技术监控 (Technology Surveillance)

Public social media information seemingly isn’t enough for the next generation of landlords looking to grade potential renters on their desirability as tenants. New apps help landlords know as much about you as they can, including your private digital information.

看起来，公共社交媒体信息还不足以吸引下一代希望根据潜在租户对他们的租用意愿进行评级的房东。 新的应用程序可帮助房东尽可能地了解您，包括您的私人数字信息。

One such app, Tenant Assured, can be used to dig deeper and find more than what’s out in the open. The service is able to obtain most of your public and private online data without you even being aware of it.

这样的应用程序Tenant Assured可以用于更深入地挖掘和发现更多内容。 该服务无需您就可以获取大多数公共和私人在线数据。

First, a prospective landlord sends you a link to the service, which requires that you grant full access to at least one of your social media profiles such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter. It gathers your data from that platform including what’s normally off limits. The app looks for any links to other platforms that may be found in the first platform then gathers up all the data from these as well.

首先，潜在的房东向您发送该服务的链接，这要求您授予对至少一个社交媒体配置文件(如Facebook，Instagram，LinkedIn或Twitter)的完全访问权限。 它从该平台收集您的数据，包括通常超出限制的数据。 该应用程序查找在第一个平台中可能找到的其他平台的任何链接，然后从这些平台中收集所有数据。

From there, the app scrapes your site activity, including entire conversation threads and private messages and runs it through natural language processing and other analytic software. It applies an algorithm to rate you on a number of different areas generating a report which details where you fall on desirable/undesirable characteristics and catalogs everything from your personality to your “financial stress level. The landlord can then decide to reject or accept you without any further information or in person contact.

从那里，该应用程序将抓取您的网站活动，包括整个对话线程和私人消息，并通过自然语言处理和其他分析软件来运行它。 它采用一种算法对您在多个不同领域上的评级，从而生成报告，其中详细说明了您属于期望/不期望的特征的位置，并分类了从个性到“财务压力水平”的所有内容。 然后，房东可以决定拒绝或接受您，而无需任何进一步的信息或亲自联系。

承租人保证提供什么信息？ (What Information Does Tenant Assured Provide?)

The Tenant Assured app provides a “comprehensive” personality profile and risk score for each potential tenant.. The software tracks prospective tenants’ use of specific keywords such as “poor.” “loan,” “terrorist,” or “murder”, as well as activities such as check-ins at bars and how often someone goes on vacation.

承租人有保证的应用程序为每个潜在承租人提供了“全面”的性格特征和风险评分。该软件会跟踪潜在承租人对特定关键字(例如“贫困”)的使用。 “贷款”，“恐怖分子”或“谋杀”，以及诸如在酒吧办理登机手续以及某人度假的频率之类的活动。

The company boasts that using the information that it mines it can highlight the top five personality traits of a potential renter and tell you how they might play into whether they will be a good or bad tenant. It also identifies what are considered to be other risk factors with features such a “new to country alert,” aimed at identifying new immigrants.

该公司自豪地指出，利用所挖掘的信息，它可以突出潜在租房者的前五项个性特征，并告诉您他们如何发挥好租户的作用。 它还以“新到国家警报”为特征来识别被认为是其他风险因素，旨在识别新移民。

一个真实的例子 (A Real Life Example)

A reporter at the Washington Post decided to test the service using her own information. She said that the app created a “creepy digest”, about her including a list of her closest friends and her interests, a percentage breakdown of her personality traits, a list of every time she had tweeted the words ‘loan’ and ‘pregnant,’ and the algorithm’s confidence that she would pay her rent consistently. It identified her dating history, number of times she registered not just throwing a party but attending one, and any negative mentions by others on any of her social media sites whether they were about her or not.

