Latest Revelations on the FBI's Data Mining of America

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?"

Comments

Leakers!

[slashqwerty]

What else could they be looking for that they are not telling us about?

They're looking for 'leakers' who spread misinformation through government documents. Once they identify which government official's cell phone was in the same vicinity as the reporter who published the leaks they're gonna smack the leaker down.

Oh. They're also digging up dirt to discredit the leakers.

What else are they tracking, you ask?

[GoodbyeBlueSky1]

The amount of porn everybody watches online. In thirty or so years when today's youth starts running for government office, mudslinging campaigns based on this knowledge (which by then will be hilariously declassified!) will be hugely entertaining and embarrassing for everyone involved.

I think I've discovered the terrible future of reality TV.

Re:What else are they tracking, you ask?

[Kadin2048]

This is why it's critically important to lower the signal-to-noise ratio, by sending filthy pornography to everyone you know.

Do it for America.

I can see a use for this.

[khasim]

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.

But, but ...

[bi_boy]

But if you have nothing to hide .... oh yeah.

Re:Everyone is using data mining

[mochan_s]

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.

My biggest problem...

[suresk]

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.

FBI mining data...with what?

[unitron]

Is this the same FBI that has been in the news in the past few years for not being able to get a decent modern computer system in spite of throwing millions of our tax dollars at the problem?