I couldn't agree with Mary Minow more when she says that DOPA should die a quick and painless death. As she notes, despite the fact that it is blatantly unconstitutional, that doesn't mean it won't pass. DOPA stands for Deleting Online Predadators Act of 2006 (H.R. 5319) Ed: broken link removed 2011. But it doesn't delete online predators at all. It deletes social networking for kids. Yes, as in MySpace, the hottest thing since iPods debuted.

If you are interested in learning a bit more about data mining, you might enjoy this paper. In addition to providing a basic overview of data mining, it also addresses the relationship of data mining to text mining and information retrieval.

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Just came back from the Oregon Library Association where I participated on a panel called RFID in Context: Libraries Won't be Walmarts. Other panelists included Marilyn Sheck of Seattle Public Library, Alan Bern of Berkeley Public Library, and Margaret Hazel of Eugene Public. We pointed out the benefits and limitations of the current library RFID technology and discussed what is likely down the road. As readers of my blog know, I'm not convinced that the current library RFID systems are worth the investment.