New Algorithm Could Help Predict Future ISIS Attacks (thestack.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have developed a new algorithm which may help law enforcement agencies predict potential terror attacks. The computer model has a particular focus on the behavioral patterns associated with Islamic State (ISIS) supporters...
For eight months in 2015, the researchers tracked 108,086 individual followers on ISIS-related social media pages, noting that sudden increases in the number of pages "preceded the onset of violence in a way that would not have been detected by looking at social media references to ISIS alone." According to The Stack, the University of Miami team "used a mathematical equation typically applied in physics and chemistry to monitor the development and growth of pro-ISIS groups. 'It was like watching crystals forming. We were able to see how people were materializing around certain social groups; they were discussing and sharing information -- all in real-time... This removes the guess work. With that road map, law enforcement can better navigate what is going on, who is doing what, while state security agencies can better monitor what might be developing,..."

Comments

Algorithm?

[110010001000]

Surely they mean "deep learning" and "AI" and "neural network"? Don't these people know how to generate hype? Algorithms are so 1990.

Re:Algorithm?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

You need al-Gorithms and al-Gebra to catch al-Quaeda. Everyone knows that.

Re:Algorithm?

[ScentCone]

And now it is announced that people on the terrorist watchdog list may be barred from flying on an airplane but they can still legally purchase firearms.

That's because being on a terrorist watch list isn't a criminal conviction. You can't take away someone's constitutionally protected rights just because someone, without any due process or any of the other protections guaranteed in the constitution, says they seem suspicious. All sorts of people who've had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism or any Islamist leanings have wound up on the no-fly list, and had to fight for months or years to be removed. Would you support removing their freedom of speech, too? No? Why not?

More guns, less bodies.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

The higher the number and quality of lethal armaments that are floating around in your country/city/town, the higher the body-count from an attack will be.

The higher the percentage of the people carrying concealed weapons in your country/city/town, the higher the probability that one or more of the people in the targeted site can and will shoot back, incapacitating or killing the attacker(s) and aborting the carnage, and thus the lower the body-count from the attack will be.

The higher the probability of such a counter-action, the less likely potential terrorists will chose to attempt the attack. The body count of an attack that doesn't occur is zero.

Of course, if the venu is a gun-free zone, only the terrorist will have guns. In Florida, as with many states permitting concealed-carry, this is the case for establishments serving alcohol, such as Pulse. Oops!

That's one reason I intend to retire in Nevada, which (as of the last time I renewed) doesn't block CCW in bars and casinos. B-)