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I just spoke but have no idea who heard me – that must change

As  a regular blogger across many social platforms with a steady increase in the number of followers (I cannot be held responsible for their taste), I am constantly surprised when I meet one of my first degree connections and they comment, “Looks like you haven’t been writing much lately.” To which my arched eyebrow response … Continued
ASHWIN KRISHNAN

ASHWIN KRISHNAN

5 Min Read

As  a regular blogger across many social platforms with a steady increase in the number of followers (I cannot be held responsible for their taste), I am constantly surprised when I meet one of my first degree connections and they comment, “Looks like you haven’t been writing much lately.” To which my arched eyebrow response is, “Not true, I have been writing with greater frequency than ever!” This is met with surprise and they usually respond, “But I didn’t get notified in my feed,” and my repartee is

“Nothing surprising there, an algorithm — #AI anyone? — decides who gets to see what I write”.

Then the conversation goes down the now familiar terrain of incredulity and mild outrage.

Why am I talking about this? The workings of these platforms — it does not matter if it is LinkedIn or Facebook or any of the others — all have similar underlying principles. And what better way to describe this than by using an analogy.

Imagine a classroom with a teacher and students. Let’s assume — I know it might be a stretch but stay with me — that all the students are paying attention to what the teacher is saying and not distracted by the dancing bitmoji on their smartphone. And anytime a student raises their hand to ask a question or make a comment, everyone gets to hear it. Huh! You might say. What’s the big deal?

Let me suggest another scenario. Same classroom, same teacher and students. But, wait there’s a catch. They are all blindfolded. And as in the previous scenario, students regularly ask a question or comment on something.

Weeks pass by with this new blindfold experiment. And then one day the students realize something’s amiss.

At a social event, Sunil asks everyone what they thought of his question in class that day. Except for Amanda, no one knows what he is talking about. Why? Because Amanda is the only one who heard him. As they start discussing this some more, they realize that not everyone has been hearing the same questions or comments, even though they are physically in the same class.

Everyone has heard a unique combination of dialogs.

And they are puzzled. As they should be.

The teacher — has she gone rogue?

And then the mystery is revealed. As part of the blindfolding, each of the students’ ears was surreptitiously embedded with a micro earphone each tuned to a unique frequency. And the classroom had been fitted — in the dark of the night — with as many microphones as students, and each microphone matched exactly to one student’s earphones. And the speaker’s voice only carried forth through the microphones. Only the school principal could control the microphones and depending on which ones he activated only the students whose frequency matched the activated microphones heard the speaker.

Getting the picture? By remote controlling the microphones, the school principal alone was the hidden master orchestrator of the conversation.

But it gets better — worse actually if you are #ethically minded as I am.

The principal also has outside parties, retail stores, propaganda consultants, college counsellors, all of whom can pay to access a headphone that automatically tunes in to the appropriate conversation. For instance, a college counsellor could pay to listen to students who are fretting about their SAT scores and perhaps use that knowledge to target their parents with his services.

Now you must have got the picture.

Would you want to be the principal of such a school? A teacher? How about sending your kids to such a school where they are spied upon?Scandalous, isn’t it?

Well, that is what all our social platforms are.

They are the equivalent of the rogue principal and determines who hears what and when. To my connections out there who think I have gone silent I have not. The principal – in this case LinkedIn – determined that you need not hear me. Or those that see my #TechEthics post but not my #LifePurpose post or vice versa, the platform is turning on and off the microphone that connects to your headset so you are hearing different things. And there are salivating commercial wolves — like the college counsellor — who will bid for the conversations they want to see and hear, and they get tuned into those frequencies unbeknownst to you or me.

There has to be a better way. And there is

It is a project started by an amazing group of individuals who believe in the power of social networking without the surreptitious frequency tuning and conversation-selling traitors.T

It is called open-book.org

And I am joining them as a brand sponsor. Why?  Because these committed, open, passionate individuals are on a mission to create a freer, more transparent, and just social network. One that values privacy (yours and mine), transparency (heck, even the code is open source), and security (the founders live and breathe security). One that is ad-free (Oh #YES) and has a dead simple business model to start off (pay for premium services or enjoy the free version) that includes giving back 30 percent of profits to build a better tomorrow through FoundersPledge.com. But wait, there are more innovative revenue models – all built around transparency, sustainability and value. See Joel – the founder’s – post here on that topic.

Join me in this revolution. For the sake of the teachers and the students. And everybody on our connected planet.

Author(s)

  • ASHWIN KRISHNAN

    Empathy, Education, Empowerment

    Mine is a typical Indian immigrant story: an Engineer who became an Engineering Manager, who grew antsy and segued into Product Management then rose to VP and SVP. During those years I fancied I was innovating and experimenting, but in reality I was wearing a corporate straitjacket. Constrained by my industry’s insular mindset, I became a slave to the definition of my job. Inevitably, I ended up dissatisfied. So, I did something unusual for a man in my position: I stopped to reflect. I searched my life and talents for what was fulfilling and had purpose. I discovered I enjoyed storytelling to promote understanding. I loved mentoring and helping people become the best version of themselves. Importantly, I realized I was still passionate about the tech industry, particularly the issues surrounding privacy and ethics. Today, I’m pursuing my passions. I like to think of myself as an accelerator of technology and positivity. I’m the COO of UberKnowledge, bringing cybersecurity awareness and training to demographics that are underrepresented in the industry. I speak at conferences highlighting the need for a sharper focus on the ethics surrounding the technology industry.  I write articles and blog posts using analogy to simplify technology trends and complex topics like AI and IoT. I host podcasts with CISOs and other industry experts. The purpose of these is not to sell snake oil or products but to bridge the chasm between security vendors and customers so that the real problems can be solved to make the world a safer place. Underpinning all of these efforts is my belief that life’s purpose for us all is simply to connect. And the best way to do that is through generous and positive gestures.