PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Data Mining Violating Fourth Amendment Protections?

The Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system. Unfortunately for some, that protection is being unwittingly eroded through data mining. The practice of analyzing vast amounts of electronic data on personal dealings, from shopping preferences to Facebook updates, is commonly used by marketing agencies to streamline advertising campaigns.

2011-01-09
January 09, 2011 (Press-News.org) The Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system. Unfortunately for some, that protection is being unwittingly eroded through data mining. The practice of analyzing vast amounts of electronic data on personal dealings, from shopping preferences to Facebook updates, is commonly used by marketing agencies to streamline advertising campaigns.

However, law enforcement agencies are now mining data to monitor suspected criminal activity and identify potential terrorist threats. Personal data derived from a number of sources, including banks, cellular providers and online merchants, are analyzed at fusion centers operated by the Department of Homeland Security throughout the United States. According to The Constitution Project, a Washington, D.C. based civil liberties group, government data mining programs are classified, so people are oblivious to the extent their personal data may be analyzed.

Supporters of data mining believe that the practice is essential to maintaining national security. By using sophisticated algorithms to analyze telephone data, the government can monitor potential threats, coordinate defenses and neutralize attacks before they are carried out. Data mining opponents contend that the privacy issues and costs of maintaining such a system outweigh the benefits of finding suspected terrorists. They believe that the litany of false positives (lawful activities erroneously viewed as terrorism threats) combined with the estimated $50 million annual cost will not be enough to offset the prospect of unlawful searches and seizures.

In the midst of these competing concerns, the Constitution Project is asking Congress and President Obama to establish oversight policies for government data mining. In 2008, a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight was created, but it has never had any board members.

In a recently released study on data mining, the Constitution Project stated, "We can adopt rules that both allow the government to harness the vast seas of information for our collective benefit and simultaneously protect the delicate relationship our Constitution established between the government and the governed."

The House Committee on Homeland Security recently heard from policy experts on the loopholes in the Electronic Communication Privacy Act and its continued exploitation by government agencies. There was a growing fear among panelists that the lack of accountability could compromise civil liberties as well as national security. They also indicated that predictive data mining programs should have more oversight, especially since no evidence exists to indicate such programs have effectively thwarted terrorist activities.

It is unknown whether the incoming Congress will hold more hearings on data privacy.

Article provided by Greg S. Law, PLLC
Visit us at www.greglawlegal.com


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Dispatch.com's "Homeless Man with a Golden Voice" Now International Sensation; Dispatch.com/goldenvoice Site Captures and Continues Sharing Ted Williams' Story

Dispatch.coms Homeless Man with a Golden Voice Now International Sensation; Dispatch.com/goldenvoice Site Captures and Continues Sharing Ted Williams Story
2011-01-09
Columbus Dispatch photojournalist Doral Chenoweth III captured the world's attention and dramatically changed the life of one man this week, simply by stopping to hear his story. Ted Williams, now known as the "Homeless Man with a Golden Voice," went from homeless to headlines with the simple click of a video post on www.dispatch.com. The wild popularity of the video, which has received more than 10 million hits online, has drawn the attention of international media, garnering coverage everywhere from the BBC to CBS News, and on tens of thousands of blogs originating around ...

Frontline Test Equipment Introduces Message Sequence Chart (MSC) in Their Industry Leading Line of Bluetooth Protocol Analyzers: BPA 500, FTS4BT, and Frontline Bluetooth Low Energy Analyzer

Frontline Test Equipment Introduces Message Sequence Chart (MSC) in Their Industry Leading Line of Bluetooth Protocol Analyzers: BPA 500, FTS4BT, and Frontline Bluetooth Low Energy Analyzer
2011-01-09
Frontline Test Equipment is pleased to announce the introduction of Message Sequence Chart (MSC) technology in their complete line of Bluetooth protocol analyzers. This new feature is available in the latest software release found on the web Frontline website - www.fte.com and is included in: BPA 500 - Dual Mode ("Classic" BR/EDR and low energy) Bluetooth protocol analyzer, FTS4BT - "Classic" Bluetooth protocol analyzer and Frontline Bluetooth low energy Analyzer. MSC displays a concise overview of a Bluetooth connection, highlighting the essential elements of the connection. ...

'Long-shot' discovery may lead to advances in treating anxiety, memory disorders

2011-01-08
An unexpected discovery by UCLA life scientists holds promise for the future development of treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders, and potentially for Alzheimer's disease and other memory-impairment diseases. The researchers, led by UCLA professor of psychology Michael Fanselow, have discovered what may be a completely unexplored drug target for the treatment of anxiety disorders. The research is published Jan. 7 in the journal Science. Normally, when people or animals experience a frightening event, they learn to fear the place ...

Babies process language in a grown-up way

Babies process language in a grown-up way
2011-01-08
Babies, even those too young to talk, can understand many of the words that adults are saying – and their brains process them in a grown-up way. Combining the cutting-edge technologies of MRI and MEG, scientists at the University of California, San Diego show that babies just over a year old process words they hear with the same brain structures as adults, and in the same amount of time. Moreover, the researchers found that babies were not merely processing the words as sounds, but were capable of grasping their meaning. This study was jointly led by Eric Halgren, PhD, ...

