Government pioneered Data Mining to track terrorists and disrupt plots in the early 2000’s. It seemed to work for a few dozen times, but at a cost of our privacy. Government spends billions of dollars annually in their research and development of this program. Therefore, more advanced systems have come forth which have lowered the costs of smaller businesses to get on board with the Data Mining industry. From this, businesses learned the same techniques and used them to market to individuals personally. “A hard drive capable of holding a terabyte of data might have cost $1,000 around 2005, but now you can put that on a thumb drive for less than $100,” according to David Krakauer, director of the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery who studies the evolution of intelligence (Tenenbaum). Because of the advancement of algorithms in Data Mining more space is needed to hold more information and interpret the raw data, also it is contributing to the falling cost and increasing performance of the technology used for Data Mining. Though Data Mining users has affirmed they have stopped dozens of terrorist plots through this technology, there is a downside that we must sacrifice our privacy. This is a huge issue and will be discussed later in the cons' section of this blog.
In previous blogs we have also discussed the many ways Data Mining is used in different industries. This is definitely an advantage for the process. Not only can the data be interpreted for the market to determine your trends, wants, and needs, but it may knows more about you than you do yourself. It never forgets your purchases and searches, and it ties users to groups and trends that we may have no idea even existed. This could be seen as creepy, which brings us to our next advantage.
Yes, there is an advantage to the creepy side of Data Mining. A new industry is emerging because of this privacy issue. Because businesses in America and other countries see the new threat of their privacy and secrets being screened and recorded by our government, they have began innovating private clouds run in other countries. According to Reuters,”Germany and China are among the countries exploring the idea of building "private" clouds within their borders - essentially versions of the public Internet cloud that they control. In the wake of the NSA scandal, France has openly called for a sovereign cloud of its own” (Barr). This shows how serious the threat of our government is and why the privacy issue is considered a disadvantage, and it too will be discussed in the next section.
Yes, there is an advantage to the creepy side of Data Mining. A new industry is emerging because of this privacy issue. Because businesses in America and other countries see the new threat of their privacy and secrets being screened and recorded by our government, they have began innovating private clouds run in other countries. According to Reuters,”Germany and China are among the countries exploring the idea of building "private" clouds within their borders - essentially versions of the public Internet cloud that they control. In the wake of the NSA scandal, France has openly called for a sovereign cloud of its own” (Barr). This shows how serious the threat of our government is and why the privacy issue is considered a disadvantage, and it too will be discussed in the next section.
Another advantage of this new industry is that these cloud companies will allow businesses to rent their storage and systems by the hour instead of buying expensive data mining centers, which will increase their flexibility of time and money in technology spending as needed.
As you can imagine, when it comes to the Government and companies researching our private information, conflicts will arise. Privacy is not taken lightly in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is especially disturbing for me that until recently, through Snowden, did I find out how much of my privacy is at stake and being stored by our Government. Then, through research seeing other companies have followed Big Brother’s footsteps and have been doing the same for years now. Many of us have now changed certain patterns and approaches and have become more aware when using our telephone, internet, and credit cards.
As you can imagine, when it comes to the Government and companies researching our private information, conflicts will arise. Privacy is not taken lightly in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is especially disturbing for me that until recently, through Snowden, did I find out how much of my privacy is at stake and being stored by our Government. Then, through research seeing other companies have followed Big Brother’s footsteps and have been doing the same for years now. Many of us have now changed certain patterns and approaches and have become more aware when using our telephone, internet, and credit cards.
Privacy is one issue, but security is another. As you know, our information is not only being interpreted, but it is being stored in data warehouses that have potential of being hacked, leaked, or even sold to other companies. Hackers may use your information to commit fraud, steal your identity, or even create worms/viruses using your URL address. Also, think about businesses; they do not always last. What happens to all the information collected on you? It is then either dumped into space and possibly leaked or sold for final liquidation to other companies who can then know everything about you, all without ever having you as a customer. Think about all the firms who know your account numbers, passwords, social security numbers, who you chat with at school online, this information is at the fingertips of people we don’t know. Some may abuse this information and some may use it unethically for their advantage. This is a big negative with Data Mining, as is inaccurate information.
Inaccurate information is another negative on my Con list. Inaccurate information could be collected when others are using your computer, telephone, and even credit card. My wife and daughter both use my computer just as much as I do. The information collected there is inaccurate for my profile. Also, we make lots of purchases for others. Therefore, my wife or I may order some things for others that we may never even think of purchasing for ourselves. However, we get thrown in a database that shoves ads for similar items to these purchase all over my computer screen. Inaccurate information could also hurt big businesses. If they are making business decisions using inaccurate data, they will be in a big mess before they know it and make wrong decisions.
CONCLUSION:
We have seen some ups and downs when it comes to data mining. There are some advantages to it; however, it seems the bad outweighs the good. Organizations may call it a gray area; if it is gray, I say it's a dark one. Some people may not be bothered at all with the issues at hand while some are. However, I guarantee the more informed we become about Data Mining, the less we will approve of such private information being shared with the entire universe and we will tighten up on regulation thereafter. I am interested on your stance on regulation of how our information is gathered and stored.
Barr, Alistair. “Data Mining Puts Cloud Security Back on Agenda.” (June 19, 2013). Reuters. World Wide Web. Date Accessed: 2013/09/20. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/us-summit-cloud-idUSBRE95J01720130620
Tenenbaum, David J. “Data Dance: Big Data and Data Mining.” (June
26, 2013) Why Files. World Wide Web. Date Accessed: 2013/09/20.
I like this piece because you showed a lot of the problems with data mining and how it is misused, often times abused. My stance on the regulation of how information is gathered and stored is pretty simple; there needs to be more of it. As far as companies go, I don't mind them tracking purchases or my most visited websites to know how to tailor their marketing strategy towards me just as long as those are the only things they are tracking. The government on the other hand, has zero regulation, specifically the NSA, which has no oversight at all. They track, store and use every piece of data that is placed on the internet, which most of the time that conversation or post is completely innocent, yet they still keep it stored in data centers. That needs to change because their purpose is to track and stop terrorism, not store every citizens information.
ReplyDeleteTyler, thank you for this comment. It is a bit scary to think of all the data being stored and how it is or could be used. Governments have access to so much more information because of the internet, so it will be interesting to see how they use this power in the future.
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