Introduction
Information mining is the concept which is also known as data mining, and it can be defined as the process of seeking for the necessary information or data to analyze it and transform according to the definite purposes or set standards (Sumathi & Sivanandam 2006).
The focus on the development of technologies and the increased role of innovation today led to the digital revolution in the world because of the growing role of information and communication technologies.
As a result, the progress in technologies also influenced the sphere of information mining because nowadays it depends on the usage of the Internet resources and the media resources to find, examine, and transform different types of the data. From this point, technologies in information mining play a key role and provide the possibilities for improving the whole process of information mining globally.
However, the progress in technologies also depends on developing a lot of ethical questions associated with the issues of people’s privacy and security and availability of the data which can be accessed with the help of the modern technologies (Williams 2006). The resolution of this ethical question is important for the global community in general and the progress of the Australian society in particular with references to the modern tendencies in the digital world development.
Thus, information mining with the help of the Internet resources and other technologies is the new trend in the sphere that is why this question should be discussed in detail regarding the ethical aspects of the problem.
Literature Review
Today, any extraction of the necessary information from the databases or any sources can be discussed as information or data mining. The development of technologies contributed to expanding the scope for the extraction of the useful information because this process became rather automatic and based on such techniques as the web or database search with the help of the effective software and engines (Akeem, Ogunyinka, & Abimbola 2012).
As a result, the range of spheres where it is possible to use data mining today is rather broad. Such industries as advertising, e-commerce, marketing, and many others rely significantly on the possibilities of the technologies used in information mining (Kurgan & Musilek 2006). Thus, the Internet
According to the researchers, the progress of technologies related to the sphere of data mining also provoked the discussion of such controversial points and challenges like privacy, intelligence, and security (Wel & Royakkers 2004). The powerful technological tools provide persons with the possibilities to extract the necessary information referring to any multimedia or web sources.
That is why the users of the Internet and other databases can suffer from the threat of utilizing such resources as audio and video information and the Internet sources inappropriately.
The data mining techniques develop along with the progress of technologies and such typical processes for the information mining as classification, summarisation, and the usage of the information with its further transformation can affect the progress of many negative results where the privacy of those persons who have the rights for the data is violated.
Thus, concentrating on the idea of web mining to extract the necessary information, Wel and Royakkers state that “web mining makes it difficult for an individual to autonomously control the unveiling and dissemination of data about his/her private life” (Wel & Royakkers 2004, p. 129). From this perspective, data mining principles influence not only the Internet community but also those persons who intend to preserve private information. Thus, people can be affected individually.
In his research, McCue states that the issues of public safety and intelligence should be discussed in their direct connection with the progress of technologies and the increased role of innovation in the process. It is important to create such an approach to the accurate data mining, which cannot limit the operators and cannot contribute to violating the privacy rights and public safety questions (McCue 2006).
In spite of the controversial ethical questions, data mining used about the Internet is significant for influencing the progress of the modern search engines because of the necessity to optimize the process according to the demands of the society globally and in Australia as the developed country with the focus on the information and communication technologies.
Furthermore, the development of technologies related to the data mining aspects is important to improve the work of the marketing and advertising industries the representatives of which pay attention to the online behaviors of consumers.
Many different systems which provide today the access to the necessary information should be evaluated with references to their role in violating various ethical problems. The systems on which the work of computers, minicomputers, processors, and microprocessors should be effective not only for seeking, collecting, and analyzing different amounts of information but also for the appropriate usage of this data (Williams 2006).
The researchers agree that the focus on facilitating the progress of technologies changed significantly the idea of data mining because a lot of new perspectives became open for investigators and operators to find the necessary information or data and use them according to the initial purpose (Chia-Chen & An-Pin 2007).
Thus, technologies in information mining are important to contribute to the process’s development to provide operators with the possibilities to perform better and analyze the larger amounts of information for less time.
From this point, the access to the Internet resources and the possibility to use effective search engines as well as developed software programs and systems guarantee that the required data can be collected, analyzed, and transformed in time and effectively. The problem is in the fact that today, data mining is associated with all the ethical questions relevant to the usage of the developed technologies in the other spheres.
The majority of the ethical questions associated with the problem of information mining depend on the appropriate collection, analysis, and usage of data located in different databases and on the websites. Nevertheless, today the ethical considerations on the problem of the information mining with the help of the Internet and other information and communication technologies are more discussed by the researchers because of the questions’ urgency (Tavani 2004).
There are also many data mining systems which can provide the clients with the necessary information which was properly collected and classified, and these systems can also be discussed as the results of the digital revolution and as the new stage in the information mining process.
