So this "Center for Immigration Studies" tweet is an interesting intersection of my politics and my tech activism. I have a talk that I give on Fake Science sometimes.
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Actually, Sarah Jeong and I had a dialogue about it at Mozfest last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXL4SfXH5zM … Basically what it boils down to is the ability to weaponize data and statistics to malicious ends.
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This is a very specific subset of Data Science ethics. It also has come to intersect with my anti-white supremacy activism. There are groups like the Center for Immigration Research and the Ulster Institute for Social Research that have perfected this art.
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The pattern goes like this: appropriate scientific language, naming conventions and the like. Find racist statisticians. Find data that has a kernel of truth to it, and then apply backhanded statistics until you arrive at the conclusions you want to arrive at.
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In 2016, we caught someone in the act doing just this to try to weaponize "open data" against Muslim immigrants in Northern Europe. He scraped OKCupid data and hid behind the virtue of the Open Data/Open Science movements. It didn't work. That time.
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But it's clear that it is working. Fake Science becomes a driver for legitimizing Fake News. And now Fake Science is being tweeted straight from the thumbs of the Presidency to legitimize racist, fascist policies.
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