Economic Predictions Using Web Usage Data

Makarand writes "The Chicago Tribune has an article on the claims of ComScore Networks Inc., that it can predict major economic trends by tracking the online activity of 1.5 Million people. The company gains access to people's Internet travelogues by giving them free security software and programs that speed up their connections. Economists say that the company's models need to be tested over several years before they can be considered accurate."

Irony?

[feepcreature]

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with the sentence:

The company gains access to people's Internet travelogues by giving them free security software...

P.

Re:Sound like spyware to me.

[e8johan]

All major investment companies are going to push huge shit-loads of dollars into the p0rn industry... unless they know that they are tracked.

Re:Spyware

[Big Mark]

Download this free Security Update! Protect yourself from Internet hackers who can steal your credit card and set fire to your house! Remain anonymous on the Internet! All we ask is that you allow the security software to send us your Internet Explorer history files, so we can monitor attacks against your privacy! Do it NOW before it's too late!

-Mark

In other news...

[WPIDalamar]

ComScore announces their predictions for this year based on web activity. You should take all of your money out of large cap stocks and invest heavily into p0rn!

Economic Predictions Using Slashdot +5 Rated Posts

[cscx]

In 5 years we will all be using Free Software, and the American Government for the first time ever elects a Communist president.

and how does...

[RebelTycoon]

people's viewing of porn gauge the economical climate?

I guess you could predicate higher economical activity followed by a brief period of laxed activity, cycling every 20 minutes between 10pm and 1 am...

So how is this useful again?

My economy prediction

[stud9920]

My economy prediction is that comscore will soon file a chapter 11.

analyzing porn viewing...

[RebelTycoon]

The key is to categorize the type of porn that is being viewed.

Teen porn would indicate a desire to return back to school for more education. This can be used to indicate a slowing in the job market or radical changes in job skills being required.

Lesbian porn indicates a desire for more social time, expanding ones horizons, and generally a good economy, since everyone is getting more then enough of the good stuff.

Hardcore porn would indicate a slowing economy, since you are just pounding away at the task at hand.

Gay porn would indicate a resession, since that is most likely when you are taking it in the ass at work, so why not see how the professionals do it.

Hope this helps with future economical models based off of the viewing habbits of porn.

Re:Spyware

[n3k5]

WARNING! Your computer is currently BROADCASTING a *gasp* *shock* IP address! With this information, HACKERS can DESTROY your computer! Download our SECURITY patch NOW!

Consider the source of the data

[psplay]

This can only Economic predictions are based on a sample on people who "download free software onto their computer".

Not exactly a random distribution of the populous, is it?

They are already restricting the data this software collects, as its source of data pertains to a specific sample base:

1, (PC) Computer owners
2, Home Users
3, The type of fool that downloads something willy nilly on their computer.

Given this conditions, the survey base could not really exceed 50% of the range of population. Therefore can really only be 50% accurate.

(yes I pulled the 50% out my head, based on my survey of my coworkers).

Re:security company?

[benja]

You are living in the past. Legacy security products like Debian, Red Hat and OpenBSD take a simple-minded approach to security: Protect the user from the outside world. More modern security systems like Microsoft's Palladium are needed to cater to today's real security needs (see here [microsoft.com] for first-hand information): Protecting the world from the users!

(Look at it like this: If hackers cannot break *out* of their own system, how can they ever break *into* another system? This is providing maximum security at a minimum price to legal users, because if you are a legal user ["l-user"], you don't want to break the system anyway.)

This company takes the concept one step further: It offers Internet security by checking people's history files for illegal and objectionable sites. This will bring those sites down because they won't have any customers any more (how's Debian going to solve *that* problem, hmm?). If you recommend products like the above, you're not going to do any good, just harm, because modern security products like this company's usually only run on Microsoft computers. (Open source is not likely to get professional security soon-- proof: currently there are NO open-source projects working on a free implementation of Palladium!)