Beware of the algorithm: another reason not to commute long distance

Dr Ian Brown, the associate director of Oxford University's Cyber Security Centre, is quoted in an article in the Guardian saying that algorithms are now programmed to look for "indirect, non-obvious" correlations in data. "For example, in the US, healthcare companies can now make assessments about a good or bad insurance risk based, in part, on the distance you commute to work," he says. "They will identity the low-risk people and market their policies at them. Click here to see an algorithm (Quicksort) in action.