Category: Big Data
What is PII (Personal Identifiable Information)
United States General Services Administration defines PII as
“any information about an individual maintained by an agency, including (1) any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual‘s identity, such as name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother‘s maiden name, or biometric records; and (2) any other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.” So, for example, a user’s IP address as used in a communication exchange is classed as PII regardless of whether it may or may not on its own be able to uniquely identify a person.
Why is this important to you:
A company as the obligation to keep your name safe and secure from thieves (crooks, hackers, the bad guys).
Depending on the type of information lost/stolen, an individual may suffer social, economic, or physical harm. If the information lost is sufficient to be exploited by an identity thief, the person can suffer, for example, from a loss of money, damage to credit, a compromise of medical records, threats, and/or harassment. The individual may suffer tremendous losses of time and money to address the damage. Other types of harm that may occur to individuals include denial of government benefits, blackmail, discrimination, and physical harm.
Because of the power of modern re-identification algorithms (aka data science), the absence of PII data does not mean that the remaining data does not identify individuals.
Cookies
http://www.acxiom.com/About-Acxiom/Privacy/How-Cookies-Work/
What is Big Data?
I’ve been working with customer data for over 20 years now. I’ve seen good data, bad data, black data, red data, big data and bigger data.
Big data is not lots and lots of data; well actually it sort of is, but that not all it is.
Big data has 3 components. These three components must provide value and insight to the user.
Let me explain…
A group of data programming geeks were consulting on site for a large airplane manufacture. They were creating a large data warehouse to store all sorts of details about a planes engine, parts and maintenance details. Each part was to be tracked and available for complex queries. It is big data but it is not Big Data, yet.
A lot of information is collected regarding an aircraft. Mandatory maintenance schedules and updates are recorded. All maintenance (scheduled or unscheduled) must be recorded, commercial and private. This is not a requirement for cars/trucks; cars don’t fall from the sky, yet.
Side Note: Should autonomous cars have mandatory maintenance schedule to be used? Like an aircraft? For example a check point for the vehicle may be required to be road worthy a scheduled intervals.
With tons of data being entered into storage, where to you begin? This is new data to the user, there needs to be exploration to find new patterns that provide insight to decision making. Add lots of information together, so that it is accessible to ask ‘what if’, ‘when if’, ‘why if’… and answering that question is BIG DATA
The geeks, analysts, programmers had already defined that an unscheduled repair is 1000x more costly than a scheduled repair. A well known statistic in transportation. What what can you do about it? How do you find new scheduled repairs that prevent costly unscheduled repairs? Using the data to define benefit or advantage is BIG DATA.
BTW – you don’ t need lots of data to have Big Data. Just Big Value.
Weather forecasts are a user of Big Data. The weather data points have been recorded for centuries. We have applied analytics to this data to create weather forecasts (aka predictive analytics). Weather forecast are a result of Big Data – using history to find patterns to forecast the weather.
Big Data can come from all sorts of sources.
You can see from the chart below ‘every minute of the day’, we as individuals create tons of social data every time we use social apps.
Data is not just created by website searches; is also also created every-time we take a digital picture, a doctor scans a patient on digital film, or a Fitbit collecting steps. This is new data that didn’t exist so long ago.
Side Note: There were pedometers when I was a child. They measured your steps the same way, by movement. Today ‘Fitbits’ are a rebirth of an old tool. The ability to report and share your metrics changed the industry.
If you are digital health geek, you create your own Big Data. Tracking your vitals, exercise, food intake and sleep patterns, gives you insight into goals.
The power behind Amazon
Amazon.com is an example of a business whose primary assets are its databases. Amazon has advertised itself as Earth’s largest bookstore, based on the millions of books they list in their database. Amazon also sells a variety of other products from music CDs to lawnmowers. The database keeps track of source inventory levels and processes sales transactions.
Another Amazon distinctive is the amount of information it keeps on its customers. In addition to the usual name and address information, Amazon keeps track of what products customers have bought in the past, and even of what they have shown an interest in but not bought. With this information, they automatically construct a profile of each customer.
Whenever a repeat customer visits the Amazon site, a personalized screen appears that advertises products they are most likely to buy, based on the preferences indicated by their profile. This profile is stored in a database, which is updated every time a customer returns to the site. Each return to the Amazon Web site, offers new recommendations specifically targeted to the customer.
Now add al that information to the 1 million Echo households in the U.S. And how that data becomes a valuable assets for any company.
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! Digital, on-demand, real-time not your typical newspaper.
If you are my age or older, there was a time you used the newspaper as a source of information. You saved clippings. Read the funnies. A weeks worth of unread papers had it’s own special place in your home. You may have even had a paper route as a teenager – I did.
If you don’t know what a paper route is, it was a job most teenagers could handle. You got paid for each paper you delivered. The more papers you delivered they more you earned. It was a direct income job. You managed subscriptions, collected payment and managed your supply chain. You owned a route, usually in your own neighborhood. The first paper route I had was a daily newspaper. 7 days a week, everyday of the year including all holidays and bad weather. The second route I had was the Observer, which was only published twice a week. And if you don’t know what a newspaper is you are young.
