Opinion. Facial recognition
Sun 21 Apr 2019 07.00 BST
Facial recognition is
big tech’s latest toxic ‘gateway’ app
John Naughton
We test and control
drugs, so why do we freely allow the spread of potentially harmful products by
unregulated entrepreneurs?
(…) “To appreciate the
depths of our plight with this stuff, imagine if the pharmaceutical industry
were allowed to operate like the tech companies currently do. Day after day in
their laboratories, researchers would cook up amazingly powerful, interesting
and potentially lucrative new drugs which they could then launch on an
unsuspecting public without any obligation to demonstrate their efficacy or
safety. Yet this is exactly what has been happening in tech companies for the
past two decades – all kinds of “cool”, engagement-boosting and sometimes
addictive services have been cooked up and launched with no obligation to
assess their costs and benefits to society. In that sense one could think of
Facebook Live, say, as the digital analogue of thalidomide – useful for some
purposes and toxic for others. Facebook Live turned out to be useful for a mass
killer to broadcast his atrocity; thalidomide was marketed over the counter in
Europe as a mild sleeping pill but ultimately caused the birth of thousands of
deformed children, and untold anguish.” (…)
“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”.
Vocabulary:
Settle down: If you settle down to do something or to something, you prepare to do
it and concentrate on it.
Come across: If you come across something or someone, you find them or meet them by
chance.
Encountered: To come upon or meet casually or unexpectedly
Leaps and bounds: You can use in leaps and bounds or by leaps and bounds to emphasize
that someone or something is improving or increasing quickly and greatly
Insurmountable: A problem that is insurmountable is so great that it cannot be dealt
with successfully. (insuperable)
Flaw in: A flaw in something such as a theory or argument is a mistake in it,
which causes it to be less effective or valid. A flaw in someone's character is an undesirable quality that they have. A
flaw in something such as a pattern or material is a fault in it that should
not be there.
Plight: A condition of extreme hardship, danger, etc
Gullible: If you describe someone as gullible, you mean they are easily tricked
because they are too trusting. (gaznápiro, palurdo, torpe, simplón)
Collocations and
phrases:
universally beneficial
insurmountable flaws
in
In the light of these
flaws
regardless of the
intentions
engagement-boosting
gullible public
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