@xyzzy That’s almost absurd. There are plenty of examples that can be given that states “If X never existed, Y would never happen.”
Take data mining to the medical field. Google, Microsoft, and a few other people are helping the patient and the physician move their records into a digital format. This creates a very good data repository that can be used in an emergency. For example: A person is traveling to a foreign country, gets injured where they cannot function (or simply can’t remember all of their medical history). A doctor would be able to access their digital file quickly from another country to help the situation.
On the reverse of all of this is the temptation to harvest the data for illegal uses (identity theft). This drawback should not be enough to keep the project from going forward. Rather than abandon the cause, more security should be put into place.
In no way am I saying that there won’t be an abuse of mined data. I am fully aware of this and put myself at risk of it everyday. You do, however, have the ability to control what data is made available. It is a choice.