Have you been ‘talking’ or communicating with a robot or a programme? Here’s some tips on …

Have you been ‘talking’ or communicating with a robot or a programme? Here’s some tips on …

https://youtu.be/KlzRBPjlDIE (VIDEO) - She’s a humanoid and it’s made in a university in Singapore

Cyberspace social media networks are today powerful tools of influence in the world, arguably replacing the print media.

Social networks are today a part of everyone’s daily life but most unfortunately, they have also been abused for all the wrong reasons, especially for cheating and spreading of fake news.

“Equally unfortunate is that many believe all they read and see on social media networks, especially on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter,” Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff said.

He said international news service dpa had reported researchers in the US estimated that 15% of Twitter accounts were actually controlled by programmes that send automated tweets.

“What about in Malaysia? Perhaps there has yet to be any such survey conducted in Malaysia,” he added.

Syed Razak said many cyberspace cheatings were also due to greed, and with such programmes, individuals and communities easily fall prey to the unscrupulous.

“The moral of the story is to take precautions. It is better safe than to be sorry later,” he added. (Read this for context:
https://syedabdulrazakalsagoff.blogspot.my/2017/09/ignore-at-your-own-peril.html)

Syed Razak, who is Gerakan’s nominee to contest N.37 Bukit Lanjan in the coming 14th General Election (GE14), said Malaysians should remain vigilant, alert and wary of “unscrupulous predators” on the prowl in the net.

“Just remember these … there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Also, if an offer sounds too good to believe or to be true, don’t let greed control your intelligence and common sense.

“This is especially true with all that promises of friendship and love aimed at singles,” he added.

This is the hard reality of cyberspace as reported by dpa and posted by The Star Online and another report on a sex robot:

"Tech News
Home > Tech > Tech News
Sunday, 10 September 2017 | MYT 11:00 AM

Don’t fall prey to bots on social media with these common-sense tips

BY DIRK AVERESCH

It is surprisingly difficult to distinguish bots – programs that send automatedtweets or automatically post on Facebook – from human users. — dpa

Researchers in the US estimate that 15% of Twitter accounts are actually controlled by programs that send automated tweets.

However, it is surprisingly difficult to distinguish these so-called bots from human users.

Unless they have been clumsily programmed, at first glance, most bot profiles look like normal users. Even detection programs can fail to sniff them out.

But a good dose of human common sense could help you blow their cover. Below are several ways to spot a bot:

Respectability: Check who follows the account – bots often tend towards other bots. Carefully examine the profile picture and description: A photo copied directly from the net and a missing or illogical profile description can be very suspicious, according to a government media authority in Germany.

Content: Bot accounts are also recognisable by their subject matter, tenor and references.

Bots are often prolific, posting a lot but barely engaging in dialogue except to disrupt the discussion with insults and provocation.

Also watch out for unusual sentence construction or repeating grammatical errors.

Likes and followers: Another sign of bot activity is if the account likes a lot of posts, says the authority.

Conversely, bot posts often receive very few likes or comments.

Activity: Several dozen posts a day – can these really originate from just one person?

The number 50 is often seen as a benchmark in this context – more than that, and you are likely dealing with a bot.

“This is obviously an arbitrary definition. There are also people who can post a lot,” says computer scientist Christian Grimme from the University of Muenster in Germany. “You can’t base your judgement on post numbers alone.”

Grimme adds that it can also be helpful to look at whether the account follows a normal human day-night pattern of activity – “but even that is not enough.”

Reaction time: Bots can react furiously quick because they scour social networks round the clock for pre-programmed keywords or hashtags.

For example, one Twitter bot, Pfannkuchenpolizei (“pancake police” in German), responds to every mention of the word “Berliner” with the fact that the word refers to a German pastry similar to a doughnut – an error famously made by John F Kennedy.

Test sites: Grimme doesn’t hold bot checking sites such as Botometer or Debot in high regard. Researchers on a project Grimme works on have developed “inconspicuous” bots and tested them on these sites.

“These sites failed to flag our bots,” says Grimme of the results.

Their recognition rate reached about 50%. “You can’t really do much with that kind of information,” says the computer scientist.

While the sites can catch basic bots relatively easily, most people could probably discern them pretty quickly themselves.

Bot armies: “From a technical standpoint, it is also important to note that bots are theoretically easy to scale up. If you have a program that can control a bot, you can easily control an entire army of bots with it,” writes Simon Hegelich, a professor of political data science at the Technical University of Munich in a paper.

Such bot armies have already been discovered in Twitter.

According to Hegelich, premium software that can control a network of up to 10,000 Twitter accounts can be purchased for US$500 (RM2,100).

The accounts can also be bought, says Hegelich, at a rate of US$45 (RM190) for 1,000 simple counterfeit Twitter accounts or US$150 (RM630) for Facebook accounts. – dpa/The Star Online"

"Sex robot appears as guest in British talk show

WORLD
Friday, 15 Sep 2017
12:14 PM MYT

“Samantha.” 

LONDON: The future may be here now—a sex robot surprisingly appeared in a British morning TV show.

Affectionately called “Samantha” by co-creators Arran Squire and wife Hannah Nguyen, the sex robot was turned off for the duration of the interview on the TV show “This Morning” to prevent it from saying anything inappropriate.

During the interview, Squire explained how the sex robot and sex dolls help to spice things up in relationships.

This was the case between him and his wife who thinks of Samantha as just another part of the family.

Squire continued that his children would often ask about Samantha as well, while knowing fully well the sex robot’s true purpose.

Apparently, Samantha has a “family mode” which allows her to be in the presence of children.

The hosts were visibly unnerved by the revelations, which prompted guest psychologist Emma Kenny to chime in.

She pointed out that by supporting sex dolls, and to a further extent, sex robots, people are commercializing the female body.

Kenny also stated that the presence of Samantha is damaging to the relationship between Squire and his family.

Meanwhile, Squire and his wife affirmed that sex dolls are not meant to replace humans. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network"

N.37 LET BUKIT LANJAN SOAR WITH SYED ABDUL RAZAK ALSAGOFF