Data Mining Amazon.com Wish Lists

Dr. Webster writes "In his article "Data Mining 101: Finding Subversives with Amazon Wishlists," Tom Owad of Applefritter outlines a way in which one could build detailed personal profiles of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens in a matter of hours. Reading habits, personal tastes and even political party affiliation could be inferred from the results, and through the use of Yahoo! People and Google Maps, one could even map out geographically where people with certain interests or affiliations live, down to their address. Most surprisingly, the process of doing this is completely legal, and doesn't even violate Amazon's Conditions of Use."

Comments

Re:This is not a story. This is not news that matt

[Reverend Darkness]

Actually, if you had read the article, you would have seen that Mr. Owad does not reference "invasion of privacy" at all. What he does do is help people understand how information they share online can be used to create a general profile, and even to link them to others. The point of the article is to educate people. But, like others, you were probably just going on the snippet... I mean, why read the whole story when you can see the headlines via RSS, right?

Re:Mining voluntary information on a public websit

[Rei]

Profile for Jaish al Ashurah ] Wishlist

Wishlist

This list is for: Jaish Al Ashurah
Birthday: None Entered
Shipping Address: Private
Unique Facts: A shadu la ilaha illah Allah

Total items: 10

"The Anarchist's Cookbook" by William Powell
"Improvised Explosives: How To Make Your Own" by Seymour Lecker
"Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual For Military And Police Snipers" by John Plaster
"Crusades Through Arab Eyes" by Amin Maalouf
"The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion With Preface and Explanatory Notes" by Sergius Nilus, Henry Ford, and Victor E. Marsden.
"Explosive Dusts: Advanced Improvised Explosives" by Seymour Lecker
"Creative Cloth Doll Making: New Approaches for Using Fibers, Beads, Dyes, And Other Exciting Techniques" by Patti Medaris Culea.
"The Tragedy of Karbala" by M.A. Naquvi
"51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration With the Nazis" by Lenni Brenner
"How to Build a Nuclear Bomb: And Other Weapons Of Mass Destruction" by Frank Barbaby