Discussion of the Issue
Having analysed the literature on the topic and investigators’ ideas on the issue of ethical questions associated with the role of technologies in information mining, it is possible to note that those researchers who are interested in the problem of information mining globally and in Australia pay attention to several important aspects such as the dependence of information mining on the progress of information and communication technologies, the development of different ethical questions regarding privacy, intelligence, and public safety, the role of technologies in changing the whole approach to extraction of the necessary information, and the demand for working out the effective policies and strategies in order to cope with the determined ethical issues within the global community and society of the concrete countries such as Australia.
From this perspective, the Australian society is at risk of being harmed by the effects of the inappropriate usage of data mining techniques and principles with references to technologies because the country’s development is based significantly on the progress of information and communication technologies (Wel & Royakkers 2004).
The modern approach to information mining should be rethought and reviewed with references to the role of technologies in the process because the global computerization of the society led to changing the perspectives from which it is necessary to focus on resolution of the associated technological and ethical problems. As a result, the foundations for information mining and the usage of technologies in the process should be well-defined.
The discovery of information or data mining is completely based on information and communication technologies which are used to facilitate and optimize the process according to the set goals and used techniques. A lot of information is stored on the Internet, and many other databases, and this information should be collected and used appropriately and with references to the ethical values and norms (Williams 2006).
Modern technologies based on computing and the usage of Internet resources provide a wide range of possibilities to have access to the stored information without references to its localization or other issues.
Many data mining models and techniques are used to enhance the process of finding, collecting, and analyzing the information, but there are few techniques which are oriented to responding to the rights of the individuals whose private data or other information is presented online and can be accessed easily (Marban, Mariscal, & Segovia 2009).
That is why the relevant practices and policies to overcome the ethical issues of the process and to contribute to the further development of data mining technologies should be determined and identified.
Ethical and legal privacy concerns can be met with references to following the appropriate standards and principles for locating and collecting the information which was extracted from different online sources. The person who focuses on information mining and has the intention to extract the definite data from the concentrate source should focus on the credibility of the source and on the principles used to preserve the rights of the author to avoid the ethical and legal problems.
Thus, in spite of the fact that technologies play the main role in the development of the information mining process, the usage of technologies provokes the emergence of the controversial questions (Elovici & Braha 2003). Technologies make the process more convenient for individuals, but a lot of additional questions should be asked to guarantee the effective work of technologies in the sphere of data mining globally.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Computerization and the progress of information and communication technologies contributed to shifting the process of data mining to the new stage based on the innovation and progress. As a result, today technologies play the most important role in organizing and regulating the process of information mining as the key tool used for extracting the information, its collection, analysis, and further transformation according to the stated goals.
The development of the modern trend associated with information mining in the world and Australia as the developed country is connected with such ethical issues as the violation of privacy rights, intelligence, and public safety. Focusing on the global experience in managing the usage of technologies in the sphere of information mining, it is possible to determine the ways to cope with the problem in Australian society.
Thus, there are many ways to solve the privacy problems, but the effective policy should be focused on guaranteeing sufficient protection for individuals and their data. This situation should be controlled according to the legal policies and norms. However, the concentration only on the legal aspect of the question cannot provide the possibilities for discussing the issue from many perspectives.
That is why it is relevant to combine this approach with respecting the advantages of technologies for information mining and diminishing the tension between the process and associated legal or ethical issues. The policies should be developed for those persons who are responsible for the content of the data and for those individuals who use the data mining techniques and technologies to extract and collect the information.
Reference List
Akeem, O, Ogunyinka, T, & Abimbola, B 2012, ‘A framework for multimedia data mining in information technology environment’, International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, vol.10. no. 5, pp. 69-77.
Chia-Chen, C & An-Pin, C 2007, ‘Using data mining technology to provide a recommendation service in the digital library’, The Electronic Library, vol.25. no. 6, pp. 711-724.
Elovici, Y & Braha, D 2003, ‘A decision-theoretic approach to data Mining’, IEEE Transactions on Systems, vol. 33. no. 1, pp. 12-20.
Kurgan, L & Musilek, P 2006, ‘A survey of knowledge discovery and data mining process models’, The Knowledge Engineering Review, vol. 21. no. 1, pp 1–24.
Marban, O, Mariscal, G, & Segovia, J 2009, ‘A data mining & knowledge discovery process model’, in J Ponce & A Karahoca (eds), Data mining and knowledge discovery in real life applications, I-Tech, Austria, pp. 438–453.
McCue, C 2006, ‘Data mining and predictive analytics in public safety and security’, IT Professional Magazine, vol. 8. no. 4, pp. 12-18.
Sumathi, S & Sivanandam, S 2006, Introduction to data mining and its applications, Springer, USA.
Tavani, H 2004, ‘Genomic research and data-mining technology: implications for personal privacy and informed consent’, Ethics and Information Technology, vol.6. no. 1, pp. 15-28.
Wel, L & Royakkers, L 2004, ‘Ethical issues in web data mining’, Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 6. no. 2, pp. 129-140.
Williams, G 2006, Data mining: theory, methodology, techniques, and applications, Springer, USA.