Tracking Your Movements

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do, so I explored how data mining might affect this activity. I was interested to find out the travel industry is using data mining as much as any other.  While any service provider uses data mining to create higher profits they are also using it to better serve customers.

By tracking behavior patterns of all clients and by individual IP addresses or customer IDs, service can be in a way, customized.  The travel industry focuses on predictive analysis for future trips.  The analysis can be created by the manipulation of the massive amounts of data collected.  The predictions of what customers want allows them to cater to that and increase sales and therefore profits.

Patterns found in analysis of travel data can allow companies to identify groups of similar customers.  Groups could be those that who travel only based on price or others that are set on specific destinations.  This type of information along with your unique preferences like only flying first class and only staying at boutique hotels will help build the recommendations that online travel booking sites like Expedia use.

Just as our group explained in our presentation grocery store reward cards and frequent flyer numbers help to track customers and create these profiles.  The nature of the traveling industry means that its customers are often moving, and regardless of which branch of a hotel they are staying in data mining creates the ability to track the preferences of their customers.  The ability to cater to a customers wants creates a happy customer who will visit this establishment again.

As we have asked before are we willing to share all of this information? Do we know that others have it?  What is more important privacy or convenience?


 Source and further reading:
http://www.executivetravelmagazine.com/articles/how-data-mining-impacts-your-travel

Insurance DENIED

http://patients.about.com/od/yourmedicalrecords/a/Supermarket-Or-Pharmacy-Loyalty-Rewards-Card-Can-Affect-Your-Health-And-Care.htm

In summary, this article talks about “reward” cards. We save money using these reward cards at the time of purchase. The different stores that offer these receive money because they can sell all the data collected when swiping the card. Different companies for different reasons would buy this information. An example in the article is about a car dealer maybe wanting this information because if you buy expensive meats and wine, you might be more inclined to buy a more expensive car. Another example in that stuck me is that insurance companies will buy this information. They might buy the information to track what you eat, and if you buy a lot of fatty foods or beer they might determine you as a high risk client and charge you a higher premium compared to someone else; or deny you insurance period. With the beer example, I don’t think one purchase will hurt you, it was mentioned in the article if you buy it six times a week it could become a problem.

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this? I have mixed feelings either way I go. What do you guys think?

Big Data On Campus

With 72,000 students, A.S.U. is both the country’s largest public university and a hotbed of data-driven experiments. One core effort is a degree-monitoring system that keeps tabs on how students are doing in their majors. Stray off-course and a student may have to switch fields, so this system suggests alternatives courses match with your interest and field.

If they fail to sign up for a key course or do well enough, the computer cracks a whip, marking them “off-track.” Wander off-track two semesters in a row, and a student may have to change majors.

If that sounds harsh, there’s a rationale: One way to ensure that students will reach the finish line is to quickly figure out if they’ve selected a suitable track. So the A.S.U. system front-loads key courses. For example, to succeed in psychology, a student must perform well in statistics.

At Arizona State, algorithms figure in course content, too. Thousands of A.S.U. students now take math courses through a system that mines performance and behavioral data, building a profile on each user and delivering recommendations about what learning activity they should do next. The system, created by the start-up company Knewton, has given the university a fresh way of addressing the continuous problem of students being unprepared for college math. But it also offers a glimpse into what many more students will experience as teaching increasingly shifts from textbooks and lectures that feed the same structure of information to a class of 300, regardless of individual expertise, to machines that study their users’ learning patterns and adapt to them.

So do you think all these countless hours of online Homework really worth it?

At Rio Salado, a community college with about 70,000 students, 43,000 of them online, Mr. Lange got excited about the behavioral data students leave behind: the vast wake of clicks captured by software that runs Web courses. Records of when they logged in opened a syllabus, turned in homework.

Could you mine it to model patterns of students who succeeded in the past? Use that to identify current ones likely to fail? And then help those students? Many educators are now asking similar questions.

“Mr. Lange and his colleagues had found that by the eighth day of class they could predict, with 70 percent accuracy, whether a student would score a “C” or better. Mr. Lange built a system, rolled out in 2009, that sent professors frequently updated alerts about how well each student was predicted to do, based on their course performance and online behavior.”

Research shows that social ties can influence academic success. If students are more integrated into campus life, they’re more likely to stay in school. If a friend drops out, they’re more likely to as well.

