tagged w/ Data Mining
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The FCC already released a portion of the report already, with heavy redaction action.
Google released the full report ahead of a FOIA request filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and a lot of controversy over the car cameras and interception of a whole lot of data from wireless connections.
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-exclusive-google-voluntarily-releases-fcc-report-into-street-view-20120427,0,5957937.story
Google 'inadvertently' got private data like e-mail and text messages, passwords, Internet-usage history, and other data from unsecured wireless networks for two years or so, beginning in 2007.
Frankly, I fail to see how taking pictures from a car managed to suck up data. Guess they were doing more than just taking pictures, so how was this 'inadvertent'? I'm anything but a tech guru, so how does an innocent camera collect all that data? None of my cameras can do a trick like that.
Google said it was the fault of a rogue engineer. The FCC thinks maybe somebody at Google could have, or should have known about the data collection
Per LA Times report:
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-exclusive-google-voluntarily-releases-fcc-report-into-street-view-20120427,0,5957937.story
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The report points the finger at a rogue engineer who, it says, intentionally wrote software code that captured payload data information -- communication over the Internet including emails, passwords and search history -- from unprotected wireless networks, going beyond what Google says it intended. The engineer invoked his 5th Amendment right and declined to speak to the FCC.
But the FCC raises the question of whether engineers and managers on the Street View project did know -- or should have known -- that the data was being collected.
According to the FCC report: The engineer in question told two other engineers, including a senior manager, that he was collecting the payload data. He also gave the entire Street View team a copy of a document in October 2006 that detailed his work on Street View. In it, he noted that Google would be logging such data.
..."
Well, good to know it's not my cameras that are defective. The problem is either Google's failure to conduct proper oversight of employees, or tendency to blame rogue employees for doing what Google has always done, collect a whole lot of data on you.
In the meantime, lock your networks.The FCC already released a portion of the report already, with heavy redaction action.... more
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One of the nation’s leading electronic privacy groups claimed this week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) misled members of Congress during a recent hearing on whether the Department is paying a defense contractor $11.4 million to keep tabs on protected free speech and dissent against government policies on the Internet.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), which triggered the hearing by publishing a trove of secret government documents in January, told Raw Story on Thursday that a second round of documents they’ve obtained directly contradicts testimony given on Feb. 16, showing that the DHS instructed their analysts to do exactly what the Department denied.
“There were several exchanges that they had with members of Congress in which they sort of distanced themselves from the idea — that they weren’t engaging in this monitoring of public reaction to government proposals,” McCall told Raw Story. “But that’s… Well, it’s not true, according to the documents we obtained.”
In a letter (PDF) sent Wednesday to the ranking members of the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, Ginger McCall, who directs EPIC’s Open Government Project, explains that details within the document directly contradict testimony given during the hearing (PDF).
Altogether, the documents released by EPIC in January and in February reveal that the Department is paying defense contractor General Dynamics to monitor the Internet for “reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities,” including “reports that pertain to DHS and sub agencies — especially those that have a negative spin on DHS/Component preparation, planning, and response activities,” among other things.
“The DHS testimony, as well as the documents obtained by EPIC, indicate that the agency is monitoring constantly, under very broad search terms, and is not limiting that monitoring to events or activities related to natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or manmade disasters,” McCall explained to lawmakers. “The monitoring is designed to be over-broad, and sweeps in large amounts of First Amendment activity. The DHS has no legal authority to engage in this monitoring.”
There's more at the door, click link for the rest of the story:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/23/secret-documents-reveal-dhs-lied-about-tracking-social-media/
Now we know that when we shout on the internet the Govt hears us...Repeat after me DHS Good, DHS Good, DHS Good...One of the nation’s leading electronic privacy groups claimed this week that the... more
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It's information overload out there, writes YPNation contributor Kate Tighe. But as data capturing technology becomes more and more available to the rest of us, there are ways that we, as individuals, can harness the information and take advantage. Just look at Google's public data explorer. So what are you doing about it?
"Late last month Marketplace Money did a story on "hauls," online video diaries about the junk people buy. Call me a Luddite, but that makes me want to cuddle up with Tolstoy's War and Peace. If you have a different reaction it might be because you--like so many savvy entrepreneurs in the information age--are seeing dollar signs where others might see cultural decline."
Read more: http://www.ypnation.net/finding-payday-information-overloadIt's information overload out there, writes YPNation contributor Kate Tighe. But... more
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MOST people think of the grand challenges in computing as big science projects, like simulating nuclear explosions or protein folding. But with the holiday shopping season just ended, consider another: retail marketing.
Retailing is emerging as a real-world incubator for testing how computer firepower and smart software can be applied to social science — in this case, how variables like household economics and human behavior affect shopping.
To be sure, major retailers like Wal-Mart Stores have long been sifting through in-store sales and demographic information to aim goods at different stores and to tightly manage supplies.
But what is changing, experts say, is the rapid surge in the amount and types of digital data that retailers can now tap, and the improved computing tools to try to make sense of it. The data explosion spans internal sources including point-of-sale and shipment-tracking information, as well as census data and syndicated services. Companies also track online visitors to Web commerce sites, members of social networks like Facebook and browsers using smartphones.
The better tools, they say, are ever cheaper and faster computers and so-called business intelligence or analytic software for finding useful information and patterns in that data.
