The New York Times had an informative but frankly alarming article about the research that maps out every fact about each of us. The article is called “You For Sale: A Data Giant is mapping, and sharing, the consumer genome.”
The article describes the vast “data-mining” business that collects, stores, and sells about 1,500 data points for every one of us. Corporations are buying financial and health information, as well as the consumer preferences of almost every one of us. Says the article, “It’s as if the ore of our data-driven lives were being mined, refined and sold to the highest bidder, usually without our knowledge–by companies that most people rarely even know exist.”
Data-driven, data-mining. The wave of the future. Hundreds of millions of federal education dollars spent to build data storehouses in every state for every child, tracking his or her test scores, courses, teachers, health, behavior, choices, extracurricular activities, postsecondary education, career, everything. Cradle to grave.
Please, will someone explain to me what is good about this? Why does the government need to do all these things about us? Why do corporations need to snoop into every corner of our lives?
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
First question: The good is that some business can make more money, and Axciom receives a fee for providing the service, that is, if you consider that someone is making a profit off of your personal information without your permission is fine and dandy. This is, as the article stated at the end, basically an illegal search that is not conducted by the government but a private company. Is it okay for me to come into your house unbeknownst to you and catalog any and everything that I see including personal information, compile it and sell it so others can use that information for their own profitable motives? Personally, I think this company should be notifying me, getting my permission and then paying me anytime it does anything with any of my PRIVATE information.
Second question: It’s not the government that is doing this (although I wouldn’t doubt that the FBI, NSA, or CIA might not have a hand in this) but a private for profit corporation. It’s worse than the government as there is absolutely no recourse for anyone to see what is going on-not that it’s that much better in dealing with governmental agencies, at least there is the Freedom of Information Act. By asking this question you are confusing and conflating government and a business. Now the question might be asked: “Why does the government allow this?” (even though the government is doing the exact same thing with its data mining systems and then your question holds but the article was not about the government doing this).
Third question: The need is to make a ton of money by “stealing” others “resources” without paying them or even notifying them.
There aren’t anymore continents to exploit, all the natural resources are difficult to extract and the only thing left to exploit is……us.
For money! To use for sensationalizing! To use in propaganda! To drive us crazy! 🙂
Thanks for this post. I had the opportunity to talk with you about state longitudinal data systems when you were in Portland, Diane. EPIC attorney Joel Reidenberg, quoted in the article, has sued the USED to block FERPA rule changes.
http://epic.org/privacy/student/
Also relevant is the increase trend in “flipped classrooms.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/flipped-classroom-models-_n_1594279.html
Khan Academy is touted to play a significant role in the adoption of the Common Core Standards in Oregon.
link: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=3501
Yet what do we know about how data will be mined and “refined” through Khan Academy (and other internet-based “flipped” classroom tools)?
http://www.khanacademy.org/about/privacy-policy
Simple: National security. Ask the powers that be.