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Combating Undesired Data Mining and Privacy Issues
Home » Enterprise Software » Data Mining » Combating Undesired Data Mining and Privacy IssuesIndividuals can reduce the amount of data mining that finds and shares their individual information by making use of any number of spam fighting software programs that hide their personal information, shopping choices, and internet searching patterns. However, there is no way to completely eliminate data mining, even if you never use a computer. Your personal information can be found on government data bases and in computerized medical records. Insurance companies share information as they work cooperatively to provide appropriate health care, but this information could also be mined and used for other purposes that are not beneficial to the individual.
If employers use health care records to assist them in selecting the right person for a promotion, then there might be legal and ethical issues raised about the use of that information. If an employer runs a credit check before making a hiring decision, then there may be issues with the use of that information as well. But if being conscientious with money is a requirement for the job and the applicant is aware of the credit check before it occurs, then those issues may not exist. So much personal information is available to those who know how to find it. However, whether or not the individual has granted permission for the viewing and use of that information is critical to the issue unless that information is grouped together with others in a similar situation to show an overall trend.
Summing it up by saying that there are appropriate and inappropriate reasons for data mining may seem trite, but in this issue, the end result is often the factor that determines into which category the situation may fall. There are avenues to follow if you believe that your personal information has been used inappropriately, and some of those avenues are through the legal system. In most cases, however, consumers are finding that they must learn to live in a world of glass houses while we search for the chord which draws the blinds.
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