A Scrap Over Scraping
San Francisco Chronicle
Could web-scraped alternative data be at risk? Data start-up HiQ Labs receives a cease-and-desist letter from LinkedIn, in a case that might set important precedents for the markets. Read More
‘Game of Thornes’ vs. ‘Bearking Bad’
The Wall Street Journal (subscription)
In a clever act of data deception, television networks are intentionally misspelling show names to manipulate their Nielsen ratings. Garbage in, garbage out. Read More
Where Have All the Suckers Gone?
Eagle’s View Asset Management suggests that the exodus of capital to passive investment strategies is reducing the amount of alpha available to “traditional” quant managers; something new is needed. Read More
A Long Shorts Strategy?
Observer
Banks are relaxing their dress codes in order to attract young tech workers. The last time this happened? February 2000. Could dress codes be an alternative data indicator of impending market crashes? Read More
Wood for the Trees
realwire
Data start-up Rezatec uses satellite imagery to track large-scale tree health for the world’s forests. Read More
Correlation is Looking for Causation
STAT
Alternative data spreads to the venture capital world, where investment firm Correlation Ventures runs a systematic strategy for picking winners in early-stage biotech. Read More