Data Aggregation – Page 4 – MichaelZimmer.org

AttentionTrust: Owning your Data

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 16, 2006in Internet, Privacy2 Comments

I just joined AttentionTrust, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the basic rights of "attention owners." In short, they fight for the right of individuals to own and control the information about them that is aggregated from online activities. From…

Enforcing Privacy Policies; Strengthening Oversight

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 16, 2006in Internet, Privacy1 Comment

Wired News is reporting that e-mail marketing giant Datran Media has agreed to a $1.1 million fine for knowingly buying marketing lists from companies with privacy policies that promised not to sell or transfer the lists to a third party.…

Commercial Data Aggregation…of My Image?

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 14, 2006in Internet, Privacy, Social Media1 Comment

Today's Colloquium on Information Technology & Society at NYU Law School featured talk by Jonathan Phillips of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on recent developments in facial recognition technologies and algorithms. Some of the results suggested that…

Google wants to “Store 100% of User Data”

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 11, 2006in Privacy, Search Engines

Google's drive to "organize all the world's information" is no joke, and they want that to inlucde all "100% of user data" according to notes from a Google presentation found by Greg Linden: Theme 2: Store 100% of User Data…

AT&T’s 1.9-Trillion-Call Database

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 4, 2006in Personal Tech, Privacy

Bruce Schneier points out this nugget I missed when I originally blogged about the NYT's story detailing the rise in government data mining efforts, which includes the desire to check virtually every phone call ever made. Here's how the government…

NYT: US Looking for New Ways to Mine Your Data

Posted by Michael Zimmeron February 25, 2006in Internet, Privacy, Values In Design

Today's New York Times features the article "Taking Spying to Higher Level, Agencies Look for More Ways to Mine Data," which focuses on government meetings with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, hoping to find or develop advanced technologies…

Federal Court: Financial Institution Has No Duty To Encrypt Customer Databases

Posted by Michael Zimmeron February 21, 2006in Information Law & Policy, Internet, Privacy

Bruce Schneier reports that a Federal Court has ruled that a financial institution has no duty to encrypt customer databases under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley statute. From the article:In a legal decision that could have broad implications for financial institutions, a court…

Amateur Data Mining: The Case of the Lost (Stolen) Camera

Posted by Michael Zimmeron February 21, 2006in Internet, Privacy

I've blogged about the concerns with commercial data aggregation, the power of data mining, and about how "security via obscurity" no longer applies when databases are online and searchable. Here's a case showing just how easy it can be for…

Does Targeted Marketing (with Personal Data) Work?

Posted by Michael Zimmeron February 9, 2006in Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

One of the key arguements for collecting personal search histories is that a "perfect search engine" will use this personal information to deliver more relevant advertisements. The supposition is that the search engines benefit from selling a more detailed profile…

Federal Government Considered Web-surveillance Project

Posted by Michael Zimmeron February 7, 2006in Internet, Privacy

ComputerWord reports that the government was approached by the data-aggregation firm Acxiom to conduct widespread surveillance of web sites discussing topics such as “abortion, racial superiority, politics, religion, immigration, and foreign affairs,” using technology designed to extract business contact information…