Quality of life measures in breast cancer clinical trials

2011-01-08
Quality of life measures tend to be most useful for clinical decision-making in trials in which quality of life is the primary outcome, according to a recent study published online January 7 in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. There has been increasing interest in the value of patient-reported symptom assessment in trials and their potential usage as primary or secondary endpoints in new trials. Both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have endorsed quality of life, but they are not always incorporated into trials because ...

College students lack scientific literacy, study finds

College students lack scientific literacy, study finds
2011-01-08
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Most college students in the United States do not grasp the scientific basis of the carbon cycle – an essential skill in understanding the causes and consequences of climate change, according to research published in the January issue of BioScience. The study, whose authors include several current and former researchers from Michigan State University, calls for a new way of teaching – and, ultimately, comprehending – fundamental scientific principles such as the conservation of matter. "Improving students' understanding of these biological principles ...

Clinical waste management needs specialized regulation

Clinical waste management needs specialized regulation
2011-01-08
A study carried out by the University of Granada (UGR) warns of the need to unify existing plans for clinical waste management in the different autonomous communities to improve recycling and waste disposal. There is currently no specific state-wide regulation, just a framework law that the Spanish Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM) is planning to reform. "We carried out a comparison of the clinical waste management regulations and plans in place in the autonomous communities in 2008 to see if there were any differences. We observed distinctions ...

VIB-K.U. Leuven scientists clear the way to alternative anti-angiogenic cancer therapy

2011-01-08
Leuven – Scientists attached to VIB and K.U.Leuven have succeeded in decoding a potential new anti-cancer mechanism. The researchers discovered that normalizing abnormal tumor blood vessels through HRG (histidine-rich glycoprotein) prevents metastasis of tumor cells and enhances chemotherapy efficiency. In tumors, vessels formation is disturbed, leading to inefficient delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs and allowing cancer cells to escape to other parts of the body (metastasis). The normalization of tumor blood vessel formation through HRG works by repressing the production ...

Lessons learned from oil rig disaster

2011-01-08
When interviewed by the BBC, the now retired BP boss Tony Hayward admitted to his company's insufficient response to the Deepwater Horizon rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Could the company have been better prepared for what turned out to be one of the biggest oil disasters in history? "We were making it up day to day," Hayward said of BP's rescue plan. Together with chairman of the board, Carl-Henrik Svenberg, he was held responsible for 11 dead and 17 injured workers. According to the New York Times, five million barrels of oil leaked into the ocean outside the coast ...

For ever and ever: When the wedding flight never ends

For ever and ever: When the wedding flight never ends
2011-01-08
Its stay on this planet was actually meant to be a very short one. Male twisted-wing parasites (Strepsiptera) usually have a life span of only few hours. However, accidentally a specimen of Mengea tertiara, about the size of an aphid, became preserved for 'eternity': during its wedding flight about 42 million years ago it was caught in a drop of tree resin and subsequently almost perfectly conserved in a piece of amber. PD Dr. Hans Pohl of Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) calls this "a very exceptional stroke of luck." Together with colleagues from Jena, Hamburg ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Unlocking the mysteries of the human gut

High-quality nanodiamonds for bioimaging and quantum sensing applications

New clinical practice guideline on the process for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of cognitive impairment or dementia

Evolution of fast-growing fish-eating herring in the Baltic Sea

Cryptographic protocol enables secure data sharing in the floating wind energy sector

Can drinking coffee or tea help prevent head and neck cancer?

Development of a global innovative drug in eye drop form for treating dry age-related macular degeneration

Scientists unlock secrets behind flowering of the king of fruits

Texas A&M researchers illuminate the mysteries of icy ocean worlds

Prosthetic material could help reduce infections from intravenous catheters

Can the heart heal itself? New study says it can

Microscopic discovery in cancer cells could have a big impact

Rice researchers take ‘significant leap forward’ with quantum simulation of molecular electron transfer

Breakthrough new material brings affordable, sustainable future within grasp

How everyday activities inside your home can generate energy

Inequality weakens local governance and public satisfaction, study finds

Uncovering key molecular factors behind malaria’s deadliest strain

UC Davis researchers help decode the cause of aggressive breast cancer in women of color

Researchers discovered replication hubs for human norovirus

SNU researchers develop the world’s most sensitive flexible strain sensor

Tiny, wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication

Neutrality has played a pivotal, but under-examined, role in international relations, new research shows

Study reveals right whales live 130 years — or more

Researchers reveal how human eyelashes promote water drainage

Pollinators most vulnerable to rising global temperatures are flies, study shows

DFG to fund eight new research units

Modern AI systems have achieved Turing's vision, but not exactly how he hoped

Quantum walk computing unlocks new potential in quantum science and technology

Construction materials and household items are a part of a long-term carbon sink called the “technosphere”

First demonstration of quantum teleportation over busy Internet cables

[Press-News.org] Data Mining Violating Fourth Amendment Protections?
The Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system. Unfortunately for some, that protection is being unwittingly eroded through data mining. The practice of analyzing vast amounts of electronic data on personal dealings, from shopping preferences to Facebook updates, is commonly used by marketing agencies to streamline advertising campaigns.