Homeland Security is shelving a $42 million data mining system, following revelations that the system development was paused after a report that it was tested using personal data without first doing a required privacy audit, according to a story from the Associated Press.
The system, known as ADVISE, was developed as a data mining and data visualization tool that could handle massive amounts of data - as much as 1 billion pieces of structured data per hour - that could be used by many different agencies across the government. DHS has decided, however, that commercially available software would be cheaper -- and likely, much less controversial.
The data sets used by the tests included the no-fly list, the selectee list, special immigration lists and a database about foreign students studying in the United States.
In July, the DHS Privacy Office slapped the hand (.pdf) of the Science and Technology Division, which developed ADVISE, saying no tests should have been done on real data until the systems file a privacy impact assessment (a government requirement for new technology).
Don't think the dream of massive data mining and secret link revelations is dead inside the government, however.
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