Thursday, March 26, 2009

Data mining and googling yourself...

One issue that really struck me this week was data mining. I did not realize that there were private companies doing data mining and collecting information on private citizens. That bothered me more than if it was just the government doing it because at least that is something that is not such a far fetched activity for the government whether it is legal or not. But the fact that there are private companies making logs of where I go on the internet, what I like to buy, etc is really unsettling. The internet creates a false sense of anonymity and reading the text and watching the video made me realize just how much of a trace I am leaving without even realizing it. I know some of it is supposed to make things easier for consumers like by keeping a record of what you buy the store can suggest things you may like but I don’t really find that to be that helpful especially when amazon sends me emails telling about new releases for obscure things.


I started to wonder what kind of things people could find out about me on the internet with my minimal skills. I found out a lot of stuff that I did on the internet just by typing in old email address, log-in names etc. It was crazy the amount of stuff I could find and for how far back. I could trace posts that I made on blogs and forums under a particular name. I even found pictures that I had uploaded on forums that I was not even a member of. I’d never thought before this week to google user names because I figured it did not matter because no one knows who I am, but that really isn’t the case. For one, in some places my email address was visible and in other places my name. If someone happened to find out one of my personal email addresses, they could google and find all of this stuff about me and get a really odd picture of what my interests are. The fact that anyone could read comments left by me is odd since taken out of context they could seem crazy.


During the video, they were asking people on the street about the monitoring that was going on and a lady said it didn’t bother her because she had nothing to hide. But, it really isn’t about that really. It is about principle and about choice. You should be able to chose what sort of information to reveal about yourself. One’s purchasing habits should not be so easily accessible. Do you think that data mining is a serious fringe on personal rights? Does it bother you that it is used for commercial profit? Also would after reading the text, watching the video and listening to presentations about e-monitoring affect the way you conduct yourself on the internet in the future?

11 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. In fact, I do think that data mining is a serious fringe on personal rights. There is too much personal information posted online, which can be looked up and obtained easily. I think the problem would be difficult to solve based on two perspectives. First, it would be almost impossible to control or prevent this private information from being posted. For example, through the link of student directory on the official websites of most universities, a student's personal information can be found, which is often set to be revealed to public in default. You can definitely concealed the information; however, the "default" state is usually disclosed to everybody. Another example can be seen in the news clip played during the presentation about centralized medical databases. A reporter can easily found one's most private medical history and other personal information based on a given social security number and the date of birth. Second, once the personal information is posted, everyone can get it easily as long as you know how to "google" it smartly. We can neither control who might possibly get this information, nor control how it will be used. This will make the problem even worse since one would have no way to track how his/ her personal information flows.

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  3. I had the same thought watching the video in class last week. I had no idea the extent to which all citizens are being "watched". The concept does seem beneficial when used to track the behavior of suspected terrorists, but when our private actions are used for commercial reasons it does seem an infringement on privacy. It's especially an infringement when I doubt the majority of internet users know that this tracking is being done. Personally I almost feel this business of private companies tracking is a waste of time and money. Sure, put one company in service for tracking only potential threats to the government, but tracking info on each citizen for other uses seems unnecessary and invasive.

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  5. I think that a private companies collection of information on products that people purchase is useful, however annoying and invading. I don't like that it's done, but I do understand that the companies benefit in knowing what their customers are buying and interested in. I do think that there should be regulations on this data mining however. I think that it is fine for a company to keep record of the things you purchase through devices like vic and similar cards, but I don't think they should have access to anyone's social security number or credit card information. I see no harm in them having your purchasing history and address, however I don't think that they should be allowed to waste so much material on sending out coupons for items that you may be persuaded to buy. I also don't believe that these companies should be able to sell or give any information to anyone else. I just believe that there should be more appropriate regulations on the collection and use of consumer data.

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  6. I think that a private companies' collection of information on products that people purchase is useful, however annoying and invading. I don't like that it's done, but I do understand that the companies benefit in knowing what their customers are buying and interested in. I do think that there should be regulations on this data mining however. I think that it is fine for a company to keep record of the things you purchase through devices like vic and similar cards, but I don't think they should have access to anyone's social security number or credit card information. I see no harm in them having your purchasing history and address, however I don't think that they should be allowed to waste so much material on sending out coupons for items that you may be persuaded to buy. I also don't believe that these companies should be able to sell or give any information to anyone else. I just believe that there should be more appropriate regulations on the collection and use of consumer data.

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  7. I google myself from time to time, just to see what information is available to other people if they search my name or my email. Most of the information that I find is available to people is not that important or private. I like to make sure that nothing I consider to be really personal is available to the public. Regardless, I agree that a person should be able to chose what sort of information to reveal about yourself. I think that the fact that information about what people purchase is available to people can be both a good and bad thing. You receive emails/ mail about products you're interested in and even coupons, but this access to information can easily be abused. I like the fact that I receive coupons on the products I buy to use the next time I make a purchase. I really don't like the idea of companies selling personal information, and you know it happens when you receive mail or email that is addressed to you and relates to your personal preferences when you know you have not subscribed to get that information.

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  8. I have zero problems with data mining. I don't feel that it is used in the sense that it infringes on people's right to privacy because someone should know that what they post or write online is out in the open and they should be held accountable for it. When people are granted full anonymity on the internet it generally leads to vulgar comments on message boards under the shadow of a user name. So I think it's good that those comments can be traced.

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  9. I was just talking to a friend about “googling” your name and the different articles or pictures that may pop up. The other day she had gone on to see an old picture that she knew was on there and came to find her facebook picture on google! I was unaware that google had the ability to take these pictures from another website but then re-thought about it and realized that this happens all the time.

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  10. The principle you speak of, to me, is that of self-determination. You don't have to have anything to hide to be affected by the availability of your information. Much like the issues surrounding open source, once you post your information on the global network, you lose control over who sees it, who uses it, how they use it, and in extreme cases, how they may change it.

    What bothers me isn't would not be that corporations and firms stand to gain from mining my online behavior, but more so that as digitization becomes pervasive in all aspects of our private lives, if our digital identity is a matter of public access, then before long, such mining firms would gain access to our most private thoughts and invade our shrinking "safe-haven" domains. Were the trend to continue, and we live more and more "online" or "networked", in what venue will we be able to act and think, read and write, love and hate without having to consider the third-party observers and how we will "look"?

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  11. With a few conditions, I do not have too much of a problem date mining. Many of us are so caught up in the issue of privacy that we fail to recognize the benefits. As a consumer, you are often put in contact with a vendor of a desired product, one which sometimes has has a better deal to offer than you are otherwise able to find. As the vendor yourself, you are going to want to get in touch with those who you know are purchasing items similar to those you are offering.

    However, consumers should always know what information is being gathered and whether that information is being shared. Furthermore, the consumers should be able to choose whether than information is shared.

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