please read and rewrite in your own words

Department Chair CIS Gabriela Ziegler

9/15/2015

Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 California Data-Mining Project 3 2.1 Summary 3 2.2 Benefits 3 2.3 Criticisms 4 3.0 Pentagon Data-Mining Project 4 3.1 Summary 4 3.2 Benefits 4 3.3 Criticisms 5 4.0 Conclusion 5 References 6

Running Head: CURRENT DATA-MINING PROJECTS IN USA

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CURRENT DATA-MINING PROJECTS IN USA

The USA Government seeks for data about its citizens for various reasons that are of public importance. The USA government gathers data through online extraction methods because the data is useful when promoting national security and enforcing the law. The government engages in data mining because it is cheap, convenient, efficiency, fast and it promotes accountability. Terror attacks in the past have forced the USA government to engage in online data mining projects in a bid to curb the terror attacks. However, the data-mining projects have been criticized because they violate the privacy and security of the citizens. This research paper discusses the summary, benefits and criticisms of two current data projects being undertaken by the USA government. The first project is known as the California data mining project whereas the second one is called the Pentagon data mining project. The California data mining project I in the health sector and it aims at improving the quality of healthcare services in California. The Pentagon Data mining project focuses on counterterrorism. The California Data-Ming project is in the first part of the report whereas the Pentagon data mining project in the second part of the report.

The California Health insurance exchange (Covered California) seeks to find out why people got sick during the summer. It has enrolled approximately 1.4 million people in a bid to gather data on hospital stays, prescriptions and doctor visits for the Obamacare patients. Covered California is in charge of the project, and it will cost the state approximately $ 9.3 million dollars. The database will be run by Truven Health Analytics Inc (Michigan) (Julie, 2015).The collection of data is scheduled to take place during the fall. All the Obamacare patients will be included in the project because it will offer reliable information about the quality of patient care provided in California. Medical experts and consumer groups within California will provide their feedbacks and sentiments about the project. Covered California intends to comply with health ethics so as to protect the consumers’’ privacy and security (Chad, 2015).

The data mining projects will measure the level and quality of care that patients receive, and it will ascertain whether the medical providers and insurers are accountable for the actions. Further, it will assess whether the patients benefit from the Affordable Care Act. The project will track the extent by which chronic conditions such as diabetes are managed by the healthcare providers (Chad, 2015). Further, it will show w the extent by which early screening and tests for cancer contributes to timely diagnosis and treatment. The information obtained from the project will help the state to convince the health insurers about lowering the premiums. The data collected from the project will; play a significant role in quality improvement, and it will enhance the referral and billing processes within California (Julie, 2015).

The California Data-Mining project has been criticized because it is likely to compromise the Patients’ privacy. The state government has not provided the necessary information to the customers as to how the information and data obtained during the project will be utilized. Similarly, there are concerns that the projects may compromise the patients’ security due to the massive breaches that have affected health insurers such as Anthem Inc (Julie, 2015). Covered California mishandled the consumer's information during the rollout of the Obamacare by sharing the participants’ information with the enrollment counselors and insurance agents without their consent. Accordingly, the public may lose confidence in the data mining project. The data mining project will be costly for Covered California. It is most likely that the new information that will be obtained from the project will not impact on health care delivery within California (Chad, 2015).

The DOD (USA Department of Defense) funded a data-mining project in 2014. The aim of the project was to come up with data mining and analytical tools to aid the US military intelligence service when tracking political radicalism. The project will increase the Pentagon's ability to assess the surveillance data and to analyze the extent to which individuals and groups threaten citizens (Naafez, 2014).The project targets political radicalism in activist groups all over the world such as British Muslims. Further, the scope and reach of the project include Europe and the USA too. The project will rely on a comprehensive network that will gather data such as the Minerva Research Initiative. Data mining will lead to successful drone strikes by unilaterally targeting and assassinating the terrorist suspects and their accomplices. Therefore, the project will take USA's intelligence system a notch high (Naafez, 2014).

The Pentagon project will create sophisticated data mining tools that will analyze large amounts of online materials such as discussions forums, WebPages, and tweets. The project has numerous modeling techniques and algorithms that will categorize and rank all organizations whether religious or political (Naafez, 2014). There is a radicalism scale will automatically measure the extent to which various networks, organizations, and individuals threaten the USA's stability and interests. Further the project will identify and locate various individuals by ranking them depending on the propensity to terrorism. The project will reduce the incidence of terror attacks all over the world because it will spy on the Muslims and activists all over the. The project's analytical capability world can identify potential terrorists, and it can pursue and point out high-value targets of the terror groups (Naafez, 2014).

The data mining project has inherent flaws that are likely to criminalize opposition leaders, and it may target innocent civilians. The project has limitations because the criteria that it uses to label organizations as either political or radical or religious. The terrorism scale casts doubt about the propensity for violence for the groups that call for religious, political and social change (Naafez, 2014). The project does not differentiate between nonviolent and violent radicalism because most of the political movements that may seem to be radical are not violent, and they do not destabilize security within the country. Therefore, the project is highly flawed because of the ambiguous and imprecise definitions of violence and radicalism. Similarly, the scaling system is vague because it offers broad definitions of radicalism and violence (Naafez, 2014).

In conclusion, this research paper has provided the summary, benefits and criticisms of two current data projects being undertaken by the USA government namely: California data mining project and the Pentagon data mining project. The Covered California seeks to find out why people got sick during the summer through the California data mining project. The analytics used in the California Project are the number of hospital stays, prescriptions and doctor visits for the Obamacare patients. The California project ascertains whether the medical providers and insurers are accountable for the actions. However, the project is likely to compromise the consumer’s safety and privacy. The Pentagon data mining project was financed by the USA Department of Defense) and it commenced in 2014. The Pentagon Data mining project aims at by increasing the US military's intelligence when it comes to dealing with terrorists and political activism. The project aims at coming up with data mining and analytical tools that will enhance Pentagon’s ability to access and analyze the surveillance data concerning various groups and individuals. The analytics in the Pentagon project include discussions forums, WebPages, and tweets. The Pentagon project may interfere with innocent civilians and criminalize innocent opposition leaders. The ranking criteria used in the Pentagon project are flawed and vague because it does not offer detailed definitions of radicalism and violence.

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Viewed on: 9th September 2015

Viewed on: 9th September 2015