Briefs

WashingtonTechnology.com, By Alice Lipowicz, 12/03/07

Although the Homeland Security Department terminated a controversial visual analytics data mining program this summer, it continues to engage in visual analytics research in a separate program, a spokeswoman confirmed.

The ongoing visual analytics research at the Science and Technology Directorate is being publicized as a means of eventually identifying terrorists through potential use of data collected from video surveillance footage, cell phone calls, photos, bank records, chat rooms and e-mails. But no real-world, operational data is actually being used in the research, said DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa.

"It relies on synthetic data," Kudwa said. "It is purely research on ways to interact with data."

Visual analytics is considered a form of data mining, which is defined as use of computer programs to find hidden patterns in large amounts of data and to use those patterns to predict behavior. Data mining is widely used in commerce, but it has been controversial in homeland security because of the fears of privacy loss and civil-rights violations. In visual analytics, the data is mapped in two- and three-dimensional formats and sometimes animated.

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