GAO Studies U.S. Government Data Mining

securitas writes "Total Information Awareness is alive and thriving. eWEEK's Caron Carlson reports on a new General Accounting Office study that says TIA-style data mining programs are rampant in federal agencies with 199 projects at 52 of 128 agencies. The Defense Intelligence Agency/DoD is the single largest user of these data mining projects (eg. Verity K2 Enterprise). The story was first reported by Reuters' Andy Sullivan (ZDNet UK mirror) and the NYT's Robert Pear, who wrote that at least 122 projects used personally identifying information like names, e-mail addresses, Social Security and driver's license numbers. The 'actual numbers are likely to be much higher' because the report excludes classified projects. Wired News' Kim Zetter writes that, in addition to government databases, federal agencies mine private databases of credit rating agencies, bank account numbers, student loan applications, etc. This week the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) released a report with privacy guidelines for data mining technology (PDF) development and use. Guidelines include data anonymization, government data access authorization and audit trails. Cynthia (Cindy) Webb's 'Total Information Dilemma' at the Washington Post is an excellent survey of media coverage of TIA, MATRIX and the GAO report 'Data Mining: Federal Efforts Cover a Wide Range of Uses' (mirror, both in PDF format). More at GCN, GovExec and the Guardian/AP."

Comments

Here's the difference...

[Mz6]

IMHO, since the government isn't obtaining the data themselves this is OK.

From the article... "Scores of data-mining projects that collect and analyze U.S. citizens' personal information are in operation at dozens of federal agencies, the GAO found. Many of the nearly 200 projects planned or already under way rely on data purchased from the commercial sector"

They are purchasing the information from the commercial sector", information that is readily available to anyone willing to pay for it. Congress stopped their TIA initiative, but will allow this due to that major fact.

Re:Here's the difference...

[TiloB]

In Germany (no, data does not search you) it is forbidden to gather more information than necessary. We call that principle "Datensparsamkeit" (data frugality).

And it is not allowed to give information away or even sell them (that is only allowed for public available information)

(brace for storm of outrage)

[JosKarith]

Cue 200 posts about how terrible this is. It's not atually very different to what the law-enforcement community's been doing all along, just the tools are better.
It's like the argument about ID cards - there's nothing inherently wrong with being able to conclusively prove that you are who you say you are, but it's another thing entirely for people to be able to demand you prove the same.

European Protection Stronger for Personal Info

[GoPlayGo]

Bless you for posting this information. Quite an eye-opener. Good research.

Without laws preventing such mis-use, it runs rampant. European laws guarding personal information are much stronger than in the US, where corporate and government interests and methods are closely aligned, especially these days.

Bush Admin Right On

[__aalomb7276]

I can't agree less. The current administration has done a nearly flawless job so far.

Bush administration officials ARE responsible for the objectionable actions at Abu Gharib and ARE taking action against those that committed them. That's what being responsible means. Compare that to the previous administration that dodged most responsibility and lied to cover it up.

Don't poor-mouth the intellectual agenda. It is brilliant and is working.

European data protection

[tuxette]

Here is the EU Personal Data Directive (95/46/EC), which is the basis/minimum for the data protection laws of each EU and EEA country. The Norwegian Personal Data Act is supposedly the toughest of them all. It's interesting to compare the nuances.

Re:Insider

[meringuoid]

I for one welcome the chance to be your data mining overlord!

Pah. You won't be. My guess is that some time around November 2009, Google's server farm will reach a critical mass and achieve self-awareness. It already knows everything - all it lacks is a mind. It will probably have enslaved the human race by Christmas.

data quality?

[tuxette]

What I'm interested in, is the quality of the data the government is mining. They are going through a lot of databases that may contain incorrect, false, misleading, or outdated data:

2. Data Quality Principle
Personal data should be relevant to the purposes for which they are to be used, and, to the extent necessary for those purposes, should be accurate, complete and kept up-to-date.

How does the government separate the junk data from what may actually be worth looking at?

Re:You are forgetting something...

[symbolic]

And I'd argue that this (even though it might be the current standing of the U.S. Supreme Court), has no merit, and the reason is simple: Our society is built on an infrastructure that, for all practical purposes requires that I do certain things. I have little choice but to place my trash out on a curb for pickup, because there are few, if any other practical options. The fact that I have few (if any) other practical options does not portend or in any way grant anyone a "right" to take advantage of something merely because it is available, and especially because its availability is a byproduct of the infrastructure itself. I use the infrastructure because, as a pragmatic and civil-minded denizen, I must.

Let's address the issue with the "publicly available" information. While there are certain records that are unquestionably public information, I'd argue that what I purchase is NOT public information- each purchase is a contract between myself and those vendors with which I choose to do business. Unfortunately, the easy availability, and wide use of credit, have allowed institutions to hijack, retain, sell, and otherwise use the specific details associated with each transaction, and make them available as they see fit.

Something to think about - Let's say I cut my finger while preparing dinner. I use a kleenex to clean the wound, before applying a bandaid. What am I now to do with the kleenex? It has my blood on it, and presumably, can serve as a "sample" for anyone interested in fishing it out of my garbage. What am I to do? I don't believe that anyone has has a right to acquire this without my permission, or without a warrant. I am placing it in the garbage not because I have any intention of making it available to the public, but because this is the proper and accepted method of disposal.

Here you can see the quandary imposed by a) the infrastructure, and b) the court's current standing. I don't believe it is fair, and I hope to see it change at some point in the future.