Do you believe in these theories of social ties or the ability to predict a students grades for the future?

-Parry, Marc. "Please Be EAdvised." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 July 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2013.

Data Mining Equals Competitive Advantage

When I hear the words Data Mining, I think of the invasion of individual privacy.  But let’s say that you run a business, we’ll use a Coffee Shop, would you use Data Mining to help your business increase in profits as well?  Your competitors like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts are already doing it.  Data Mining, if used correctly can be a pot of gold for your company’s success and here are a few ways that you can use the information that you collected to your advantage.  Data mining helps you forecast sales, market, plan, and identify market segment. 

When you forecast sales, you’re using past sales to predict when your customer will buy again!  You might ask how many people, households, businesses will buy your coffee?  How many competitors are in a mile?  How many people, households, businesses are in 5 miles as well as how many competitors are in that 5 mile?

Marketing:  By examining customer purchasing patterns and looking at the demographics and psychographics of customers to build profiles, you can create products that will sell themselves.  With that being said, you can now begin to send weekly emails about your company’s promotions/discounts, or new incentive awards/bonus programs.  (Example, for every $3 purchase you make, you’ll receive 1 point to your card.  10pts=1 free coffee)

Planning:  Data mining will help you identify which products are selling the most, how much inventory you will need to have, and how you should price your items as you uncover customer sensitivity.

One of the best uses of data mining is to segment your customers. And it’s pretty simple. From your data you can break down your market into meaningful segments like age, income, occupation or gender. Segmentation can also help you understand your competition. This insight alone will help you identify that the usual suspects are not the only ones targeting the same customer money as you are.

In conclusion, if I were a business, I would use Data Mining to my advantage as well.  Powerhouse companies like Wal-Mart, Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks and much more survive not by sitting on these data but to put them to use.  As I continue to understand the usage of data mining this semester, this is a technique that companies use to get ahead of their competitors.  Companies may know my purchasing history, street address, phone number, email, and credit card information but so far, my account balance still remain the same and my credit is still good, so it’s safe to say that companies who invaded my privacy are keeping me safe from thieves.

Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/data-mining/

The infamous #HASHTAG

When one initially thinks about the Hashtag, which is simply a # sign that allows topics to start trending so that others can see what people around the world are saying about that specific topic, they automatically assume Twitter. There is rumor that this epidemic is going to be making its way over to Facebook. This switch can be HUGE for companies that simply create a hashtag for consumers to tweet about which allows them to get immediate feedback from those who their companies directly serve.

Although many people wouldn't think about companies turning random suggestions from consumers through hashtags into profit, it is becoming more and more prevalent. Companies will simply create a unique hashtag that uses keywords for them to be able to search this topic. Analysts will "mine" through this data and use the information that is provided by the consumers to suggest many things such as new products, other business strategies and approaches to take on economic and governmental changes.

Since Facebook allows companies to have free business pages for people to "like" the hashtag will allow these companies to be able to get more directly connected with their customers. Twitter currently allows businesses to have a Twitter account but not as much information about that company can be displayed as compared to those pages on Facebook. Facebook allows companies to promote their products with pictures, advertisements, etc. Someone would more than likely look up a company on Facebook before they would on Twitter because there is more information readily available.

Adding the hashtag feature to Facebook will open up another line of communication between companies and consumers. The hashtag that is used for trending topics will create a lot of data that can be made useful by companies to generate more revenue. The analysts mentioned before may already be at the company or newly created positions within companies to help manage this data and find the trends in what consumers want. 

The purpose of this post was to be informative on how something we don't think much about such as adding a hashtag to the end of our tweet or now possibly our Facebook posts puts us in "database" if you will for companies to track us. When companies search the hashtag that their company created to get the feedback they can possibly track your tweets to get more information or simply pull your name and other personal information that is available on Twitter.

Sources:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/03/14/facebook_hashtags_annoying_twitter_feature_is_data_mining_advertising_gold.html

http://www.inc.com/tech-blog/twitter-hashtag-techniques-for-businesses.html

Not-So-Obvious Data Mining Motives

You have all probably heard examples of companies tracking purchases that you make and subsequently suggesting similar items for you in ads on your screen. You are also most likely familiar with companies mining public information you enter into websites such as birth dates and email addresses. You may, however, be surprised at the variety of data types that people seek. You may also be surprised when you learn of some unique ways companies use this data.

