Data mining is the practice of automatically searching large stores of data for patterns.
From WIKIPEDIA:
"There are many legitimate uses of data mining. For example, a database of prescription drugs taken by a group of people could be used to find combinations of drugs exhibiting harmful interactions. Since any particular combination may occur in only 1 out of 1000 people, a great deal of data would need to be examined to discover such an interaction. A project involving pharmacies could reduce the number of drug reactions and potentially save lives. Unfortunately, there is also a huge potential for abuse of such a database.
Essentially, data mining gives information that would not be available otherwise. It must be properly interpreted to be useful. When the data collected involves individual people, there are many questions concerning privacy, legality, and ethics."
As we can see it is hard to find a balance between privacy & data mining but it can means a lot of profit to enterprises.
To find more:
K.A. Taipale, Data Mining and Domestic Security: Connecting the Dots to Make Sense of Data, Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy. 5 Colum. Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 2 (December 2003).
"In this data-mining society, privacy advocates shudder" at Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Data Mining in Depth:Data Mining and Privacy Column" published in DM Review MagazineDecember 2003 Issue
"The Value of Trust Through Privacy" at CIOINSIGHT.COM. How Hilton collects personal information from its customers through loyalty programs
