Product Description
In 2004, the Government Accountability Office provided a report detailing approximately 200 government-based data-mining projects. While there is comfort in knowing that there are many effective systems, that comfort isn’t worth much unless we can determine that these systems are being effectively and responsibly employed. Written by one of the most respected consultants in the area of data mining and security, Data Mining for Intelligence, Fraud & Crim… More >>
Ever encounter a concept so revolutionary that you wonder why everyone isn’t talking about it? Data Mining for Intelligence, Fraud, & Criminal Detection (CRC Press 2009), by Christopher Westphal, is like that.
Admittedly, only the few, the proud, and the discerning might dare to look beyond a title and trappings ostensibly geared for hardcore law-enforcement types and techies who live and die by visual analytics and pattern recognition for crime detection and fraud prevention. Yet “Data Mining” is not only eminently readable, it contains a game-changing message practically akin to the Rosetta Stone, on how to extract sense and sensibility from all the petabytes of information and data piling up in “cylinders of excellence” (one insider’s waggish term for stovepiped data) around us.
Seriously, if the content in Data Mining’s pages (think of it as a 2-1/2 pound stimulus package) could be funneled to, say, Obama, Oprah, and a certain researcher at the Library of Congress, we could look forward to pole-vaulting our way through progress to peaceful prosperity – raising our quality of life while saving (as opposed to spending) billions in the process. Let’s put it this way: if you like anything at all about Numb3rs, or even NCIS (the most-viewed series in America – hey, at least we’ve made a few steps up from Baywatch), CSI, or shows of that ilk – you owe yourself a crack at Westphal’s Data Mining book. Plus, it’ll give your biceps a workout, and impress the heck out of onlookers. Not to mention which, all proceeds go to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which speaks well for the author’s motives on more than one front, not to mention his credibility.
Rating: 5 / 5