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POPSPersonas In a world where fortunes are sought through data-mining vast information repositories, the computer is our indispensable but far from infallible assistant. Personas demonstrates the computer's uncanny insights and its inadvertent errors, such as the mischaracterizations caused by the inability to separate data from multiple owners of the same name. It is meant for the viewer to reflect on our current and future world, where digital histories are as important if not more important than oral histories, and computational methods of condensing our digital traces are opaque and socially ignorant.
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POPSData-mining medical records could predict domestic violence
More: Using the new system, the researchers were able to predict abuse an average of two years before the doctor made the diagnosis. Presumably, the computer is picking up signs of ongoing maltreatment the patient hasn’t yet revealed. The researchers also speculate that, in principle, some subtle signal could precede direct abuse. One surprise finding that could be relevant… is that infections turned out to be strongly linked to abuse. That might suggest worsening hygiene in the family or increased psychological stress, possible omens of abuse. But at this point, it is anybody’s guess whether true predictions are possible. Predictions or not, with the current model, fewer than 20 percent of the patients flagged as high-risk cases turned out to have a diagnosis of abuse. Part of the problem may be that the system is only as good as the data it was based on. And as Emory University’s Houry points out, that data isn’t up to speed when it comes to diagnosing abuse.
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POPSPrivacy?? - I Hope So Privacy on the internet is a serious issue and I'm happy to see that somebody is taking it SERIOUSLY!!! - Don't know about you, but I don't want my info complied and sorted like a lab rat.
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POPSOn Facebook, MySpace? Obama's got your e-mail
In fact, according to the Electronic Privacy and Information Center, federal agencies have negotiated agreements and contracts with social networking sites like Google, YouTube, SlideShare, Facebook, AddThis, Blist, Flickr and VIMEO to collect information on visitors for federal websites. All of these private companies are known to have agreements with federal agencies, but the public has never seen them. In public comments submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, EPIC notes it has obtained documents that show federal agencies have negotiated these contracts with the private sector in violation of "existing statutory privacy rights." Those agencies include: Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and the National Security Agency. There are suspicions the White House is already involved. According to Obama "technology czar" Vivek Kundra, the "compelling need" driving this major policy reversal is the administration's desire to create "more open" government
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POPSflag@whitehouse.gov Throws 3rd Party Groups Under The Bus in Email-Gate The White House told FOX News that third-party groups sending online petitions to the official administration Web site could be to blame for a rash of e-mails that have gone out to people who never requested them. The theory is that these groups are including the names and e-mails of members and petition-signers along with the petitions themselves, in turn embedding those e-mails into the White House distribution list. Are there other data mining methods that the White House used to attain individuals emails? Many people who have received the unwanted WH emails have stated that they they’re not members of any organization and have not been advocating for any cause. “I find it very disturbing and a little scary to say the least,” said Sarah Griffith, who got a widely circulated e-mail on health care reform from senior adviser David Axelrod last week. “I have no idea how they got my e-mail address, and they have it.”
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POPSPASS ID Act "is REAL ID 2.0"--Same Federalized Drivers License/National ID Scheme This is like Blackwater changing its name to Xe. No real change, just a new "makeover" to sell it. This tramples the 10th amendment right of the states by pretending that the new federal Dept. of Homeland Tyranny has a right to dictate standards for drivers licenses to the States. It also attacks your 4th amendment privacy, by setting up the same desired data-mining capabilities to watch every 'free American" on demand. RFID included. Tell your Congressmen "no".
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POPSVirtual Planetary Telescope: To Be Built on the World's 2.5 Billion Cellphones While GPS location is the key for many applications, exposing it is a major threat for privacy purposes. Location privacy needs to be addressed to make users comfortable with the telescope. These and many other questions related to security, incentives, data-mining, etc. need to be resolved for a fully functional, Internet-deployable, system.
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POPSHomeland Security Wants to Re-Write REAL ID The CNN headline is entirely misleading. Read the clip. They just want better compliance with States and Napolean-itano is bargaining with governors, never mind the 10th amendment and by-passing what citizens think. It will still be a National ID card irregardless of what they name it, even if the original legislation is rescinded. The goal is still the Federalization of a State drivers license , which taps into everyone's Socialist Security Number and biometric data (including facial mapping photos) , therefore linking all financial (bank accounts), medical, legal, and personal credit record by hijacking state drivers licenses for surveillance and data-mining purposes --not to thwart terrorists, but to monitor, track "free Americans" at will, whenever they choose (because you all will comply and consent). This was all based upon 9/11 of course and the typical plea of "necessity" toward a Big Brother Security State.