Retailers are increasingly mining vast troves of digital information to improve the decisions they make about pricing, shelf-stocking and product offerings. “This huge and growing ecosystem of data is an asset that some retailers are really beginning to exploit for competitive advantage,” said Thomas H. Davenport, a professor of information technology and management at Babson College. “It brings more science into the business. Relying on gut feel is yesterday’s strategy in retailing.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/business/03unboxed.html?th&emc=th
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/01/03/business/03unboxed_CA0.htmlMOST people think of the grand challenges in computing as big science projects, like... more
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As part of the war on terror, US intelligence services have been monitoring European bank transactions since 2001. When the EU found out about it in 2006, they were outraged. But now it looks like the bloc will agree to a controversial deal that will allow the covert data transfer to continue.As part of the war on terror, US intelligence services have been monitoring European... more
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Yesterday I came across the following lecture, “Statistical Aspects of Data Mining (Stats 202) Day 1,” from Google Tech Talks. I thought it did an excellent job explaining the concept and powers of data mining...
At approximately 42 minutes into the lecture the concept of what defines an anomaly is introduced. The statement is made that “generally an anomaly is an outlier: something that lies away from the rest of the data.” The lecturer does clarify this statement by saying that “in some space an anomaly is an outlier, but the key might be to find that space.”
What is crucial to understand is that the so-called “space” is created by the parameters set in the data mining collection and interpretation process.
As has been previously stated, anyone involved in the data mining process, from the data collector to the interpreter, can create anomalies at will, anywhere at any time, either deliberately or erroneously. It is relatively easy to change certain parameters to obtain the anomalies that are desired.
So a “space” as mentioned in the lecture is a relative term. This means that anything can be used to isolate data, may they be numbers or people. For example, it would be relatively easy for any government to create anomalies by setting parameters such as flagging people who attend church more than once a day - or people who pray five times a day - or even those who sign out certain books from a community library.
We should never forget that genocide has been committed numerous times by governments throughout history by isolating individuals and communities based on certain parameters.
So even though the above lecture makes data mining seem benign, in reality, data mining has been a harbinger of atrocities.
In science, the analysis of anomalies contributes to our understanding of the physical world, improving our lives. In contrast, identifying anomalies in our society based on political doctrine or religious beliefs has created fear and misunderstanding, restricting our lives. The lack of accountability from our leaders and our indifference to the consequences of their actions is diminishing our civil liberties. But it is not too late, we can prevent this from happening. We still have the ability to reclaim our future if we begin to educate ourselves.
Yesterday I came across the following lecture, “Statistical Aspects of Data... more
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When classes at the University of Washington resume this fall, some students at the school will be under the watchful eye of a Central Intelligence Agency spook. In fact, some of them will even be learning from him.
This fall, Dr. Tim Thomas, a CIA agent specializing in "open source" data mining, will begin a two-year stint as an officer-in-residence at the UW's Institute for National Security Education and Research (INSER), which is financed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That office is an umbrella organization for groups such as the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the CIA—which will provide the university with $2.5 million in grant money over the next five years.
It's not unusual for political or military organizations to recruit on campuses, but it seems strange for the UW to align itself with an agency most recently in the news for overseas kidnappings and harsh interrogation tactics such as waterboarding.
When classes at the University of Washington resume this fall, some students at the... more
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Britny
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3 years ago
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FTC says it won't intervene to protect Internet user privacy
WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission indicated Wednesday that it would leave it to data-mining Web companies and Internet marketers to decide how best to protect users' privacy.
"Self-regulation may be the preferable approach for this dynamic marketplace," Lydia Parnes, the director of the commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told a Senate committee.
The FTC's decision not to step in — even as Microsoft and Google representatives testified that some regulation would be helpful — means that Washington won't address the matter before a new administration and Congress take office in January.
At issue is what privacy rights consumers have when data-mining companies use their Web browsing patterns to target them for ads. It's a gold mine for online advertising and Internet marketing, but consumer and e-privacy groups say it's intrusive.
NebuAd, a media company based in Redwood City, Calif., has been in the hot seat for partnering with Internet service providers to deliver personalized ads to users' computer screens.
The company's chief executive officer, Bob Dykes, told the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that there's no privacy lost in the process.
"NebuAd's systems are designed so that no one, not even the government, can determine the identity of our users," Dykes said.
Leslie Harris, the chief executive for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based civil liberties group, said that NebuAd and other data-miners shouldn't be able to track browsing patterns without advance consent from computer users.
She also fears that privacy will be lost as more companies enter the field and their techniques become more sophisticated.
"Self-regulation is a piece, but self-regulation alone is not enough to protect privacy, and we need to have some baseline legislation in place," Harris said.
Microsoft and Google representatives said they supported a privacy protection scheme that included advance consent, encryption of identities and clear notification of what information was being collected.
Federal regulation would be easier for Internet companies to live by than inconsistent state and local regulations.
"There's just this emerging patchwork of federal and state privacy laws," said Michael Hintze, associate general counsel for Microsoft.
FTC says it won't intervene to protect Internet user privacy
WASHINGTON... more
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The suits behind MySpace are thinking of sharing your info with publishers and advertisers.The suits behind MySpace are thinking of sharing your info with publishers and... more
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In a survey conducted by TRUSTe and Willard it was discovered that 57% of people weren't comfortable with software mining their browsing history for data. Free software and online-services are often subsidised by the money received for trading private data about a users browsing habits.
The information gathered can be used to advertise to people in a much more efficient way by learning about a users interests. How do you guys feel about the same issue? Is it cool to offer free services and software in return for personal data about you?In a survey conducted by TRUSTe and Willard it was discovered that 57% of people... more
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