Data mining can lead us into trouble in the present for something that wasn’t considered wrong previously🧠
The definition of “wrong” is often arbitrary, and can quickly change. For example, in the US in the 1930s, being a Communist or a Socialist was an intellectual trend and was not considered wrong among the educated classes. In the 1950s, that changed dramatically with the witchhunts of Senator Joseph McCarthy, when many Americans found their careers destoyed once their political history had been publicly disclosed.
This situation is of course exacerbated by how ubiquitous surveillence and data mining eliminates the ephemerality of our past words and actions. Fishing expiditions can go back into the past and find things we may have done 10, 15, or 20 years ago and counting. Today’s adults were able to move beyond their youthful indiscretions, but todays youth will not have that freedom because entire histories will be on permenent record.
References
- Schneier, Bruce. (2015). Data and Goliath The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World CHapter 7. Political Liberty and Justice (Location 1486). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.