A recent article by Forbes titled ‘Data Mining CEO Says He Pays For Burgers With Cash To Avoid Junk Food Purchases Being Tracked’ mentions a few examples of mined data that isn't so often considered by the public.

For example, the article discusses how insurance companies use “aggregate data about individuals from records of things like prescription-drug and other retail sales, product warranties, consumer surveys, magazine subscriptions and, in some cases, credit-card spending” to determine insurance rates and premiums. In some cases, if a person appears healthy from the examination of this data, they may be allowed to skip in-person medical tests. For example, a person who is subscribed to a fitness magazine may receive a lower insurance rate than someone who is not. Due to this reality, Kevin Pledge (CEO), has decided to forgo using his membership card at the grocery store when he makes less-than-healthy food purchases.

The point here is that whether or not you are aware of the types of data being mined, you may not always understand why, or what it is being used for. This is only one example of a less obvious motive behind data mining. You would be surprised at just how much can be found out about a person from seemingly harmless information. With the increasing prevalence of this type of data mining, it can be hard to avoid. I do, however, think it is worth a second look when giving out any information. Ask yourself ‘what else could this information be used for?’

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/06/15/data-mining-ceo-says-he-pays-for-burgers-in-cash-to-avoid-junk-food-purchases-being-tracked/

Who's Trackin' You?

See Who is Tracking You!!

There are a few programs out there that will allow you to see who is tracking you and set your privacy settings accordingly:

·         Privacychoice.org- allows you to set/adjust your privacy settings on all social networking sites and more

·         Collusion- allows you to visually see third parties tracking you

·         Ghostery.com- allows you to see who is grabbing data from you when you visit different sites

I decided to download Ghostery (IT’S FREE) because I am interested in what kinds of sites are “grabbing” my information. Right now, I am on Facebook, school e-mail, Google, and Bass Pro Shop’s website. With Ghostery, there is a little ghost icon at the end of your URL bar. When trackers start grabbing information it will alert you by displaying a number on the ghost. While on Facebook, I have a 3 displayed, none on my school email, none on Google, but I have an outstanding 28 on Bass Pro Shop’s site. I wanted to know more. I clicked on the number 28 and it tells me all the sites getting information. I clicked on a random one; Ghostery provides me with the name and how it operates. This particular one that I clicked on was Adobe Digital Marketing and operates by Omniture! It even gives a synopses of what they do and why. This is a cool tool, and just gives you an idea of what is going on.

Sources:

http://privacychoice.org/

http://www.ghostery.com/

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/collusion/

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=ghostery+symbol&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43287494,d.eWU&biw=1280&bih=687&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=ZYc3UZ3dJpSI9gSwq4DADA#imgrc=dbF2sBett4iiJM%3A%3BZc4iyieID49uAM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fslodive.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2011%252F09%252Fchrome-extensions%252Fghostery.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fslodive.com%252Fweb-development%252Fchrome-extensions%252F%3B600%3B300

2/5 of a Cent

To me data mining is all about personal privacy.  I love the convenience and perks data mining can add to my life.  But which do I value more? The convenience or privacy.

Cookies that save my Expedia searches are great.  But when all of the information about me from my internet usage across the web is combined it creates a profile with more than I would like to share with the world.  I would be fine with a general outline being shared like: female, age 20-25, Charlotte resident.  Much more beyond that is not knowledge these companies should know.

Check out this article from TIME to get an idea of what I am talking about.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2058205,00.html

I find it somewhat disturbing that it can be found out so easily the exact dollar amounts I spend on various sites.  Author, Joel Stein, explains that each piece of information like that or his religious affiliation are sold for about two-fifths of a cent.  The people collecting and selling your information have now been named "data brokers" although they prefer the title of "data analyzer." I would like to think that I could pay an few extra cents with my order and have it be a protected or anonymous purchase.  The issue becomes that there is more than one company trying to buy my information and their wallets are bigger than mine. I can't buy them all out.

If I can't stop them then who will? It may end up being our government. Our leaders are delving into this topic as an issue citizens face. Last year Congress’s Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus  met with nine data mining companies to dicuess the data brokering practices.  This meeting was in response to the Declaration of Internet Freedom. The Caucus did not make any conclusion or actions, but said they would “push for whatever steps are necessary to make sure Americans know how this industry operates and are granted control over their own information.”

