OK, so you’ve probably heard about the dude who has a cyber-security firm and claimed to infiltrate Anonymous (an amorphous group of individuals who are in it for the lulz.)
Wired has a great breakdown of the (anonymously provided) internal emails between said dude and his poor, poor programmer.
The thing I love about it is that it’s basic office BS, but with the stakes being way higher than the topgun realizes.
Barr: [I want to] check a persons friends list against the people that have liked or joined a particular group.
Coder: No it won’t. It will tell you how mindless their friends are at clicking stupid shit that comes up on a friends page. especially when they first join facebook.
Barr: What? Yes it will. I am running throug analysis on the anonymous group right now and it definately would.
Coder: You keep assuming you’re right, and basing that assumption off of guilt by association.
Barr: Noooo….its about probabilty based on frequency…c’mon ur way smarter at math than me.
Coder: Right, which is why i know your numbers are too small to draw the conclusion but you don’t want to accept it. Your probability based on frequency right now is a gut feeling. Gut feelings are usually wrong.