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POPSUS Government Mining Human Minds Through Internet I once had a dream of people at the other end of the internet, watching us. I had another dream where I was trying to warn people that a hidden cabal was mining for human beings. In still another dream, there was a secret experiment taking place "behind the scenes" of the entire world, with occult techno-scientists splicing and dicing our genes.
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POPSNSA Goes Completely Spooky--The Ultimate Spy Machine This is not science fiction. It is real and George Orwell's nightmare. And it is meant for you. "What are you doing, Dave?" (Computer Hal--2001, Space Odyssey) "The technology behaves like a robot, understanding and answering complex questions," said a former Aquaint researcher. "Think of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the most memorable character, HAL 9000, having a conversation with David. We are essentially building this system. We are building HAL." Consider the data-mining points in the clip, along with your SSN, REAL ID, credit reports used now for "ID verification", all of which taps your banking, tax, employment and all of your medical records, and you know that GOOGLE will certainly play a role (for profit) in this venture "capturing your interests and thoughts" as well for a total "sneak and peak" on the entire population.
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POPSTelecom Amnesty Illegal "The EFF blasted the retroactive amnesty as a "blatant attempt to prevent this Court—and every other court, federal or state—from deciding whether the carrier defendants conducted dragnet, warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans' communications and communications records in violation of the Constitution and numerous statutes." The government and the telecoms argued in earlier briefs that Congress can tinker with ongoing legislation without violating the Constitution and that citizens should sue the government, not private companies, over the spying."
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POPSMilitarizing the "Homeland" Current Army doctrine is heavily-weighted towards contingency planning for "civil disturbances." As with data mining, DHS spy-satellite surveillance, blanket CCTV coverage of American cities, illegal FBI deployment of infiltrators and provocateurs, "mission creep" by the Pentagon into civil affairs are signs that stronger measures to blunt the crisis may be in the offing. While NORTHCOM insists that JTF-CS, "will not be called upon to help with law enforcement, civil disturbance or crowd control, but will be used to support lead agencies involved in saving lives," as outlined above, citing the DoD's own documents and Executive Branch National Security Presidential Directives, contingency plans for suppressing "civil disturbance" such as the Garden Plot scenario are, like an iron fist inside a velvet glove, already in place and capable at a moment's notice of striking the American people.
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POPSRights Group Suing AT&T for Spying Will Sue Government Too "Cohn admits the government has many sovereign immunity defenses that can protect it from lawsuits, but says they aren't insurmountable and that the program clearly violates the Fourth Amendment. As for the unexpectedly long-lived suit against AT&T, the government and the EFF are discussing when and how the government will attempt to have the case dismissed using the amnesty provision. The EFF wants to challenge the legality of the amnesty before it is actually applied, while the government prefers to have the case dismissed first -- then have the EFF fight the dismissal. Lawyers for both sides will meet with the judge in the case in early September, setting a likely date for the next court appearance in December."
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POPSHow I Stole Someone's Identity Setup: This is the case of one subject whom I'll call "Kim." She's a friend of my wife, so just from previous conversations I already knew her name, what state she was from, where she worked, and about how old she was. But that's about all I knew. She then told me which bank she used (although there are some pretty easy ways to find that out) and what her user name was. (It turns out it was fairly predictable: her first initial + last name.) Based on this information, my task was to gain access to her account.
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POPSCongress Blinds The FBI These predictive models get better as the quality of the information going into them improves. As more terrorists are captured and interrogated, and their computers and data is translated, the predictions become more accurate. No one harasses researchers for using data mining, or makes fun of building supercomputers with graphics processors (often the same ones found in video game consoles, making super-fast computers cheap enough to be used in a combat zone to make life saving predictions), when it saves troops from getting killed. The FBI has been unable to make this point to Congress, mainly because some key legislators are ideologically opposed to data mining, and refuse to acknowledge the widespread success of the technique in civilians and military sectors.
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