This would be a big intervention if they did end up stopping or limiting this intrusive data mining. I'm not sure this practice should be illegal, but I feel it has gone too far.  If the government were to interfere, would they be hindering free trade or protecting its citizens?

How do you feel about the availability of your information? Do you think its use creates dirty marketing?  Is it the governments role to protect this information or is it public knowledge?

Additional Reading and Sources Cited:
http://www.dailydot.com/news/9-data-mining-companies-testify-congress/

Data mining becoming an issue in Pharmacies

Here is an article on data mining of drug prescriptions by Bill Mears, CNN Supreme court producer.

Pharmacies are required under law to preserve a doctor's prescription records, and although federal law protects a patient's privacy, a physician does not receive similar protections. Drug makers have been after profits hidden inside pharmacies for years, they are not after your name but after the drug being offered. Because laws are getting passed that are shrinking health care cost which is making it harder for companies to sell new and innovated products. Yes, data mining is in pharmacies but not after customers, but after the behaviors of doctors for writing the prescription, so when it is time to market they know what to go sell. Firms like IMS Health say their for-profit services benefit patients and doctors by making it possible to track disease and monitor drug safety and effectiveness. Do you think this benefits you?

Marketing of information on consumers' credit card purchases, Internet use, financial investments and savings, and insurance coverage may all be affected by what the high court decides for the first time on the issue of data mining for commercial purposes. Even potentially non-marketing uses, such as news reporting, scholarly research, and general publishing could be subject to some form of government regulation. Even though people are after all this information, is there really any possible way to make them stop? And how would we even know if we are being monitored or not? If the drug makers really feel that mining this information can be not only lucrative but can save lives I say why stop them. The government wants is so that laws would only prevent "further dissemination of the data except for health care research” and this could also give the doctors a chance to turn away marketers and create more privacy. But what if that marketer has a drug that has less side effects and cost a lot less for the doctor and patient? Are we missing out in that way or is our privacy more valuable to us?  

"High Court Hears Case over 'data Mining' of Drug Prescription Data." CNN. N.p., 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.

Should college students be mine??

I came across an article: Mining Student Data Could Save Lives.  It is written by Michael Morris who is a lieutenant with the University Police at California State University-Channel Island.

In short, in the aftermath of nearly every large-scale act of campus violence in the United States, investigation has revealed that early-warning signs had been present but not recognized or acted upon.  An example is the shooting in Virginia Tech.  Since many campuses across the country, as well as UNC-Charlotte already provides students with an email address, personal access to the University’s network, free use of campus computers, and wireless internet access for our personal devices, Lieutenant Morris believes that colleges and universities should mine their students.  By logging into the computers on campus with our username and password or emails to use their wireless network, University officials could potentially mine data from their students and analyze them since our data is under their control.  The analysis could then be screened to predict behavior to identify when a student's online activities tend to indicate a threat to the campus.

Do you think it’s a matter of invading your privacy if University officials can view your search history, email messages, and Facebook/Twitter conversations posts just to see if you’re a threat?  Since I’m under constant surveillance already from other data mining companies I think that this can be a good and bad thing to do.  I have had conversations with friends on Facebook about my opinions on a professor and what he/she can change in a course, but that doesn’t label me as a threat to students or the professor.  I also used the computers to check my bank statements/accounts and I wouldn’t want anyone to see it. Identity theft is one of the biggest detested problems that we have today; we’re all human and even officials can become unethical.  Last, I wouldn’t want the university that I attend to pour out a lot of money into this, having over 25,000 students is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Again, what do you think?

http://chronicle.com/article/Mining-Student-Data-Could-Save/129231/

Data Mining affects everyone, including Children!

Although many of us don’t know the exact process or techniques of what data mining is and the affects that this tool has on our lives, we must come to the realization that it affects everyone. It is inevitable that everything that we do is tracked, some way, some how. Every credit card purchase, log in to a Free Wi-Fi hot spot, check in on social media and many other day-to-day activities. Some of the tracking is definitely for our benefit, such as credit card expenditures to detect fraud, but can also be turned around to show companies our spending habits in order for them to target us with promotions, ads, etc.

