Comments on: Total Information Awareness Protect America Act Links Thicken

By: Will Dwinnell

Will Dwinnell — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:15:37 +0000

Peregrin Wood: Government has perfectly legal access to a wide variety of data already (and has for many years), such as income tax filings, automobile ownership records, financial disclosures, etc. I submit that government has every right and indeed an obligation to analyze any data which is legitimately gathered. I submit that if a society wishes to protect personal privacy and civil liberties, then it is the gathering and sharing of data among government agencies which should be controlled and monitored.

By: Will Dwinnell

Will Dwinnell — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:10:25 +0000

No, Tom, that’s not what I wrote. My points were: 1. Data mining is used for more than analysis of people’s behavior, and 2. Privacy is threaten much more by illicit data gathering, than it is by data mining (statistical modeling).

By: Peregrin Wood

Peregrin Wood — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:10:54 +0000

Will, here’s where you’re wrong in this particular case. There is no “existing set of data” before it’s brought together through the gathering of data.

A set of data is not a set until it’s integrated. The integration of this data requires violating privacy agreements, federal law (before the Protect America Act), and the Constitution (still).

The creation of the data set, and then the evaluation of it through statistical means BOTH violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:01:48 +0000

Oh come on Will, do you really think this data is about polar bears or wolves?
Iroquois, the Democrats (or the Republican-lites now) have signed off on all of Bushes policies including spying on us and letting Alberto Gonzales off the hook. The government has become a joke with Bush as “leader” and our new Democratically controlled Congress (both with the lowest ratings since 1973 according to Gallup polls). We’re the targets off all this Big Brother activity, not the Congress or our fascist in chief. So stay in line and don’t forget to vote!

By: Iroquois

Iroquois — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:50:46 +0000

The first people to be spied on will be Democrats seeking election.

Some say the Democrats have already been spied on and Bush has proof they are having sex with goats. That would explain the vote, wouldn’t it.

By: Will Dwinnell

Will Dwinnell — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:08:20 +0000

“Data mining is the process through which small bits of information are gathered and then put together in order to build more meaningful profiles of people.”

I must object to this definition. Data mining is a statistical modeling process, which operates on an existing set of data. Privacy issues tend to arise from the actual data gathering, not from statistical analysis. Last: strictly speaking, of course, this data does not need to be about people at all. Scientific data mining, for instance, might produce predictive models of animal activity in various environments.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:54:58 +0000

Vote for a fascist dictator and what do you expect? Well, democracy was nice while it lasted. Even if the Act is repealed, the “genie’s already out of the bottle.” Our whining about it won’t change anything. These goons are without conscience or morals and they don’t play fair or nice.