It's time to reveal all recommendation algorithms – by law if necessary
Oh wow what a wild ride of an article! As someone who has led the building of recommender systems (PM) for the last 5 years this rubs me the wrong way.<p>&gt; I defend myself from arbitrary data collection that fuels the algorithms using PiHole, the tracker-blocking Disconnect plugin, and Firefox, plus a few other tricks.<p>The author clearly has no idea what he&#x2F;she is talking about. Sure, Everything they mention blocks collecting tracking information but recommender systems mainly track your behaviour in the experience itself (clicks, page views, time on page).<p>&gt; That leaves me and other privacy conscious folk with just one lever to pull offer - disliking a video<p>Again this author has it all wrong. If you’re serious about privacy the last thing you want to be doing is providing more input into the models we create!<p>And finally the comment that made me realise this author has no idea what he’s talking about;<p>&gt; The solution to both issues is obvious, technically easy, and yet commercially a nearly impossible proposition: open up all recommendation algorithms. Make them completely transparent, and, for the individual being targeted by the recommendation engine, completely programmable.<p>Are you joking? So he&#x2F;she thinks the east answer if for every user to ”program” their own algorithm. That’s like saying every Tesla owner should be able to program their own car! Let’s open the source code of Tesla to every owner!<p>Idiotic article.