"HNC Developing New Air Security Software"

[Paul E. Robichaux]

HNC made their nut selling neural networks to a variety of friendly
neighborhood TLAs and credit-card issuers. I suspect that their "new"
software is just a neural network trained with surveillance and ticketing
data. Hardly new.

-----Original Message-----
From: James B. DiGriz [mailto:jbdigriz at dragonsweb.org] 
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 4:11 PM
To: cypherpunks at einstein.ssz.com
Subject: "HNC Developing New Air Security Software"


Xeni Jardin wrote:

> The Reuters story follows, and the HNC corporate press release 
> announcing the project is here:
> 
> <http://www.hnc.com/hnc/PressReleases/index.cfm?PressID=112&attributes
> .f
> useaction=ShowRelease>
> 
> press release excerpt:
> 
> <<By detecting and scoring anomalous patterns in millions of 
> reservation records and other related data, the predictive software 
> could identify suspicious transactions. Flagged information can be 
> immediately investigated by experts to increase security and travel 
> efficiency.... With the ability to instantly analyze all available 
> structured data and unstructured data, airlines could proactively take 
> critical action related to passenger safety.
> 
> "By using high-end risk analytics and decisioning engines, we can help 
> airlines, airports and law enforcement agencies identify patterns that 
> warrant further investigation - without intrusive security measures," 
> explained John Mutch, chief executive officer of HNC. "Much of HNC's 
> technology research has been funded over the years by defense and 
> intelligence organizations. We're delighted to put this technology to 
> use to increase traveler safety."
> 
> HNC's Critical Action software, which uses anonymous mathematical 
> algorithms that cannot be reverse engineered, identifies patterns in 
> data that would not be noticed using any other method. HNC's 
> technology can scan structured and unstructured data, detect patterns, 
> categorize, prioritize and automatically route information to relevant 
> security agency personnel.>>
> 
> --XJ
> 

I'm dubious about the "anonymous mathematical algorithms that cannot be

reverse engineered" part, and I'm skeptical about the "we're gonna cork

up the mind of God and bottle it for those worthy/rich enough to afford

it" aspect. Sounds like snake oil to me.

Data mining, pattern-recognition, AI, ubiquitous surveillance, etc. are

just tools. The biggest danger, beyond flawed premises in the code, such 

as, for instance, ignoring second-order and higher observer loop effects,

or  beyond willful misuse, is GIGO. The central issues are still 

political, anyway. None of this matters if I'm not bothering you and you

come fuck with me, in other words. And, hey, two can play the same game. 

Thank you, Mr. Felsenstein, et al.

Choate, feel free to forward to psychohistory.

jbdigirz