埃隆·马斯克开源推特算法的计划存在缺陷
推特 算法
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报道称，在推特确认接受收购请求的几个小时后，埃隆·马斯克就明确表示了他对推特的期望。马斯克在一份新闻稿中罗列了他计划做出的重大改变，包括开源“决定用户在推流中看到什么”的算法。


马斯克希望开源推特的算法，是因为他长期以来一直担心该平台有可能进行政治压制。但老实说，即便开源，也不可能达到他的预期效果。专家们担心，这可能反而带来一连串意想不到的问题。


虽然马斯克对权威深恶痛绝，但是他对算法开源的野心和世界各地立法者的愿望不谋而合。近年来，许多政府都将这一原则作为打击大科技公司的基石。


英国社交媒体监管机构 Ofcom 的首席执行官 Melanie Dawes 曾表示，社交媒体公司应当解释其代码的运作方式。此外，欧盟新近通过的《<ruby> 数字服务法案 <rt>  Digital Services Act </rt></ruby>（DSA）》于 4 月 23 日获得批准，该法案将责成平台提供更多的公开性。2022 年 2 月，美国的民主党参议员提交了《<ruby> 算法问责法案 <rt>  Algorithmic Accountability Act </rt></ruby>（AAA）》的立法申请。这些法案的目标是加强算法的透明度和监督，包括我们在社交媒体上的“<ruby> 时间轴 <rt>  timeline </rt></ruby>”和“<ruby> 新闻流 <rt>  news feed </rt></ruby>”以及我们生活的其他方面。


允许竞争者看到并修改推特的算法，可能意味着有人会偷取源代码，并提供一个改名的版本。互联网的许多部分都运行在开源软件上，其中最著名的就是 OpenSSL，这是一个被大量在线使用的安全工具包，而它在 2014 年被黑客攻击了。


还有一些已经创建的开源社交网络。Mastodon 是一个微博网络，为回应对 Twitter 主导地位的担忧而创建。它允许用户检查其代码，这些代码可在 GitHub 软件仓库中找到。


然而，阅读一个算法背后的代码，并不总能告诉你它的工作方式，而且对于大部分普通人来说，它也提供不了足够的关于公司组织架构以及开发流程的信息。


Jonathan Gray 是伦敦国王学院/关键基础设施研究的高级讲师，他说：“这有点像只用遗传物质来理解古代生物。是的，它能告诉我们的信息比任何方式都多，但如果说我们因此了解它们的生活方式，那就太夸张了。”


推特同样也不是由单一算法控制的。Catherine Flick 是英国德蒙福特大学/研究计算和社会责任的研究员，她说：“其中一些会决定人们在他们的“时间轴”上看到什么趋势、内容或者推荐关注的人。调节用户“时间轴”上显示哪些信息的算法，将会是人们最感兴趣的。然而，即使如此，如果缺少训练数据，单纯开源算法也没多大用处。”


Cobbe 认为，开源推特算法的危害大于好处。因为计算机代码并没有透露算法是如何开发或评估的：有哪些元素或考虑、在这个过程中的优先级是什么等等。所以开源可能不会使推特的透明度发生重大变化。反而，它可能会带来严重的安全隐患。




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via: <https://www.opensourceforu.com/2022/04/elon-musks-plan-to-open-source-the-twitter-algorithm-has-flaws/>


作者：[Laveesh Kocher](https://www.opensourceforu.com/author/laveesh-kocher/) 选题：[lkxed](https://github.com/lkxed) 译者：[lkxed](https://github.com/lkxed) 校对：[wxy](https://github.com/wxy)


本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出


OK
Elon Musk made his aspirations for Twitter obvious just hours after Twitter said it had accepted Elon Musk’s takeover offer. Musk listed the major changes he intends to make in a press release, including opening up the algorithms that govern what users see in their feed.

Musk’s desire to open source Twitter’s algorithms stems from his long-standing concern about the platform’s potential for political repression, but it’s unlikely that doing so will have the desired effect. Experts worry that it may instead bring a slew of unexpected issues.

Although Musk has a deep dislike for authority, his ambition for algorithmic openness coincides with the wishes of legislators all around the world. In recent years, numerous governments have used this principle as a cornerstone of their efforts to combat Big Tech.

Melanie Dawes, the chief executive of Ofcom, the UK regulator of social media, has stated that social media firms would be required to explain how their code operates. In addition, the European Union’s newly passed Digital Services Act, which was approved on April 23, would oblige platforms to provide more openness. In February 2022, Democratic senators in the United States submitted legislation to create an Algorithmic Accountability Act. Their goal is to increase transparency and supervision of the algorithms that regulate our timelines and news feeds, as well as other aspects of our lives.

Allowing competitors to see and adapt Twitter’s algorithm potentially means that someone could just steal the source code and offer a rebranded version. Vast sections of the internet run on open-source software, the most renowned of which is OpenSSL, a security toolkit used by large swaths of the online that was hacked in 2014.

There are also open source social networks that have already been created. Mastodon, a microblogging network created in response to worries about Twitter’s dominant position, allows users to inspect its code, which is available on the GitHub software repository.

However, reading the code behind an algorithm does not always tell you how it works, and it doesn’t provide the typical individual much insight into the corporate structures and processes that go into its development.

“It’s a bit like trying to understand ancient creatures with genetic material alone,” says Jonathan Gray, a senior lecturer in critical infrastructure studies at King’s College London. “It tells us more than nothing, but it would be a stretch to say we know about how they live.”

Twitter is likewise not controlled by a single algorithm. “Some of them will determine what people see on their timelines in terms of trends, content, or suggested followers,” says Catherine Flick, a researcher at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom who studies computing and social responsibility. The algorithms that regulate what information shows in users’ timelines will be the ones that people are most interested in, but even that won’t be very useful without the training data.

Cobbe believes that the hazards outweigh the advantages. Because the computer code doesn’t reveal how algorithms were developed or evaluated, what elements or considerations went into them, or what was prioritised during the process, open-sourcing it may not make a significant change in Twitter’s transparency. In the meantime, it may pose severe security hazards.