'-based metaphor of a single computer or data base where all your information is stored, knows everything about you, and can use this information at will and for evil purposes.

Definition of Statistics: The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures.

The federal government has an exceptionally poor record of behaving responsibly with Americans' personal information when entrusted with it.

I say this as an engineer: We are profoundly bad at asking ourselves how the things we build could be misused.

There is a tendency to mistake data for wisdom…

'Personalization' is a popular word in retail, and people often misuse it to describe simple marketing tactics, like segmenting emails or using big data to identify the likely gender of a visitor to their websites.

The NSA surveillance programs have crossed the line of proportionality. Even if one could conceivably justify the initial inadvertent interception of baby pictures and love letters of innocent bystanders, their continued storage in Government databases is both troubling and dangerous. Who knows how the information will be used in the future?

The Aadhar data that was leaked to American companies was, in a way, a betrayal to the country.