Google reports Flu Searches to Gov.

[creeky]

From the Drudge Report...

So yeah, I can see the advantage to this for the CDC.

But couldn't the same "system" be used for other things as well?

Data on searches for "High Capacity Magazines", "AR-15s", etc.

or "Obama abuses", "Biased Media", "Civil Rights Abuses", "Constitutional rights", etc.

Not trying to go all "Tin Hat" or anything, but having a wealth of data that can be tracked in "real time" and handed to the government... kinda creepy.

================ From Drudge ===================

SICK SURVEILLANCE: GOOGLE REPORTS FLU SEARCHES, LOCATIONS TO FEDS

Tue Nov 11 2008 15:34:50 ET

GOOGLE will launch a new tool that will help federal officials "track sickness".

"Flu Trends" uses search terms that people put into the web giant to figure out where influenza is heating up, and will notify the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in real time!

GOOGLE, continuing to work closely with government, claims it would keep individual user data confidential: "GOOGLE FLU TRENDS can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur each week."

Engineers will capture keywords and phrases related to the flu, including thermometer, flu symptoms, muscle aches, chest congestion and others.

Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of influenza surveillance at CDC: "One thing we found last year when we validated this model is it tended to predict surveillance data. The data are really, really timely. They were able to tell us on a day-to-day basis the relative direction of flu activity for a given area. They were about a week ahead of us. They could be used... as early warning signal for flu activity."

Eric Schmidt, GOOGLE's chief executive vows: "From a technological perspective, it is the beginning."

Thomas Malone, professor at M.I.T.: "I think we are just scratching the surface of what's possible with collective intelligence."

Developing...

Edited November 11, 2008 by creeky

[Guest SUNTZU]

Dr. No, chief of surveillance at the Alphabet Agency: "One thing we found last year when we validated this model is it tended to predict surveillance data. The data are really, really timely. They were able to tell us on a day-to-day basis the relative direction of gun activity for a given area. They were about a week ahead of us. They could be used... as early warning signal for gun activity."

Gre-e-e-e-a-a-a-t.

[creeky]

Yup... just what I was thinking.

Add to that search data for ammo...

UPC scans of ammo...

Google maps...

And then Google street view for the entry teams to collect intel.

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

Yup... just what I was thinking.

Add to that search data for ammo...

UPC scans of ammo...

Google maps...

And then Google street view for the entry teams to collect intel.

Somehow I doubt government agencies are going to consult Google Maps and/or street view for intel. I'm pretty sure they can get their hands on satellite imagery that's not several years old.

[Guest Ghostrider]

So, IF; hypothetically, in some other dimension; one of the tech guys were to build a really cool bot that, oh, I don't know, searched some vast intertubes search giant say, oh, every two seconds for a programmable set of parameters, like, say, chicken flu Ak swine - and were to mail that bot to, maybe 1000 people who ran it 24/7 for a few weeks, do you think that would "impact" their data any???

just sayin'...

[DRM]

This is exactly why I randomly search for many, many, many different things on google from time to time.

I figure if I've got a better chance slipping by "how to make an AK full auto" if I bury that search between "necrophiliac sex with chickens", "exploding prosthetic penis" and "bearskin jockstrap" searches...

I'm just saying...

[creeky]

Somehow I doubt government agencies are going to consult Google Maps and/or street view for intel. I'm pretty sure they can get their hands on satellite imagery that's not several years old.

I agree... I don't think they would.

But I do wonder what things they are currently in "Alpha" testing. Collected queries would not be available to the public but served direct to certain agencies. Baisicly like data mining.

As far as google maps are concerned you are exactly right, they would not depend on old satelite photos. However I mention this as how much information is already out there that we do know about... I speculate on the things we don't.

[Guest sling]

Woah weird.

I had this idea in my head that something like this was possible last year. I didnt actually think it would\could be implemented.

[TGO David]

Great... someone had to mention "bearskin jockstrap". Now we're definitely going to end up on a watch list.