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posted by
LaminatorX
on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:00PM
from the studies-show-poverty-causes-cancer dept.
from the studies-show-poverty-causes-cancer dept.
Angry Jesus writes:
"The Chicago Police Department is mis-applying epidemiological science (the study of entire populations) to target individuals in a real-life version of Minority Report. They have decided that it is a good idea to put people on a secret list based on a Big Data analysis of their social networks. But don't worry, it isn't racist or abusive because, Science!"
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Chicago Pre-Crime - Racism Cloaked in Science
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You are a fluke of the universe; you have no right to be here.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Serial_Priest on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:57PM
Information wants to be free, as they say, and it cuts both ways. Individuals leak details constantly. Predictive algorithms are constantly being refined. If the data is there, and the technology to analyze it is there, isn't it foolishness to think that it won't be used? By way of analogy: legislate the NSA into nothingness, and the Guoanbu, FSB, and many more - not to mention Google, Los Zetas, and all other large organizations corporate and criminal - won't miss a beat.
The question is not how to legislate away data analysis. That is like trying to legislate away entropy. The question is, how do you influence it in your favor? Or protect yourself, at least in some limited way, from its abuses?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ezber Bozmak on Thursday February 27 2014, @03:30AM
If the data is there, and the technology to analyze it is there, isn't it foolishness to think that it won't be used?
That is the perfect justification for authoritarianism. There are all kinds of things that we as a society choose to prevent our government from doing because they are not compatible with a free society. A democratic government is not some indepdent creature, it exists solely at the whim of the citizenry.