My 8 year old nephew was recently grounded from the TV and other electronic devices. He is very passionate about his sport scores, stats and updates. Not just who won the game but his is interested in the details. It was killing him not to know how the game when last night. So we purchased a newspaper and an ice cream cone and we read the paper together. This was the first time he had seen the sports section of a national daily printed newspaper. He was surprised to see the stats and scores laid out on this huge piece of paper in black and white. He didn’t’ really know what a newspaper was or what information was available. My nephew’s generation has not yet been named but it will be a generation without the printed press. He is growing up in a culture of always digital, on-demand and real-time.
Credit Card Charges – Part I
Not many people balance their credit card statements. (Not sure who balances their checkbook today, besides my mom – she says it is therapeutic?!??!) I have always given my credit card statements a quick glance, looking for charges I didn’t make. But recently I met someone who religiously balances his charge statements, in a course of one year, he found approximately $500 in overcharges, not in his favor. (Oh, of course there were some charges that were in his favor – he didn’t bother to correct these.)
So I started watching my credit card charges more carefully. Here are the 3 mistakes I caught in 3 months:
Echo – my newest gadget
I’m not sure what exactly sparked my interest in Echo. I was listening to a podcast where the host was bragging about the thing. And then my Jawbone speaker started acting up. I’m already an Amazon Prime customer, so I went for it (without any deep research into the product).
What is an Echo? It is not as helpful as Rosie Jetson, but it can tell a joke when you ask. Echo is a gadget similar to a smart watch but for your house. She responds to the name Alexa, and responds to your verbal questions (I say she – because it is a women’s voice and a female name). It looks like a small speaker. A little bit Siri, Google, and a Radio. It is hands free, you can shout out commands (or just ask politely) as you move from room to room in your house (Alexa order soap; Alexa set timer for 5 minutes). It is an Amazon product and has a lot of features that you find on Amazon. You can order, buy and have delivered any product from Amazon. (Alexa, ‘order my dishsoap’. A couple of ‘yes’ confirmations and your Amazon box will arrive on your porch.)
I do have a couple of disappointments regarding the Echo. First the marketing material was too grand and general (connects to any smart home devices – ‘any’ has been misused.) Second all the help and how-tos are tucked in the Echo product page on Amazon shopping site, most of the information is a sales pitch and not detailed owner instructions. and there is not a lot of information available. Ironically some of the information is found in the Alexa app – but you have to have a Echo otherwise why would you need the app.
Here are some of my thoughts on Echo:
- The number of devices compatible with Echo are still limited. Most of the equipment I already own are non-compatible. I currently use a Comcast security system, which includes the thermostat and lights. It would nice to be able to use the Echo voice control for these setting or even play the security notifications through the Echo speaker.
- Past tech conferences and journalist have discussed the end-less possibilities of integration. But a lot of the cool features are still in the works. I guess I still have to use my mobile app to start my car in the morning. Maybe when Echo is a little older she will be able to start the car.
- I currently use Apple products at home. Echo connects your Google accounts for calendars and reminders. And that is the only calendar Echo connects to. So I now have to either start using Google calendar on my Apple devices. Or to use the Echo for my personal scheduling and reminders.
- Echo is a household item, it does not recognize different voices or preferences. Everyone is equal, including company.
- You can not talk on the phone using Echo as your Bluetooth receiver.
- Echo will not read your incoming text to you.
- Echo cannot read horoscopes. Not everything you ask on Google is available on Echo. Similar to mobile apps someone has to develop the app for Echo to so something (like search and read horoscopes) and then you have to download (install) that to your Echo. There will be lots of young developers (and maybe older) playing in this space. Providing joke apps, affirmation apps, recaps.
- Although we have this information available via an internet browser, Echo has to convert it from Text to Speech. The search results on a web page might be too ‘tangled’ for a machine to find the right content and ‘read’.
- You can not ask Echo about Echo. It does not support questions regarding its own tech help. For example if you ask: ‘how do you connect a new device?’ Answer: I do not know who to answer that question.
- It does record every question and answer you ask it. And on your Echo app (or Alexa App) you can rate the response. I’m confident this data is being captured and mined for machine learning.
- Echo is learning and adding all the time. Last week they announced the integration of Domino’s and Uber. Unfortunately, I only order pizza about twice a year and not from Domino’s. And well in the D, we tend to be attached to our vehicles, so it will be a long while before I become a regular home pickup Uber user. I’m sure there will be a new feature for me to use soon.
There are a lot of possibilities and apps for Echo, they are just not yet integrated into the software yet. Echo should be able to control my garage door (Craftsman), adjust my thermostat (Comcast) or even remote start my car (OnStar) via my Echo.
Echo is part of the whole environment of Internet of Things (IoT), as well as Craftsman, Comcast and OnStar. They all produce products that are controlled digital as long as you have an internet connection. And basically anything that can be connected or powered by a (mobile) app – should be able to receive commands from Echo.
You send a voice command to Echo. Echo connects to the IoT and access the digital app that controls the garage opener. This sends a command to open/close the door. To remotely access the garage opener, it will require you to set up your accounts and logins for the applications. And along with this convenience we open digital data to be vulnerability.
As for the developers on this product, they have a so many products to connect to Echo. The list may have them working for decades. And I don’t think this technology will go out of style soon. Yes, robotics are on the rise and there will be moving smart things in our homes (beyond Roomba). But right now I’m happy with Echo has my home command center and I’m happy to get easy access to updated news stories, weather reports and scores without having to sit at the computer (or tablet) and open an app or browser.