Fergie's Tech Blog

Schneier: Why Data Mining Won't Stop Terror

In May 2004, the General Accounting Office published a report listing 122 different federal government data-mining programs that used people's personal information. This list didn't include classified programs, like the NSA's eavesdropping effort or state-run programs like MATRIX.

The promise of data mining is compelling, and convinces many. But it's wrong. We're not going to find terrorist plots through systems like this, and we're going to waste valuable resources chasing down false alarms. To understand why, we have to look at the economics of the system.

posted by Fergie @ 3/09/2006 06:06:00 AM