Information

So last night I finished up the details for my volunteership at the hospital. On one of the forms, they asked for my birth date, full name, social security number, driver's license number, home address, and phone number. Besides like my pants size, they knew everything about me. I was really nervous, because in my data mining class, we're going over the proper use of data.

This morning in class, we talked about how much information should be gathered. I had a couple thoughts on that:

With regards to terrorists, law enforcement officials have a huge problem with the whole data mining thing because if the computer goes through the data and tells them to postpone this flight and stop the man with the suitcase, they must do it. If they don't do it, they could be held accountable if the man was really a terrorist.
I thought this was interesting, and wondered what makes people trust computer so much. It wasn't only a data mining activity that predicted the 9/11 terrorist activities. It was also Nostradamus, and even folding the twenty-dollar bill in half, and then folding it around... people should have been able to look to their currency and prepare for the terrorist attacks! (see http://www.foldmoney.com/)
So what makes the predictions given by computers so influential? Perhaps it is grounded in the magical mystery associated with computers.

Of course, this doesn't just apply to terrorists. Our data mining teacher had us read an article about how doctors don't want to be subjected to data mining (see http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/04/business/Drugs.php). They don't want their prescription patterns analyzed. Data collection could also eventually lead to a computer giving a recommended prognosis, and the doctor choosing to follow or ignore the prognosis. This would place doctors under the same liability that law enforcement officials are placed under. If they fail to follow the recommendation of the computer and the patient dies, are they accountable for making the bad decision?

I wonder what the solution to these problems is. Perhaps the ugly but true answer may be more information disclosure. To avoid getting stopped at airport security, we may have to enroll in a program similar to FlyClear, (see http://www.flyclear.com/what/) who gathers a ton of information. According to the website, you should have the following items handy during enrollment:
* Driver’s license number.
* Home address for the past five years.
* Social security number.
* Alien registration number (only for permanent foreign residents)
* A valid credit card.
And then "In person, we’ll verify two pieces of approved government issued identification, capture images of your irises and fingerprints, and take your photograph."

If it didn't cost $199 bucks a year (that's like half my annual income), maybe I'd do it.

If everyone except terrorists had a FlyClear card, it would be easy to track them. But I don't imagine everyone will be ok with divulging this much information. Leave it to the granolas to spoil the anti-terrorism movements..