From: Bernie Reilly <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 15:11:30 +0000 Interesting John Markoff column in yesterday’s New York Times, “Troves of Personal Data, Forbidden to Researchers,” about issues that arise when social science researchers, others use commercially held “big data:" a new fact of life in the cloud era. Quote: It is “big data,” the vast sets of information gathered by researchers at companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft from patterns of cell phone calls, text messages and Internet clicks by millions of users around the world. Companies often refuse to make such information public, sometimes for competitive reasons and sometimes to protect customers’ privacy. But to many scientists, the practice is an invitation to bad science, secrecy and even potential fraud. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/science/big-data-troves-stay-forbidden-to-social-scientists.html?ref=technology Bernie Reilly CRL Global Resources