Do we as a society value privacy or safety more? A lieutenant in the University Police Department System in California argues that we have already made our answer clear through the increasing use of the internet and Social Media.  Michael Morris makes the controversial stand in his essay that since we have already “forfeited” our privacy through our ever growing interconnectedness. By this logic Morris argues that University Officials would be mistaken to not implement data mining in order to catch early warning signs of threatening behavior.

As morally upright as the end game of saving lives in his argument stands, the means by which it might be accomplished directly contradicts what many people value about living in the United States. I, myself, disagree with a few key aspects of the suggestion.

Morris mentions the complicated algorithms used to organize data into usable information such as screen or early warning signs of violent behavior. This seems like a practical application of such tech, but then Morris compares it with a concerning example of data mining. I know personally when I have been with my parents at a store far from home or on a vacation, the most stressful thing is having to call our credit card company and explain, and prove beyond a doubt that our card has not been stolen. A stressful inconvenience that results from a predictive algorithm, but ultimately with a little consequence. Now imagine being stopped or detained by a police officer and going through a night of interrogation all because your name was flagged by an error or coincidence in a large scale algorithm. A concern that sounds eerily similar to a dystopian situation in Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, in which the Department of Homeland Security begins detaining and interrogating thousands of innocent citizens because of flaws in their “terrorist detecting algorithm”.

I don’t think Officials of the Law should ignore explicitly concerning data about gun orders and suicide notes, but I do take issue with the extent data mining could influence the freedom in our speech, actions, and lives. When does venting on the internet end and threatening start? Morris makes valid points regarding the potential safety of the group, but sacrifices the independence of the individual.