Data Mining run Amok

LATimes. Laura Donohue, at Stanford University, points out the extent of the data mining the government is doing on US citizens. The program is much larger than most people imagine:

Since 9/11, the expansion of efforts to gather and analyze information on U.S. citizens is nothing short of staggering. The government collects vast troves of data, including consumer credit histories and medical and travel records. Databases track Americans' networks of friends, family and associates, not just to identify who is a terrorist but to try to predict who might become one.

Most bloggers would run afoul of this:

Databases track Americans' networks of friends, family and associates, not just to identify who is a terrorist but to try to predict who might become one... The idea was that disparate, seemingly mundane behaviors can reveal criminal intent when viewed together. More disturbing, it assumed that deviance from social norms can be an early indicator of terrorism.

Incompetence in the interpretation of this data likely the norm given the people doing the analysis:

In 2002, Congress authorized $500 million for the Homeland Security Department to develop "data mining and other advanced analytical tools." In 2004, the General Accounting Office surveyed 128 federal departments and agencies to determine the extent of data mining. It found 199 operations, 14 of which related to counterterrorism.

Google is likely central to the Internet portion of this effort. There's no doubt in my mind that Google has a fat contract with the Homeland Security Department. They can track your search behavior using cookies. Affiliates using cookies on adwords. Analyze the content of your weblog for dangerous phrases. Anonymity doesn't help. They have your IP address and therefore can get the records they need to put a name and a credit history next to your Internet behavior (all without a warrant).

Comments

[Dennis]

You could always block third-party cookies to cover ads, block Google cookies, and surf through Tor.