Public records - lawsuits, liens, bankruptcies. Regulatio

1
Privacy and Information

• Week 5

2
Computers and Government

• Thousands of government offices and departments
  exist
• All use computers in some manner

3
Most common uses

• Data collection and maintenance
• Research
• Code breaking
• Defense
• and?...

4
Big Brother

• More than 2000 government databases exist
• We leave many data trails to facilitate the
  collection of information
• Government pushes their rights to protect ours

5
Law Enforcement

• National Crime Information Center
• Help law-enforcement agencies share info to catch
  criminals
• Benefits
• any agency can access records
• lots of info available
• criminal histories
• info on existing warrants
• easy for intrastate usage

6
Law Enforcement

• Problems
• lack of control of entry
• lack of control of usage
• ease of access by employees
• Abuse of power
• Invasion of privacy
• Inaccuracy

7
National ID Cards

• Multi-purpose cards
• Smart card - microprocessor and memory
• used when interacting with governments and banks,
  medical

8
Benefits

• Need to actual card to verify identity
• Harder to forge
• Carry only one card
• Reduces fraud
• Prevents illegal work

9
Civilian applications of government technologies

• Economic espionage
• Sharing of technology between law enforcement and
  other agencies
• Military surveillance technology used in civilian
  applications

10
Threats to Privacy

• Government has
• wide scope of activities
• large amount a data available
• power to require us to provide information
• ability to use and misuse databases

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Computers have facilitated....

• the collection of data
• analysis of data
• storage of data
• access of data
• distribution of data
• Reasons - speed and anonymity
• Internet has broadened access to information

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Database

• Program to help you store, manage, and analyze
  your data
• fields
• records

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Other Databases

• Employee ID scanners
• Prescription drugs
• Bank machines
• Cellular phone calls
• Browsing on Net - cookies
• Sweepstakes

• Satellites
• Credit cards
• Supermarket scanners
• Electronic tolls
• Mail-order transactions
• E-mail

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Public records

• DMV
• Voter registration
• Birth and death certificates
• Marriage certificates
• Property records
• Court records
• Divorce records

• Arrest records
• Postal address records

15
Confidential Records

• Social welfare information
• Tax information
• School records

• Public library records
• Criminal history
• Health records

16
Internet and data collection

• Cookies
• Search engines - quicker more available info
• open ended nature of net - no rules to define
  what is personal info
• newsgroup, chat rooms, e-mail remains available
  for years

17
Purposes of Record Systems

• Help agencies perform their functions efficiently
• Determine eligibility for government job
• Determine eligibility for benefits programs
• Detect fraud
• Recover payments of delinquent debt

18
Acquisition of Data

• Census
• Surveillance
• Identification
• Networking

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Methods Used

• Computer matching
• Combining and comparing information from
  different databases
• Computer profiling
• using data in computer files to determine
  characteristics of people most likely to engage
  in a certain behavior

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Data Mining

• Analyze to perform data profiles
• Create from customer files than matches are made
• Businesses and governments keep records and sell
  them

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Data Mining Results

• Analysis of data for relationships that have not
  been discovered
• Associations
• one event can be correlated to another
• Sequences
• One event leads to another
• Classification
• Recognition of patterns resulting in new
  organizations

22
Data Mining Results Continued

• Clustering
• Finding and visualizing groups of facts not
  previously known
• Forcasting
• Discovering patterns in the data that can lead to
  predictions about the future

23
Data Mining Uses

• Target customers
• Advertise to current customers
• Manipulate markets
• Select, monitor, and control employees

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Most common tool

• Social security number

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Social Security Number

• Major use for identification
• Linked to
• banking data
• credit report
• driving record
• earnings history
• work history
• .......

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Credit Bureaus

• Provide a central storehouse of information used
  to evaluate applicants for credit
• data supplied by banks, stores, and other
  businesses
• Public records - lawsuits, liens, bankruptcies

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Regulation of Credit Bureaus

• Regulated by federal government
• Fair Credit Reporting Act
• can give information to employers, government,
  and insurance companies, and those who need it
  for legitimate purposes involving customer
• VAGUE?

28
Proposed Changes

• Legal right to get a copy of their own report for
  free, and a list of those who have requested it
• Prohibit employers from obtaining reports without
  persons permission
• or at all except for special kinds of jobs

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Medical Records

• Data is personal and sensitive
• Used for marketing purposes
• Hard to restrict due to varying laws in different
  states
• Insurance benefits require that we tell all

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Technical and Management Protections

• Each authorized user has unique ID code and
  password
• Restrict operations of different users in areas
  where they do not need to go
• Use audit trail to track usage by workers
• Computer records reduce handling and potential
  reading

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Risks due to databases

• Unauthorized use by people who maintain them
• Access from intruders
• Mishandling
• Errors and potential problems
• Intentional uses

32
Creep Phenomenon

• If information is collected, it will probably be
  used for many purposes that were not intended
  when the project started

33
Biometrics

• Verification through unique physical
  characteristics
• little fraud
• fingerprints
• DNA
• hand geometry
• facial recognition
• facial thermography