Some of my cluster TEKS (Finance and Marketing in particular) use data mining. As I have talked with my teachers since the new TEKS were approved, I have received the occasional request to explore this topic more, maybe provide something on cte.unt.edu that teachers can read. When I ran across an article on cnn.com identifying the top five data mining companies in the country, my interest was peaked.
Before I delved into the article, I found some definitions so I would understand to what the article was referring. They all sound like fairly harmless, pretty generic terms that can mean a lot of things or nothing. This group of people takes data and crunches the numbers so that other companies can make various decisions based on the results.
I kept that in mind as I began the article: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/technology/1012/gallery.data_miners/index.html
The first company is the big dog with over 32 billion data records. They boast of knowing your web behavior, social security number, and finances. Hmmmmm…….feeling slightly uncomfortable at that.
The second company buys information from other brokers to beef up its profiles and was recently under fire for buying Facebook user IDs. What?
Third company. Uses data records to perform background checks by using government records, family history, bankruptcies, liens, lawsuits…..and I promise, as I am reading this I receive a call on my home phone from a collection agency that is looking for a distant cousin! Why would they think that person lives here, or that I’ve even seen her in the past 12 years, which I haven’t. I get up to peek out the blinds to make sure there isn’t a strange car sitting in my cul de sac photographing my house
Company four, and you can tell these are getting less reputable as the list continues, simply crawls the web and snatches and grabs from other existing sites. So, if you ever want to opt out, it’s a pain. Oh, we’ll get to opting out in a minute.
The last isn’t a company so much as it is more of a trifecta of information: the three credit bureaus. Beautiful.
Opting out of these lists is nothing short of the same near impossible task of getting inaccurate information removed from your credit report. For one company, you opt out online, receive a snail mail form, and return that (and hope it doesn’t get ”lost”). Opting out of the credit bureaus isn’t an option. And, my favorite is the company that wants a faxed copy of your driver’s license (are they serious???) and 4-6 weeks to “suppress” your information. Or, you can pay a generous $10 a month to keep other data miners from getting your information.
Other than creeping me out and making me reconsider every website I’ve visited – ever - what’s the issue? My neighbors around the corner creep me out and make me reconsider my choice to walk by their house when I’m exercising, but other than be more careful and more aware, what is the big deal?
The big deal is its part of our TEKS and I’m not feeling too confident about the topic. Then, I went on the hunt for examples of data mining that won’t be used to send me multiple emails advertising Viagra.
Microsoft used data mining to guard against phishing attacks
Data mining is used to track diseases in cattle.
An OSU professor used data mining to understand survivability for breast cancer and organ transplants. Now we’re talking!
Virginia Tech used data mining to stop movie spoilers. Quirky, but I like it.
When you get right down to it, if I’ve ever used an old fashioned card catalog at a library or a genealogy search, I’ve done a small amount of data mining in my own way. There are good and bad ways to do it; it’s just like anything; the bad users get more of the attention. As long as we are teaching students both sides of this coin, I say keep flipping.
And, enough with the Viagra emails!
The thing is your data would not be mined if it is not published anywhere in the web. But with our use of social media sites, it is hard to keep your data secret anymore.
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