Presentation Transcript

1. Behind the Plug

   1001: Data & Metadata
2. Data & Metadata Data is anything you can know about something Your height, weight, age, birthday, etc. The color of a car The size of a house Metadata is anything you can know about data… Technically, metadata is data about data What is metadata used for? Some examples…
3. Metadata Search Engines Keywords, word frequency, separation of keywords (“degree”), titles, are all metadata They aren’t the information the user is looking for, they are information about the information the user is looking for Cellphones How often do you call a specific number How long do you talk How often do you dial long distance vs. local It’s your phone calls, it’s information about your phone calls
4. Where Does It Come From? Lots of places… Video recordings… You walk through a retail store … You walk through a parking lot… You walk through a “public” building…
5. Where Does It Come From? You check out at a grocery store… You know that little shopping card that saves you money…? It’s not a discount —you’re selling information about what you buy…
6. Where Does It Come From? Every Google search you do… They’re all saved… Along with information about what you clicked on, how long you stayed there, and anything else they can gather up
7. Where Does It Come From? The GPS in your cell phone… The GPS in your car… The frequency and target of text messages… The frequency and target of email messages…
8. Where Does It Come From? Some “not so obvious” and “odd” places… RFID tags in your clothes These don’t “turn off” once you leave the store Theoretically they can be tracked A set of RFID tags can identify “you” You have on Nike sneakers of a particular model number, a pair of Lee jeans, and a shirt from Old Navy…
9. Where Does It Come From? Devices can be used to track your location while you’re in a building Retail stores can track the location of their carts Retail stores can use thermal images to track specific people Thermal images of people are unique enough to identify “you” within an area for a specific period of time RFID “dust” could be used to track your movements (mostly used by the military) Your pattern of movements can be tied to your account when you check out of the store
10. What is it Used For? Okay, so I get the picture… Just about everything I do is recorded… But what do these people do with all this data (and metadata)?
11. Siting an Ice Cream Store How many people live in Cary? The Census What’s the average income of people who live in Cary? The Census Do people like ice cream in Cary? Search engine results Do people want an ice cream store of this brand in the area? Internet analytics Do people spend a lot of money on ice cream? Retail store sale information
12. Is There An Epidemic? How many searched for “flu symptoms”? Search engine results How many people have searched for “flu medications”? Search engine results How many people have purchased cold medicine? Retail sales information How many people have visited a doctor with flu-like symptoms? Medical billing system
13. Optimizing Advertising Google collects information every search you make… Google receives money from advertisers to place ads next to search pages, on web pages, etc. Your search results tell them what you’re interested in… So they can only try to sell you things you’re likely to buy! Google also makes a lot of money selling information about you to others Marketing research firms, etc.
14. Predicting the Future? A Cambridge, Mass., company called Recorded Future, which is funded by both Google and the CIA, claims to use its "temporal analytics engine" to predict future events and activities by companies and individual people. Like Social Intelligence, Recorded Future uses proprietary software to scan all kinds of public web sites, then use some kind of magic pixie dust to find both invisible logical linkages (as opposed to HTML hyperlinks) that lead to likely outcomes. Plug in your search criteria, and the results come in the form of surprisingly accurate future predictions. http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/features/article.php/12297_3905931_1/Pre-crime-Comes-to-the-HR-Dept.htm
15. Predicting the Future? Google revealed last year, for example, that it is developing a search algorithm that can accurately predict which of its employees are most likely to quit. It's based on a predictive analysis of things like employee reviews and salary histories. They simply turn the software loose on personnel records, then the system spits out a list of the people who are probably going to resign soon… http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/features/article.php/12297_3905931_1/Pre-crime-Comes-to-the-HR-Dept.htm
16. The Bottom Line Any given set of data, when combined with metadata, can reveal completely unexpected things The only limits to this game are imagination, hard thinking, and some analytical code Analytics Finding connections in data and metadata that will tell you things the data wasn’t intended to tell you Creating metadata on the fly by combining existing data and metadata
17. Why Do I Care? There used to be this thing called “privacy…” But it’s difficult to articulate a reason to preserve privacy any longer From a Christian viewpoint there’s a case to be made —but not many are making it We live in an increasingly utilitarian (post-Christian) world driven by making money “Nightmare situations” are the “shock troops” in the war for privacy
18. An Example What would I need to “break into” your bank account? The name of your bank You account number Your Social Security Number (SSN) Some other odd bits of “verification information” The name of your first pet Your Mother’s maiden name The first school you attended The city you were born in Your first car Maybe I need to call from your phone number?
19. An Example The name of your bank? Dumpster dive! You’ve probably thrown away some notification from your bank in the last month or two that would tell me this Sorting through your garbage for useful information isn’t illegal! Your account number? A cashed check will do nicely Or even an old check you threw away (see above) Just give someone from a local store to write down the account number Or just look for an old statement in the trash…
20. An Example Calling from your phone number? You can rig the caller ID if you have the right access You can simply tap into the phone box next to your house, or in your garage Your Social Security Number Your birthday is on Facebook Where city you were born in is probably on Facebook, or someplace public
21. An Example There’s a new reason to worry about the security of your Social Security number. Turns out, they can be guessed with relative ease. A group of researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University say they’ve discovered patterns in the issuance of numbers that make it relatively easy to deduce the personal information using publicly available information and some basic statistical analysis. http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/07/theres-a-new-reason-to-worry-about-the-security-of-your-social-security-number-turns-out-theyre-easy-to-guess--a-gro.html
22. An Example The name of your first pet Facebook, etc. Your Mother’s maiden name Classmates.com The first school you attended Classmates.com Facebook Various publicly available records The city you were born in Facebook Your first car Facebook, etc.
23. An Example Essentially, everything someone needs to know to break into your bank account is probably available someplace, with a little work But it’s even easier to use “social engineering” to get this sort of information…
24. Interesting Thoughts One of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found, is the business of spying on Internet users. –WSJ Mr. Schmidt is surely right, though, that the questions go far beyond Google. "I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time," he says. He predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites. -WSJ
25. The Bottom Line Just about everything you do is recorded in some way Analytics combines data and metadata to create new information The results are often unexpected The results are often much more accurate and informative than you might guess This information can be used for “good things…” Commercial reasons Public safety This information can also be dangerous
26. The Bottom Line An old poster from WWII But still something to think about!