Yue (Ivy) Blog #9: Internet and Data Mining

Privacy in the modern world is a hot topic, especially in light of the Internet and data mining.  A while ago I came across an article in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/14/business/yourmoney/14wal.html?_r=0) about what Wal-Mart knows about your consumption habits. According to the article, Wal-mart holds 460 terabytes of information, twice as much data present in the Internet. The suggested extrapolations made possible by this only went as far as to assert that there is a rise in the demand for Pop-Tarts during a storm and that beer is a top-selling item pre-storm. In my opinion, there is immense value in knowing why people purchase things. Walmart has spent $4 billion, and is projected to invest even more, to be able to track an individual item from its point of production to its end consumer.

Coincidentally, I was told a story. A teenage girl’s father starts getting massive amounts of coupons for diapers even though there are obviously no infants in the household. Infuriated the father takes the coupons and gives the Target manager a piece of his mind. Several days later the daughter admits the inevitable as she can no longer maintain her secret.

Does target know more about our daughters than we do? Yes and no.

Even now as I type away about diapers, I am protected (by a computer screen) because I am not myself. I am one of my voices, which I have practiced to detach from what I really think about what I am saying and how it pertains to me. You will notice, I’ve given you mostly facts and interesting connections between them, and all the while we have communicated. But has it been private or public?

It is hard to tell.