“The training one receives when one becomes a technician, like a data scientist - we get trained in mathematics or computer science or statistics - is entirely separated from a discussion of ethics.” ComputerTrainingEthicsScientistMathematicsDataDiscussionStatisticsComputer ScienceTechnicians Author:Cathy O'Neil
“Every system using data separates humanity into winners and losers.” HumanityDataWinnerLoserWinner And Loser Author:Cathy O'Neil
“People are starting to be very skeptical of the Facebook algorithm and all kinds of data surveillance.” PeopleKindStartingAll KindsDataSkepticalSurveillanceAlgorithms Author:Cathy O'Neil
“The NSA buys data from private companies, so the private companies are the source of all this stuff.” StuffCompanySourceDataNsa Author:Cathy O'Neil
“We've learned our lesson with finance because they made a huge goddamn explosion that almost shut down the world. But the thing I realized is that there might never be an explosion on the scale of the financial crisis happening with big data.” WorldMadeBigsMightHugeLessonsHappeningsCrisisFinancialI RealizedScalesFinanceDataExplosionsFinancial Crisis Author:Cathy O'Neil
“There might never be that moment when everyone says, "Oh my God, big data is awful."” MomentsBigsMightAwfulDataThat Moment Author:Cathy O'Neil
“By construction, the world of big data is siloed and segmented and segregated so that successful people, like myself - technologists, well-educated white people, for the most part - benefit from big data, and it's the people on the other side of the economic spectrum, especially people of color, who suffer from it. They suffer from it individually, at different times, at different moments. They never get a clear explanation of what actually happened to them because all these scores are secret and sometimes they don't even know they're being scored.” PeopleKnowsWorldWellsDifferentSometimesMomentsBigsSufferingSidesWhiteSecretSuccessfulClearHappenedEconomicColorBenefitsEducatedDataExplanationScoreConstructionSuccessful PeopleSpectrumDifferent TimesWell Educated Author:Cathy O'Neil
“Because of my experience in Occupy, instead of asking the question, "Who will benefit from this system I'm implementing with the data?" I started to ask the question, "What will happen to the most vulnerable?" Or "Who is going to lose under this system? How will this affect the worst-off person?" Which is a very different question from "How does this improve certain people's lives?"” PeoplePersonsDoeDifferentHappensCertainAsksLosesWorstBenefitsAskingVulnerableDataImplementing Author:Cathy O'Neil
“I think big data companies only like good news. So I think they're just hoping that they don't get sued, essentially.” ThinkingBigsCompanyNewsDataGood NewsThink Big Author:Cathy O'Neil