华盛顿邮报的一名记者决定使用她自己的信息来测试该服务。 她说，该应用创建了一个“令人毛骨悚然的摘要”，其中包括她的最亲密的朋友和兴趣的清单，她的性格特征的百分比细分，每次她在Twitter上发布“贷款”和“怀孕”字样的清单， ”和算法的信心，即她将始终如一地支付租金。 它确定了她的约会历史，记录了她不仅参加聚会而且参加聚会的次数，以及其他人在她的任何社交媒体网站上是否有否定提及，无论他们是否与她有关。

She also said that the app searched for mentions of her outside of her social media sites. This means that her single permission for the app to have access to her Twitter account was used not just as carte blanche for all of her other sites but also as permission to be able to mine data from anyone else on the internet who mentioned her for any reason. She said the profile that resulted showed her rated as not recommended as a tenant because of the way the data was put together into a completely inaccurate picture of her.

她还说，该应用在社交媒体网站之外搜索了对她的提及。 这意味着她对该应用程序具有访问她的Twitter帐户的单一权限，不仅被用作她所有其他站点的全部权限，还被用作能够从互联网上任何提及她的人那里挖掘数据的权限原因。 她说，所得资料显示她不被推荐为房客，因为将数据汇总成一张完全不准确的她的照片的方式。

Once the report has been issued, it can be accessed by others who have the app so the initial report which as she stated didn’t represent her at all, could be used to deny her a place to live by anyone who had purchased the app. Unless you were aware that the app exists and were willing to purchase it yourself you would have no idea about what might possibly be circulating about you with potential landlords. And even if you did, that doesn’t mean you could necessarily address it since once something is in writing it gives the impression of legitimacy and accuracy. In a market when there are always plenty of renters, landlords would likely prefer to go with someone the app endorses rather that listen to a defense of someone the app recommended against.

报告发布后，拥有该应用程序的其他人都可以访问该报告，因此，如她所说的那样，最初的报告根本不代表她，可以被拒绝购买该应用程序的任何人居住的地方。 。 除非您知道该应用程序存在并且愿意自己购买，否则您将不知道潜在的房东可能正在流通的东西。 即使您这样做了，也并不意味着您一定可以解决这个问题，因为一旦编写完成，它就会给人以合法性和准确性的印象。 在市场上总是有很多租房者的市场中，房东可能更愿意与应用认可的人一起去听，而不是听取对应用所推荐的人的辩护。

租户保证他们的应用程序怎么说 (What Does Tenant Assured Say About Their App)

Here is Tenant Assured’s pitch to landlords: An applicant’s digital footprint is his/her online reputation, or an amalgamation of every piece of data available about him/her online. For example, if an applicant is using a lot of negative words and regularly argumentative online, then he/she will likely have a negative online reputation. And vice versa. Tenant Assured can provide a summary of each applicant’s digital footprint, allowing you to make a more informed decision in your vetting process.”

这是房客向房东的推销：申请人的数字足迹是他/她的在线声誉，或者是有关他/她在线的所有可用数据的合并 。 例如，如果申请人使用很多否定词并经常在网上进行辩论，那么他/她很可能会在网上享有否定的声誉。 反之亦然。 承租人被保险人可以提供每个申请人的数字足迹的摘要，使您可以在审查过程中做出更明智的决定。”

Co-founder Steve Thornhill reassures those who might be wary. “If you’re living a normal life, then, frankly, you have nothing to worry about.”

联合创始人史蒂夫·索恩希尔(Steve Thornhill)向那些可能会警惕的人放心。 “坦率地说，如果您过着正常的生活，那么您就不必担心。”

这真的有什么大不了的吗？ (Is This Really Such a Big Deal?)

There’s nothing new about this type of screening, of course. People in positions of authority such as landlords, hiring managers, college admissions counselors, and other types of officials have been increasingly relying on social media as part of standard background checks.

当然，这种类型的筛选没有什么新意。 诸如房东，招聘经理，大学招生顾问和其他类型官员之类的权威人士越来越依赖社交媒体作为标准背景调查的一部分。

The difference is that Score Assured, the company that created Tenant Assured, is something quite different from what we’re used to seeing. There are several key differences here. First, Score Assured relies on hat algorithmic models to analyze data mined from social media accounts instead of just eyeballing it.

