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New Yorker Article Discusses Erosion of Privacy
An article by Jeffery Rosen in the June1st issue of The New Yorker magazine discusses the erosion of privacy in the United States. According to Rosen, the American legal system today offers fewer privacy protections than existed in the pre-Revolutionary War era. Rosen contrasts the treatment of gadfly Bristish publisher John Wilkes in 1763 with that of U.S. Senator Robert Packwood in 1995. After angering King George III, Wilkes was arrested for seditious libel and his personal papers seized at his home. But Wilkes was not only acquitted of the criminal charges but won two huge civil judgements against those who seized his papers.
More than two centuries later, when Senator Packwood tried to conceal his personal diaries from fellow-legislators, he found that legal protections for private papers had evaporated. (Senator Packwood was accused by more than two dozen former female Senate employees and lobbyists of making unwanted sexual advances during the 26 years he was a Senator.) Over the past 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has systematically chipped away at the 19th Century decisions that afforded Americans the same privacy rights that John Wilkes enjoyed in 1763. According to Rosen, the government's crusades for civil rights, and against white collar crime and drugs are largely responsible for the erosion of personal privacy rights. Moreover, the Supreme Court has stretched the media's protection against libel suits to the extent that such suits are almost impossible to win by anyone who is in any way "newsworthy." [It is interesting to note that U.S. Supreme Court Justices are extremely protective of their personal privacy and the secrecy of the Court's deliberations.]
Data and information quality are seriously harmed when privacy rights vanish. If politicians' personal diaries can be subpoenaed at a prosecutor's whim, what politician will maintain a personal diary? If elected officials are afraid to speak with their staff, with their legal counsel, and with friends about the events of the day, what will future generations know about the present? The article appears on page 36.
American Statistician Discusses Data Mining, Statistics
An article in this month's issue of The American Statistician discusses the present and future implications of "data mining" vis a vis statistical theory and methodology. The article was written by Professor David Hand, Statistics Department, The Open University, United Kingdom.
Dr. Hand defines "data mining" as the process of trawling through data in the hope of identifying pattterns. Unfortunately, many "patterns" are nothing but products of random fluctuations. Most statisticians are concerned with primary data analysis. That is, the data are collected with a particular question or questions in mind. According the the paper's author, "data mining" is entirely concerned with secondary data analysis. The paper's author views data mining as the process of secondary analysis of large databases aimed at finding unsuspected relationships which are of interest or value to the database owners. Accordingly, data mining is an inductive exercise, as opposed to the hypothesis-and-deduction approach of classical statistics.
One major problem that data mining poses for Statisticians is the huge size of the databases Statisticians may have to analyze. Huge databases may not be able to be efficiently processed by mainframe and personal computers. And, according to the article's author huge databases pose problems that statisticians have never have confronted in the in the past.
Unfortunately, the article's author only addresses the veracity of records in large databases, not their accuracy. It's evident fom the article that huge databases may pose large problems - for Statisticians, data users, and DQ/IQ analysts in the 21st Century. The article appears on page 112. The American Statistician is published by the American Statistical Association, and can be found in most college and university libraries. The ASA Web site can be found at: (http://www.amstat.org).
New York Times Interview with Joseph Stiglitz: Imperfect Information Drives Markets
A lengthy article in the May 31st issue of The New York Times analyzes the career of Economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who is currently Chief Economist of The World Bank. Dr. Stiglitz served as the Chairman of The Council of Economic Advisors between 1995 and 1997.
Much of Dr. Stiglitz's work is concerned with imperfect markets driven by imperfect information. Dr. Stiglitz challenged and changed the assumption that markets were efficient because there was perfect information. Rather, it appears that a pure market system assumes pure information.
According to Dr. Stiglitz's theories, corporations and organizations constantly make corrections because of lack of information (apparently, Dr. Stiglitz's theories don't consider the quality of information and data.) For example, in a pure market system employers are assumed to have a large amount of relevant data about employee performance. According to Stiglitz, employers don't have much relevant information about employee performance. So they take shortcuts like instituting an "efficiency wage" that is higher than the marketplace requires, but reduces turnover and absenteeism because workers know they can't receive higher wages elsewhere.
According to the Times, Dr. Stiglitz's imperfect information theories also mean that interventions can have unintended consequences. For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) insists that a country in trouble should raise interest rates, on the assumption that higher interest rates will attract foreign investors and lenders. But according to Dr. Stiglitz, there is inadequate information to prove that higher interest rates provide the right incentive for investment. He also maintains that, absent important information, leaders and investors can't distinguish between safe and risky deals.
According to the Times, Dr. Stiglitz's thinking evolved from his upbringing in Gary, Indiana, where layoffs and steel mill closings exemplified imperfect markets. The article was written by Louis Uchitelle, and appeared in the "Money&Business" Section.