Yep, Data, Nothing But 'Big Data' and the Protection of Democracy the Imperfekt

In their timely book, ‘Big Data,’ by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier, looks at the growth and future of mega-number crunching, as reflected in Google, Amazon -- and the National Security Agency. The NY Times reviews it here -- looks to be an important and interesting book. Read it along with Jaron Lanier's "Who Owns the Future ?"here which discusses the economic ramifications of the internet and how micro-compensation for the use of our personal information within Big Data crunching could be a solution to dwindling employment in the US and help stimulate the economy by generating new forms of modest wealth.  If, as the authors promise, Big Data will be the next really big thing that will change everything, it won't go away soon, so it's benefits, as well as its dangers, need to be discussed and understood.

An interesting NY Times article addresses the political aspects of the NSA 'Big Data' controversy and how a national debate on this issue is unlikely due to secrecy here

Whether Edward Snowden, the contractor-employee with access to National Security Agency inforamtion, who broke the story to the (UK) Guardian is a "traitor," as GOP Speaker John Boehner suggests or a whistleblower  as the Guardian suggests, this is an issue, as even the President suggests, worthy of debate and discussion. While this may impact the ideal of  civil liberties, the reality may be that democracy, an imperfect institution needs to be protected:

As Winston Churchill said in a speech in the House of Commons on 11 November 1947 said: "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

--Anthony Napoli
Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn