Wide Open Data: NYC taxi dump catches strip club Johns Open Data zealots rarely give an individual’s privacy a thought – it’s just another obstacle to be driven over in their desire to provoke a data-powered revolution. But a gigantic dump of journeys made by licensed New York City taxis gives a vivid reminder of the dangers of careless data drops. Earlier this year a Freedom of …
The public is being scammed
Well, there really is no such thing as "the public" (a concept born of a smokescreen of confusion hiding the very special interest of having others pay for one's swimming pool). After taxation, bailouts, public debt ramp-ups, absent pension payouts and the "social security" Ponzi, this is decidedly one of the minor scams where vested interestes not of "the public" are being irreparably damaged. Care-o-meter at 0.
as the data can be enormously valuable
Many things can be enormously valuable. But so what?
Secondly, there’s really no such thing as anonymity.
A statement that is meaningless with no context. The quality of "anonymity" always exists in some context.
In Europe, data protection would have required the data dump to have done some basic anonymisation not just on the user ids, but also on the locations so that home and destinations could not be precisely located. this could have been achieved in a city area by reducing resolution to 100-200 metres, it's harder in rural and suburban areas. A known problem with some recommended practices to avoid this sort of issue.
of course in the US, personal privacy is not a legal right.
PS: totally agree regarding the value of data.. releasing it does transfer value from the data owner to the data user. the question becomes whether the indirect value that returns to the data owner (perhaps enhanced economic activity in New York, or improved transparency) is worth the loss in value. I support open data but lets be clear - the most valuable open data sets are valuable because they have high value to someone...
If you, or your sigificant other, go to strip clubs and you don't communicate it, you deserve whatever you get. If you are financially stable (or upwardly mobile), your employer shouldn't give a damn.
Here's a hint: if you want a zero-screaming-baby dining experience, and you don't give a rats ass about nudity, this is a good option (as long as the food's descent, and this depends on the club and the kitchen. Some in Atlanta are very good, but most others are lacking (I was going to say "they suck" but you might have gotten the wrong idea.)
This post has been deleted by its author
Am I the only one who finds it strange that taxi logs are covered by Freedom of Information?
Why? Because the TLC is a government body, and taxi owners/operators are required to submit certain info to them to ensure they're complying with regulations (overcharging, refusing service, taking the scenic route, etc)?
Didn't the EFF (or somebody similar) try to get GCHQ's canteen menu through a FOI request? That seemed strange too but there was a logic to it...
Yeah, this is a big problem. The people who think opening up all information is no problem, I've talked to one recently who was in college studying data mining. It was weird though. They knew they could de-anonymize most of the (supposedly) anonymous information they were using. They pushed for more and more information to be made available despite knowing it was not usefully anonymous, while simultaneously making it clear they'd be REAL pissed if their private information was let out. You know, like the facebook people who post (on what is after all a public forum owned by a 3rd party company) then get all pissed when someone finds this page.
I think it's in some sense cultural. I don't mean "Western culture", "American", etc. I mean some subset of online culture, where people simply stick their heads in the sand. They still are quite unhappy when their privacy is violated, but up until the very second their privacy is violated, they figure they don't have to worry in the least about their privacy (and, oddly, even AFTER their privacy is violated many will get made but still continue to do nothing to help protect their privacy.)
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
