Federal dataveillance: implications for constitutional privacy protections

Modern computers can receive, store and manipulate a massive amount of data on consumers which can be used to target individuals who may be interested in consumer products or services. The law enforcement community is also interested in this same data. Sophisticated programming, known as "knowledge discovery in databases" (KDD) is employed to sift through these "digital dossiers" and look for patterns of behavior that fit the profile of an individual planning terrorist activity. The author posits that rights to personal information privacy are in conflict with the intelligence community's belief that this data mining is the best tool available protect the public by identifying possible terrorists. Kuhn discusses the current "conceptualizations" of privacy and proposes a synthesis that will protect individual privacy interests in personal information.