Chpt 4 case study 3

Chapter four Case 3

          Information technology is emerging as of critical importance across the globe. New and emerging technologies are enabling companies to reach spans they were never able to do before. The internet has become a global platform through which anyone can chat and share ideas. Despite its many advantages,   misuse of the internet by criminal organizations is on the rise. “Terrorist organizations, extremist groups, hate groups, and racial supremacy groups are using the web to promote their ideology, to facilitate internal communications, to attack their enemies, and to conduct criminal activities. It therefore has become important to obtain from the web intelligence that permits better understanding and analysis of terrorist and extremist groups” (Chen, Chung, Qin, Reid, Sageman, and Weimann  2008).

     This video case file, Data Mining for Terrorists and Innocents, is a work in progress. This Tuscan data-mining project gathers and collects data from internet users from around the world. Programmers use logarithms to sort critical information. Internets users are put into categories. This case describes an arrest of a German Sociology professor, Andrej Holm, who spent 3 weeks in jail because of said information that was gathered on him. He engaged in two conversations with a known terrorist. That alone wasn’t the only factor. The program also linked written work he published as a cause for concern. Between the two, they arrested him. He and his family subjected him and his family to constant surveillance afterwards.

   Although I am a supporter of such technology and information gathering for possible terrorists, at first glance it appears that the arrest of Andrej Holm was unjustified.  There needs to be proof of a link between the two, not just suspicion based on a couple a contact moments. Then again, I have not seen the conversation material, if there is any.  Even though I support such technology, I don’t support it in just anybody’s hands.  I don’t support Facebook administrators being able to see my information. I do support government and hope they use it wisely. I am not a terrorist and as such have no worries about what I post on the internet or my usage pattern. Society should understand that the government is not interested in who you are dating or having an affair with. That data is tossed away. Logarithms pick up on key words which is something to ponder about.

References

Laudon, K.C., Laudon, J.P. (2014). Management Information Systems, Managing the Digital

     Firm (13^th ed.). Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Data Mining for Terrorists and

     Innocents [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lKpD7MC22I

Tianjun, F., Abbasi, A., & Chen, H. (2010). A focused crawler for Dark Web forums. Journal Of

     The American Society For Information Science & Technology, 61(6), 1213-1231.

     doi:10.1002/asi.21323

Chen, H., Chung, W., Qin, J., Reid, E., Sageman, M., & Weimann, G. (2008). Uncovering the

      dark Web: A case study of Jihad on the Web. Journal Of The American Society For

     Information Science & Technology, 59(8), 1347-1359