Data Mining
Newsinitiative.org hosts a fascinating interactive tour of the various government agencies that collect data on people living in the US and then use statistical methods to establish relationships between our behavior and potential terrorism links.
One thing I didn’t know: Lexis Nexis acts as a government contractor collecting data on private citizens.
I know, I know - if you’re not a terrorist, you have nothing to be afraid of. And if you think the government shouldn’t have so much information about it citizens, you must be a terrorist, or hate America.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Let’s face it, I don’t care whatever is said below me. We need to be afraid/aware of this.
September 27th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
It\’s the same method insurance companies use to determine how much of a risk you are. But instead of your premium going up (because people in your line of work statistically have more accidents), now it\’s the CIA knocking on your door and going through your trash.
From the government\’s point of view, this makes sense. Let human investigation take care of the false positives that the computer brings up. From my point of view, I would really rather not be one of those false positives.