Data Dilemmas in the Information Society: Introduction and Overview - Discrimination and Privacy in the Information Society - page 13

data we are collecting and processing. However, the amounts of data are
enormous, so we do need tools to deal with these huge amounts of data. Data
mining and profiling are exactly the type of technologies that may help us with
analyzing and interpreting large amounts of data.
It is important to stress that due to Moore's Law we cannot get around the need
for data mining and profiling tools. These tools, along with other tools for data
structuring and analysis, are extremely important and it would be very difficult for
an information society like ours if they would not be available. To stress this point
we will provide here some major advantages of profiling. The advantages of
profiling usually depend on the context in which they are used. Nevertheless,
some advantages may hold for many or most contexts. At times group profiles
may be advantageous compared to individual profiles. Sometimes profiling,
whether it is individual profiling or group profiling, may be advantageous
compared to no profiling at all. The main advantages of profiling, particularly of
group profiling, concern efficacy , i.e., how much of the goal may be achieved, and
efficiency , i.e., how easily the goal may be achieved. Data mining and profiling
may process huge amounts of data in a short time; data that is often too complex
or too great for human beings to process manually. When many examples are
present in databases, (human) prejudices as a result of certain expectations may be
avoided.
Profiling may be a useful method of finding or identifying target groups. In
many cases, group profiling may be preferable to individual profiling because it is
more cost efficient than considering each individual profile. This cost efficiency
may concern lower costs in the gathering of information, since less information
may be needed for group profiles than for individual profiles. Remember that if a
group profile is based on less information, it is usually less reliable (see Section
1.2.2). But higher costs may also be expected in the time-consuming task of
approaching individuals. While individuals may be approached by letter or by
phone, groups may be approached by an advertisement or a news item. Take as an
example baby food that is found to be poisoned with chemicals. Tracing every
person who bought the baby food may be a costly process, it may take too much
time, and some people may not be traced at all. A news item and some
advertisements, for instance, in magazines for parents with babies, may be more
successful.
Another advantage of group profiling over individual profiling is that group
profiles may offer more possibilities for selecting targets. An individual may not
appear to be a target on the basis of a personal profile, but may still be one. Group
profiles may help in tracking down potential targets in such cases. For instance, a
person who never travels may not seem an interesting target to sell a travel guide
to. Still, this person may live in a neighborhood where people travel frequently.
She may be interested in travel guides, not so much for using them for her own
trips, but rather to be able to participate in discussions with her neighbors. A group
profile for this neighborhood predicts this individual's potential interest in travel
guides, whereas an individual profile may not do so. Such selection may also turn
out to be an advantage for the targets themselves. For instance, members of a