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Latest Revelations on the FBI's Data Mining of America

Posted by samzenpus on from the just-forward-your-mail-to-homeland-security dept.

An anonymous reader writes "You probably already knew that the FBI was data mining Americans in the "search" for potential terrorists, but did you know that they're also supposed to be looking for people in the U.S. engaged in criminal activity that is not really supposed to be the province of the federal government? Now the feds are alleged to be data mining for insurance fraudsters, identity thieves, and questionable online pharmacists. That's what they're telling us now. What else could they be looking for that they are not telling us about?"

3 of 446 comments (clear)

  1. I can see a use for this. by khasim · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Okay, so the FBI collects a WHOLE BUNCH OF INFORMATION about criminals.

    If they're able to form a behaviour pattern from that and provide it to the state law enforcement agencies the I say that it would be okay.

    As long as the FBI removed any individual identifying info (names, aliases, addresses, etc). Even in their database.

    "Each of these initiatives is extremely valuable for investigators, allowing them to analyze and process lawfully acquired information more effectively in order to detect potential criminal activity and focus resources appropriately," Boyd said in a statement.

    Fuck you, Boyd. What is "lawfully acquired" varies with the laws passed. When a private person does it, we often refer to that as "stalking" and it is illegal.
  2. Re:Everyone is using data mining by mochan_s · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To wit - if Amazon is allowed to know what sort of books I buy, doesn't that make it, in a way, more powerful than the government? And I haven't even mentioned Walmart, who lives and dies by it.

    No, no.

    Data mining does not necessarily mean that each and every data must be exact. Data mining is creating probability relationships in large populations.

    There are mathematical and statistical methods where data can be obscured whilst the data mining still be accurate. Look up the field of privacy preserving data mining.

    My point is that it is possible to data mine whilst preserving privacy. Privacy and benefits of data mining and not mutually exclusive.

  3. My biggest problem... by suresk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is that our lives are becoming more and more transparent to the government, but the government is becoming more and more opaque to us. This is the exact opposite of how it should be and should be a huge flashing warning light to everyone.