Data mining has slowly, and silently, pervaded into the lives of everyday digital consumers. Using Gmail? Look at the advertisements on the right hand side of the screen and notice that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re related to the contents of your e-mail. Are you a social networker? You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve released information about yourself onto the Internet for almost anyone to see, collect, and use. Use a telephone? The government has filters on all international phone calls monitoring your conversation and electronically recording your phone call. The ability to be monitored has reached levels never before imaginable. What does this mean to our rights to privacy? How can we be sure that our humanity is preserved if we become binary entities? What are the limits of digital data mining in a modern, connected worldview? These are the questions that I plan to answer in this essay.<\/p>\n
What are some major ethical implications of data mining? One major issue is whether a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basic rights are being violated when someone is collecting information about them, and they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that it is happening. While it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be fair to say that this question has never been asked, it has never been truly answered. When it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beneficial (Vascellaro), then maybe the user doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind. However, when things go wrong (Zeller Jr.), then the user\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very identity is in danger of being rewritten. Another issue that needs to be addressed is the question of ownership. Who owns the path through which you travel the Internet? This is in fact very valuable data, and an organization named Alexa (http:\/\/www.alexa.com) gathers this information to rank websites. The result \u00e2\u20ac\u201c whether explicitly or tacitly gathered, there is a trail of one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voyages across the World Wide Web, and personal information can be gleaned from this trail. The owner of this information isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the trailblazer. Also, I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to look at the role of government in this arena. The government is often labeled as, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Big Brother\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, but it has the opportunity to help with the regulation and governance of this issue (Arrington).<\/p>\n
The issue of ethics in data mining is by no means new in computer science, but the questions surrounding the issue seem to lack concrete answers. While ethics lack concrete answers in general, it is the shortage of constructive dialogue that seems to be holding back the potential development of solutions in the realm of data mining and the Internet. I think that it is generally held that there is a technological fix to the issue of privacy and data mining, but I disagree, and I think that this is a social question that must be answered by the masses and not the experts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Data mining has slowly, and silently, pervaded into the lives of everyday digital consumers. Using Gmail? Look at the advertisements on the right hand side of the screen and notice that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re related to the contents of your e-mail. Are you a social networker? You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve released information about yourself onto the Internet for almost anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQyAq-H","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2007\/03\/06\/encroachment-in-information-mining-technologies-part-iv\/","url_meta":{"origin":43,"position":0},"title":"Encroachment in Information Mining Technologies - Part IV","date":"March 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a constant struggle to expand the circle of inclusion for ethical thought in discourse. This is often aimed at natural environments \u00e2\u20ac\u201c animals, plants, ecosystems \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but what about digital persons? With the development of games such as World of Warcraft and EverQuest and online communities such as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information Mining Essay"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2007\/03\/09\/encroachment-in-information-mining-technologies-part-v\/","url_meta":{"origin":43,"position":1},"title":"Encroachment in Information Mining Technologies - Part V","date":"March 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This brings up the issue of protection and its relationship with privacy. In worldview 1, we let the church protect us. This evolved into a more state-sponsored role as worldviews progressed. In the next worldview, we might need to protect ourselves. Our identity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s are now what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at stake, and something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information Mining Essay"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2007\/04\/06\/encroachment-in-information-mining-technologies-part-ix\/","url_meta":{"origin":43,"position":2},"title":"Encroachment in Information Mining Technologies - Part IX","date":"April 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The role of this digital hammer is as the lead actor for progress in human relationships. Is it possible that the Internet can make us more human? I think that if we learn how to use the new wealth of information provided to us, then we will be better able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information Mining Essay"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2007\/03\/18\/encroachment-in-information-mining-technologies-part-vii\/","url_meta":{"origin":43,"position":3},"title":"Encroachment in Information Mining Technologies - Part VII","date":"March 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"If we give the Internet legitimacy, then the users of the Internet will be better able to protect themselves. This will also help create better citizens within the Internet. These citizens must understand that they are involved in the creation of a new paradigm. They are creating the digital persona.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information Mining Essay"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2007\/02\/02\/encroachment-in-information-mining-technologies-part-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":43,"position":4},"title":"Encroachment in Information Mining Technologies - Part III","date":"February 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We must find a way to process the information that is constantly thrown at us. However, it is important to maintain the elements of our own information that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to be shared. Greater amounts of information for progress don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t excuse those using the information from taking our identity or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information Mining Essay"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2007\/03\/17\/encroachment-in-information-mining-technologies-part-vi\/","url_meta":{"origin":43,"position":5},"title":"Encroachment in Information Mining Technologies - Part VI","date":"March 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"But what if we just didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know? Couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignorance be bliss? The problem is that many are using the Internet without, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the cognitive ability to appreciate the possible consequences of disclosure of personal information\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Friedman and Thomas). Even something as simple as describing one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daily route to school for a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information Mining Essay"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}