What about the content of the emails that you send everyday to your family members, friends or even just a co-worker? More and more companies are coming up with algorithms that piece together information in order to target you with specific advertisements. For example, I sent an email to my manager from my personal Gmail account that was asking for days off for a vacation that was previously planned before I was hired. When I sent the email I then returned to the Google homepage and searched for something. I then noticed on the right side of my screen there was an advertisement for hotwire.com which is a website often used to book flights, hotels, rental cars and all other necessities while on vacation.

Ever think about children who send emails using the accounts provided to them by schools just for educational purposes? Officials are becoming more aware that children are becoming the target of companies collecting their information from school databases without consent from their parents. This information is then turned over to third party companies and the information is used to their advantage for advertising purposes.

Many legal actions are underway to protect students across the country and more specifically in Massachusetts. Just this week they have “introduced legislation that would ban companies that provide cloud computing services from processing student data for commercial purposes.” This legislation will protect student email accounts from Kindergarten all the way through Twelfth grade. The argument is that since it is against the National Education Association’s Code of Ethics for a teacher to use any personal knowledge obtained from a student for private advantage, shouldn’t there be something protecting all students when they send their professor/teacher an email that asks for help in a certain subject and then the next advertisement they see offers tutoring services from another outside source?

Going along with the legal action that is taking place in Massachusetts, many are arguing that this protection under law of collecting this information for commercial use should be extended to those post-secondary students. Not only should we be worried about protecting those that can’t protect themselves (students in K-12) but those that are targeted through their school email address which is used mainly for educational purposes. Massachusetts is the first state to take this specific type of legal action in order to protect its youth, but they hope to get other states on board.

There is a very interesting article that talks about the actions that the Federal Trade Commission is taking to close any gaps that outside companies are finding to obtain this information and use to their advantage in their advertising strategies. Link to the article: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2013/02/06/02security.h06.html

Not everyone notices the immediate affects that data mining has on each and every one of us like my example of the email that I sent to my manager, but have you ever seen an advertisement anywhere on the Internet that made you think, “wow this looks like it’s for me”? Many could argue that it is a coincidence, but some algorithms that companies have come up with may prove that statement to be false. Companies are targeting an even younger market than college students but those that are in grade school through sources that seem illegal. These children are becoming more and more protected because of legislation like the one proposed in Massachusetts.

Other Source used: http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/02/mass-bill-to-ban-data-mining-of-student-emails/

Be Aware...

We all want to be better understood as customers and data mining can be a valuable tool for helping businesses do just that. However, do the benefits of having your grocery store know your milk preference outweigh the risk of your personal information being accessible to virtually anyone who wants to find it? How many times have you given out your phone number, posted a status about a sporting event you’re at, or tweeted about the cool restaurant you’re having lunch at that day? How many companies have you given your email address and zip code to? Was that the same email address you use to log into Facebook, Twitter, or your email?

You are all aware of just how digitally connected our society is becoming. Over time we all spin a giant digital web of our personal information consisting of zip codes, email addresses, pictures, purchase history, etc. Of course, providing this type of information is all done in an innocent way. No one sees any risk in giving out such a seemingly harmless piece of information. I mean, you share your zip code with thousands of people so no one would be able to track you specifically, right?

If you put the right hound on the trail, more times than not, they can sniff out things you never intended for anyone to find. I’m talking about super sensitive things such as your location or your credit card information. Don’t believe me? There exists publicly accessible tracking software that allows you to enter very general information such as a person’s name and zip code and it pulls up all kinds of information on persons with that criteria. I tried this using my own name and zip code and it was able to find my class registration that I uploaded to a photography website 2 years ago. It included building and room numbers as well as the time I would be in those classes. This kind of information could allow for someone like me, who has no knowledge of hacking or programming at all, to access such sensitive information. What do you think a trained hacker would be able to find?

As if that isn't scary enough, let us introduce the increasingly accurate face recognition software. Sure it is nice not to have to tag everyone in your Facebook photos but is it really worth those extra 10 minutes you save? Not in my opinion. For Facebook to recognize you in a photo, they have to have the details of your face stored away in a database. Now, sure, that database is protected but there is still a copy of super sensitive information about the exact dimensions of your face out there somewhere. Google uses this same technology and allows you to Google a picture of someone and will search for that person (which is can recognize using one picture) across the internet. This is an example of the transition from the mining of data about you and the mining of data that is you.

The point of this message is to make you conscious of some of the threats out there and to ask you to guard your information. This is a reality that we all must be aware of in today’s society so I encourage you to think twice about what information you give out and to whom.