
Big Data can prevent terrorist attacks? Do you agree? - mzanirati
http://iniwall.com/2015/11/30/data-mining-to-fight-against-terrorism/
======
dalke
This link and the previous posting at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10977520](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10977520)
appear to be part of a sockpuppet campaign. The poster (who submitted the link
both times) and two of the uncritical respondents are all new accounts.

The only other comment is from me. I repeat and slightly update my earlier
comment here:

This link is of little value. Why should anyone believe that Big Data could
never be used to help prevent terrorist attacks?

Rather, lots of things can help us to prevent terrorist attacks. Depending on
who you talk to this may include: hire more police officers, accept more
refugees from Syria, record and analyze everyone's conversations and movement,
stop bombing civilian populations, expel all Muslims, and withdraw US forces
and other support from the Middle East.

As this article specifically supports Israeli methods to "track down enemies
of the Israeli state", I'll add that I support Sweden's position and its
recognition of the Palestinian state.

In that context, note also the statement "[suppose] a large percentage of
people from Country X have performed some form of terrorist attacks in last
years." Who do you think that "Country X" is supposed to be? To elaborate, I
think there's a clear implication that the author of this scenario believes
that a large percentage of the people in Palestine have recently performed
terrorist acts.

Bear in mind that the US estimates there are no more than 200,000 terrorists
in the world. (Says
[https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140506/14033627137/how-m...](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140506/14033627137/how-
many-terrorists-are-there-not-as-many-as-you-might-think.shtml) .) From the US
perspective there are no countries where 'a large percentage of people ...
have performed some form of terrorist attacks in last years', making the
scenario pointless. For the US, the problem is in how to deal with a very
small number of terrorists.

Though I suppose this piece could be targeted to xenophobic Americans who see
jihadist boogeymen in every corner. Which is another worldview I don't want to
support on HN.

------
shaqoneill78
It can, but how to preserve Privacy? How can you build that kind of predicting
system, without erasing personal freedom?

~~~
mzanirati
It's the biggest challenge!

