Can Sensemaking Keep Us Safe?

from the redefining-data-mining dept

Use of data mining technologies by the government has certainly taken a publicity hit with the whole Total Information Awareness flap. Of course, that doesn't mean data mining technology isn't useful and shouldn't be used - it just needs to be done openly, so that it's clear privacy violations aren't occurring. MIT's Tech Review is running an article looking more closely at ways that various government agencies are using "sensemaking" technologies (which, I guess, is the new Orwellian way of saying "datamining"). The article does a good job discussing the problems facing government agencies, and how some of these technologies can help. It doesn't discuss the privacy issues until the very end, where all it says is that the government agencies need to be more open about what they're doing. Building a huge system in private only makes it clear that it's going to be abused.

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