区别在于创建Tenant Assured的公司Score Assured与我们以往所看到的完全不同。 这里有几个主要区别。 首先，Score Assured依靠帽子算法模型来分析从社交媒体帐户中提取的数据，而不仅仅是盯着它们。

This means that the canned report that is spit out is based on a machine’s interpretation of the data provided in summary format as opposed to having human beings interpreting what they find. Score Assured also has ways of accessing private data which is likewise interpreted by the program not people.

这意味着，发出的罐装报告基于机器对摘要格式提供的数据的解释，而不是由人类来解释发现的内容。 保证分数还具有访问私有数据的方法，该方法同样由程序而非人员解释。

The main difference, though, is that there is a demand characteristic which requires those being investigated share complete account access in order to be considered for housing, jobs, admission to school etc. This leaves the applicant no choice if they want to be considered for the opportunity. So while the company may claim that it only does what the individual grants them permission to do, it really isn’t a matter of voluntary permission, given that there is no option to withhold permission and still be considered.

但是，主要区别在于存在一个需求特征，该特征要求被调查者共享完整的帐户访问权限，才能考虑其住房，工作，入学等条件。这使申请人没有选择余地的意愿。机会。 因此，尽管该公司可能声称仅做个人授予他们许可的事情，但这实际上不是自愿许可的问题，因为没有任何选择可以保留许可并且仍会被考虑。

不只是房东 (Not Just For Landlords)

Unfortunately, in many countries there are little to no tenants rights. This includes the U.S. where although there are rules, regulations and laws about what can and can’t be done in the way tenants are treated there are ways landlords have of getting around most of them without being held accountable. When tenants have no way of knowing that something is occurring they have no opportunity to fight it. In this case, all tenants know is that they are being refused apartments without knowing why.

不幸的是，在许多国家，几乎没有租户权利。 这包括美国，尽管在法规，法规和法律中有关于如何处理租户的方法的规定，但房东还是有办法在不追究责任的情况下解决其中的大多数问题。 当租户无法得知某事正在发生时，他们就没有机会与之抗争。 在这种情况下，所有租户都知道他们不知道为什么被拒绝入住公寓。

But this doesn’t apply only to the rights of tenants. The company responsible for Tenant Assured wants to, in the words of co-founder Steve Thornhill, “take a deep dive into private social media profiles” and sell what it finds there to everyone from prospective dating partners, to college admissions committees and employers in addition to landlords. Basically, they want to be able to sell it to anyone who has reason to buy it.

但这不仅适用于房客的权利。 用联合创始人史蒂夫·索恩希尔(Steve Thornhill)的话说，负责“租户有保证”的公司希望“深入研究私人社交媒体资料”，然后将其发现的东西出售给从潜在的约会伙伴，大学招生委员会和雇主那里得到的所有人。除了房东。 基本上，他们希望能够将其出售给有理由购买的任何人。

技术的未来以及我们在保护自己和彼此之间的作用 (The Future of Technology and Our Role in Protecting Ourselves and Each Other)

The type of screening app discussed here goes beyond Brave New World or Big Brother. Once the technology is able to be mass produced and can be bought by whoever might have reason to use it to create profiles and reports about others to sell, it isn’t hard to imagine a day when anyone can do this. When this day arrives, mining every piece of online data generated by an individual will become a new way to bully people on one end of the spectrum and on the other end potentially a type of social warfare.

这里讨论的放映应用程序类型超出《勇敢的新世界》或《老大哥》。 一旦该技术能够被大量生产并且可以被任何可能有理由使用它来创建个人资料和关于要出售的其他产品的报告的人所购买，就不难想象会有一天有人可以这样做。 当这一天到来时，挖掘一个人生成的每一个在线数据将成为一种新方法，可以在频谱的一端欺负人们，而在另一端则可能是一种社会战争。

The lack of transparency and inability to counter or defend ourselves when erroneous or egregious information is used against is becoming a hallmark of our society. It is ultimately up to us to stop these types of efforts when we learn about them and not just passively comment on how terrible they are while doing nothing either because it doesn’t directly affect us or we feel we aren’t able to do anything of significance.

