A quick check of the news and posts about what people (particularly municipalities) are doing or planning for databases will show that there are indeed big plans. From better gun purchase background checks to military participation in adding names to watch lists for criminal activity to gang affiliations and much, much more
One of these that was a little surprising to see was a cold case database, available and open to the public. This was an effort to open up this type of case and get public input into possibly finding new leads or new ideas on solving these cold case crimes. Interesting, but taken with everything else that is considered and underway already, it’s pretty clear we’re headed for a different era of data awareness and information availability.
For those that thought customization was the big deal concerning privacy and all of that, consider what information has to be opened up to make a cold case database available to the public. Or a combination of other databases that will be available – it’s only a matter of time before bridges between these systems are created and available.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Great, as long as it’s “not in my backyard,” would be the answer from many, I suspect.
The thought of using this information to hunt down otherwise cold cases or to provide better background checks (employment, guns, whatever) and all of that is very helpful.
You have to wonder, though, who’s interpreting and making the rules for these aggregations? I don’t think it’s a matter of whether these systems will be created and deployed, but more “when.” It’s time to consider how this information will be used and combined.
I suspect that last one – combining information, will be quite a hurdle, with many lessons learned along the way to getting it right.
But there is little doubt that’s where we’re moving. If you look at the extremely strong pull to know more about people, to understand and proactively react (is it possible to proactively react?) to clues about intent and expected actions, it’s going to be very important to step cautiously into this.
Think about all of books, movies and stories that have been written addressing this very thing. I suspect society COULD be better off with better awareness of these types of combined looks at people and their intentions. We’ll have to figure out, though how that filters into taking action on those predictions. That will be a very challenging understanding and reliance on the information indeed.