Category Archives: Diatribe

Privacy, Poverty and Perspective

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Timothy Keller

The largest encampment of homeless people in the United States is in the Silicon Valley.  Given the level of homeless in the area, perhaps that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The proximity of that homeless camp to Sand … Continue reading →

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The Third Element of Today’s Privacy Problem

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Timothy Keller

  It’s people.  We’ve talked about the NSA and governments generally.  We’ve talked about Google and Facebook and other corporate actors.  Finally now, we have to consider people.  Not their actions in the conduct of their work – however much … Continue reading →

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Data Is Not Everything – There Is Not an Objective Metric for Everything

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Timothy Keller

  My apologies for not posting anything last week.  I was at a conference. Much of the conference was about how in-house counsel measures the performance of outside counsel. The mantra of the day: If you can’t measure it you … Continue reading →

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Seriously, it’s Not Just the NSA

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Timothy Keller

Last week we discussed how the NSA has to get its data from somewhere, and it turns out the NSA gets it from us – via Google and friends.  The essential point made was that private enterprise also deserves scrutiny … Continue reading →

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The Future of Violating Your Privacy

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Timothy Keller

Let’s discuss the personal information of the future – medical information.  Not just any information – information about your DNA.  (Please remember we don’t say personally identifiable information here at Big Data and the Law.) Miinome, a Minneapolis start-up is, … Continue reading →

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Big Data Malpractice

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Timothy Keller

Garbage in, garbage out.  Remember that?  Some related observations from the article we discussed in our last post: The word “data” connotes fixed numbers inside hard grids of information, and as a result, it is easily mistaken for fact. But … Continue reading →

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The 3D Gun Printing Example – Maybe There are Some People You Don’t Want on Your Side

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Timothy Keller

This is not a hit job on Cody Wilson, tempting though it might be to write one. Here’s the thing – if I shared his world view, however you might define it, I wouldn’t want him on my side.  For … Continue reading →

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California Attorney General Goofs Again

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Timothy Keller

We’re back to the problems the California Attorney General is having with constructively addressing privacy issues with mobile apps.  As you know, Attorney General took two big actions with respect to those issues.  The second big action was the release … Continue reading →

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Big Data and Financial Markets – Just Because We Can Do It Doesn’t Mean We Should Do It

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Timothy Keller

So it appears it’s possible to predict movement in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Serious technical stuff about this is here: http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130425/srep01684/full/srep01684.html Less scholarly stuff, pretty much all over the place. As you know, here at Big Data and the … Continue reading →

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Comments about the SEC – Social Media Thing are Annoying

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Timothy Keller

The two most annoying things about the SEC – Social Media discussion are (a) the people that don’t get it, and (b) the people that say other people don’t get it. This sometimes happens when two worlds collide.  In this … Continue reading →

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