By Christopher FurtonSyracuse University, IST618February 12th, 2015

Overview: Who is DARPA and what is Memex?

Stated Purpose of Memex?

Potential Privacy Concens

Scope of Use

Transparency and Oversight

Data Safeguards and Retention

Conclusion and Personal Reflections

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Part of the Department of Defense

Mission: Creating breakthrough technologies for national security

Makes pivotal investments in new technology-driven ideas

Three technical areas[2]

1. Domain-specific indexing

2. Domain-specific searching3. Application (ConOps and Use Cases)

Memex is derived from the juncture of two words [2] :

Memory IndexMemex

Crawling

Information Extraction Natural language processing for translation Counter-crawling measures

Paywalls Membership Areas Crawler Bans Human Detection

Beyond commercial web searching

Configurable interfaces into indexed data

Analysis Functionality

Aggregation of search results

Conceptually connected shared attributes

Task Relevant Facets (key locations, entity movements)

Includes a query language for directing crawlers and information extraction algorithms

Evolutionary system for development of: Concept of Operations Use Cases

Modification capability for domain-specific content

Human Trafficking

Counterfeiting Missing Persons

A high-tech Internet tool for:

Internet Crawling[2]

Internet Searching[2]

Data Aggregation[2]

Data Analysis[2]

Data Visualization[3]

Data Extraction[2]

Image Analysis[2]

Uncover data patterns and relationships[4]

Analyze Dark Web content[4]

Crackdown on Human Trafficking… and more[4]

Widespread LE adoption[3]

National Security????

Law Enforcement

Federal Agencies Various Law Enforcement and District Attorneys Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Breadth of Data[2] collected by crawlers

Avoid paywalls

“Domain-Specific” collection techniques likely to still get legal data

Membership areas High possibility of private information

Government allows NGOs access to Memex tools and data[3]

Lack of oversight outside of Executive Branch. (i.e., judiciary oversight)

Dynamic “content domain” modification allows for investigators to select surveillance specifications. [2]

DARPA webcrawlers or data repositories may be targeted my malicious attackers.

As with any major government system, protection of citizen’s private information is a concern.

Little is publicly known about how long DARPA plans to retain the data.

No doubt this will be a useful tool for both National Security and Law Enforcement.

Scope of using Memex should be set by some form of oversight. Providing access to NGOs may be problematic.

Need transparency and judicial review of information collected in non-public spaces (i.e., behind paywalls or membership areas)

Technical security parameters should be reviewed by non-government entity.

Data retention limits or timelines should be set by regulation or legislation.

Send questions to csfurton@syr.edu

[1] DARPA Website: http://www.darpa.mil/About.aspx

[2] DARPA: Information Innovation Office. (2014). Broad Agency Announcement: Memex. Retrieved from http://go.usa.gov/BBc5

[3] Greenemeier, L. (2015, 02 08). Human traffickers caught on hidden Internet. Scientific American. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-traffickers-caught-on-hidden-internet/

[4]Kim, Z. (2015, 02 15). Darpa is developing a search engine for the dark web. Wired. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2015/02/darpa-memex-dark-web/