Data Analytics, Surveillance, and Privacy: Key Concepts in Business and Government

Data Trail

an electronic record of the transactions or activities of a person or organization, including financial transactions, cell phone use, and internet usage

Function Creep

the gradual widening of the use of a technology or system beyond its original purpose, often leading to privacy concerns

Fusion Center

state-owned and operated centers that gather, analyze, and share threat-related information between state, local, federal, and private partners

Government Intervention

regulatory action taken by governments to change decisions made by individuals, groups, or organizations about technology, social, or economic matters

National Security Agency (NSA)

a U.S. intelligence agency within the Department of Defense responsible for collecting, processing, and protecting communications and information for national security

Slippery Slope

a course of action that seems to lead inevitably from one step to unintended and often negative consequences

Social Credit Score

China's system for monitoring and rating the trustworthiness of individuals, where good ratings give benefits and negative ratings can restrict travel or access to services

Surveillance

the monitoring of behavior, activities, or data for information-gathering purposes through electronic equipment or intercepted communication

Business Analytics (BA)

the process of transforming data into insights to improve business decisions

Business Intelligence (BI)

the process of analyzing historical and current data to uncover insights for decision-making

Data Mining

discovering hidden patterns, correlations, and anomalies in large datasets to extract useful knowledge

Data Warehouse

a data management system designed to centralize and consolidate data to support BI and analytics

Dashboard

a tool used to track, analyze, and display KPIs, metrics, and data points to monitor business or process health

Democratization of Information

making digital information accessible to non-technical users without requiring IT involvement

Descriptive Analytics

data analysis that explains what happened (hindsight)

Predictive Analytics

data analysis that describes what is likely to happen (insight)

Prescriptive Analytics

data analysis that describes how to make a desired outcome happen (foresight)