Data mining done right


Applying data tools to public information
Via Bruce Schneier comes the link to this piece on data mining.

This is data mining that I can agree with. It's not intrusive on the average citizen.

When Munroe took over as chief two years ago, his department was drowning in crime and data. Police had a mass of data from 911 calls and crime reports; what they didn’t have was a way to connect the dots and see a pattern of behaviour.

Using some sophisticated software and hardware they started overlaying crime reports with other data, such as weather, traffic, sports events and paydays for large employers. The data was analyzed three times a day and something interesting emerged: Robberies spiked on paydays near cheque cashing storefronts in specific neighbourhoods. Other clusters also became apparent, and pretty soon police were deploying resources in advance and predicting where crime was most likely to occur.

Coupled with some other technological advancement, such as surveillance videos wirelessly transmitted to patrol cars, major crime rates dropped 21 per cent from 2005 to 2006. In 2007, major crime is down another 19 per cent.

Compare that with the "total surveillance" data mining that demands all data from your life to look for trends. The real difference is that it is public information, not knowledge of specific individuals who have not committed crimes.

This makes sense.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - August 13, 2007 at 02:47 PM  Tag


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