缺乏透明度以及在使用错误或过分的信息时无法抵抗或捍卫自己正成为我们社会的标志。 最终，当我们了解这些努力时，我们就必须停止这些努力，而不仅仅是在不做任何事情的情况下被动地评论他们的可怕程度，因为这不会直接影响到我们，或者我们认为我们无能为力意义。

In particular, when we hear about technological advances that have the potential to damage people, perhaps permanently, we have a responsibility to act in some way to make sure such projects do not become accepted as progress. While the interaction between people and technology has a lot to recommend it, sometimes we must put limits in place to prevent that interaction from doing serious harm. Once a report exists that has ruined a person’s reputation, especially when they aren’t allowed access to the document to address the allegations or correct mistaken information, it is almost impossible to reverse the effects. Just because something makes our lives or work easier or more convenient doesn’t mean that it is always okay to take advantage of it.

尤其是，当我们听到可能对人类造成伤害的技术进步(也许是永久性的损害)时，我们有责任采取某种行动，以确保此类项目不会被视为进步。 虽然人与技术之间的交互有很多值得推荐的地方，但有时我们必须设置限制以防止这种交互造成严重危害。 一旦存在破坏个人声誉的报告，尤其是当不允许他们访问文档以解决指控或纠正错误信息时，几乎不可能扭转这种影响。 仅仅因为某种事物使我们的生活或工作更轻松或更方便，并不意味着可以利用它。

分数保证和租户保证的现状 (The Current Status of Score Assured and Tenant Assured)

There has been no recent news about Score Assured so it is unclear whether the company is still in operation or just laying low due to the host of bad press it received. But even if it went belly up, that should not be cause for relief or letting our guard down.

最近没有关于“保证分值”的消息，因此目前尚不清楚该公司是否仍在运营还是由于收到的不良新闻而处于低位。 但是，即使事态恶化，也不应减轻压力或放松警惕。

If one company could create such an app four years ago, you can bet the technology exists to make apps that are far worse in terms of covertly mining information we may not even be aware is online and selling it to the highest bidder. The possible ways that such information could be used would only be limited by the imagination.

如果一家公司可以在四年前创建这样的应用程序，那么您可以肯定存在的技术可以使应用程序在秘密挖掘信息方面变得更加糟糕，我们甚至可能都不知道它是在线销售并将其出售给出价最高的人。 使用此类信息的可能方式仅受想象力的限制。

If there’s anything we know about humans, it is that we have enormous imaginations, that can be both good and bad. And we also have a habit of the tendency to believe that because we can do something we should do it which has led us into trouble before. Ultimately it is up to us, not the tech companies looking to make millions or even billions on something new, that need to determine whether new advancements are ethical and the potential new technology has of crossing the line in terms of individual privacy and other rights.

如果我们对人类有所了解，那就是我们拥有巨大的想象力，既有好也有坏。 我们还习惯于相信，因为我们可以做某事，所以我们应该做，这曾经使我们陷入麻烦。 归根结底，这取决于我们，而不是希望在新事物上赚几百万甚至数十亿美元的科技公司，需要确定新的进展是否合乎道德，以及潜在的新技术是否具有超越个人隐私和其他权利的界限。

Once the genie’s out of the bottle, there is little chance of putting her back in again. Preventing her from getting out in the first place, is the only way to protect ourselves in a rapidly advancing world where the tendency is to move ahead without first considering all the possible effects or putting necessary safeguards in place.

一旦精灵从瓶子里出来，再也没有机会再次把她放回去了。 首先，要防止她走出去，这是在快速发展的世界中保护自己的唯一方法，在这个世界中，人们往往会先走一步，而不必先考虑所有可能的影响或采取必要的保障措施。

Natalie C. Frank has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She specializes in pediatric psychology and behavioral medicine and has a special interest in maintaining an ethical world especially with regard to technology.

Natalie C. Frank拥有博士学位。 在临床心理学。 她专门研究儿科心理学和行为医学，对维护道德世界特别是技术领域特别感兴趣。

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如果您喜欢阅读这个故事，可能还喜欢这些：

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您可以在Medium上找到我其他作品的链接，并 在此处 关注我 。 感谢您的阅读和支持！