US appeals court decides scraping public web data is fine

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that scraping data from a public website doesn’t violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

In 2017, employment analytics firm HiQ filed a lawsuit against LinkedIn’s efforts to block it from scraping data from users’ profiles.

The court barred Linkedin from stopping HiQ scraping data after deciding the CFAA – which criminalises accessing a protected computer – doesn’t apply due to the information being...

19 April 2022 | Ethics & Society

Ready to boost your business with analytics? This data expert reveals all

By itself, data is like a bicycle with no wheels. It can’t go anywhere. That’s where the power of analytics comes in. Similar to the wheels of a bike, analytics powers data to reveal meaningful trends and insights, enabling organisations to make key business decisions. 

As data sets increase and become more complicated, manual analytics processes become less feasible. And as data gathering evolves, analytics has to keep up. That’s where advanced analytics joins the...

8 April 2022 | Enterprise

Reducing crime with better visualisation of data

Effective policing relies on good data. The prevention and reduction of crime, particularly serious and organised crime, depends on law enforcement agencies being able to gain swift insights from the huge and increasing amount of information at their disposal.

The problem, given the sheer volume and variety of that data, is where to look first. So much of the data available to law enforcement data analysts and senior staff is unstructured. In other words, it doesn’t line up in...

16 March 2022 | Enterprise

92% of product decision-makers say data and analytics is critical to success

A new study, “The Business Intelligence Landscape,” commissioned by Sisense and conducted by The Harris Poll among product decision-makers, highlights that companies offering data and analytics to their customers have a competitive advantage and reap the benefits of increased revenue and loyalty. 

However, the report shows there are some challenges to overcome. For example, 53% of respondents wish their analytics experience was more aligned with user-friendly entertainment...

7 February 2022 | Enterprise

Data driven leadership: trends and opportunities

According to a survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, almost 75% of organisations don’t have a leadership that supports a data-driven culture or nurtures analytics-led innovation. Alarmingly, 24% of respondents say their company culture tends to limit access to information, and 20% think that organisational structure impedes use of analyzed data.

Executives also report that the adoption of analytics is at a standstill, and they have yet to realise the long-term...

30 November 2021 | Enterprise

IBM enhances Watson Discovery’s natural language processing capabilities

IBM has announced enhancements to the natural language processing (NLP) capabilities of Watson Discovery.

Watson Discovery is an AI-powered intelligent search and text-analytics platform that can retrieve critical information buried in enterprise data.

In one case study, Woodside Energy had no way to retrieve the 30 years’ worth of valuable engineering and drilling knowledge that was buried in unstructured documentation. Using the existing NLP capabilities of Watson...

10 November 2021 | Artificial Intelligence

UK-Aus probe finds Clearview AI fails to comply with privacy regulations

A joint UK-Australia probe has found that Clearview AI fails to comply with privacy regulations.

The facial recognition provider has been the focus of many investigations for its controversial practice of scraping the online data of people without their consent.

The joint investigation, conducted by the ​​UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), found that Clearview AI has scraped the biometric...

4 November 2021 | Ethics & Society

DeepMind hit with class-action lawsuit over NHS health data scandal

DeepMind is facing a class-action lawsuit over its controversial use of NHS patients’ health data back in 2015.

Google-owned DeepMind was quietly given the personal records of 1.6 million patients at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

DeepMind said that it was using the data to create a potentially life-saving app called Streams. The app was designed to alert, diagnose, and detect when patients were at risk of developing acute kidney injury. It’s currently...

1 October 2021 | Ethics & Society

Web data is driving AI development

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fast shaping the world around us and is becoming increasingly important within business operations. In fact, research by Deloitte shows that 73% of IT and line-of-business executives see AI as an indispensable part of their current business. It’s clear to see there is great potential for AI in virtually all areas of our lives, but AI systems can only ever be as powerful as the information that they are built on. With huge quantities of very specific data...

14 September 2021 | Artificial Intelligence

The UK is changing its data laws to boost its digital economy

Britain will diverge from EU data laws that have been criticised as being overly strict and driving investment and innovation out of Europe.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has confirmed the UK Government’s intention to diverge from key parts of the infamous General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Estimates suggest there is as much as £11 billion worth of trade that goes unrealised around the world due to barriers associated with data transfers

“Now that we have...

26 August 2021 | Ethics & Society