Explores both counter-terrorism and enabling policy dimensions of emerging information technologies in national security

After the September 11th attacks, "connecting the dots" has become the watchword for using information and intelligence to protect the United States from future terrorist attacks. Advanced and emerging information technologies offer key assets in confronting a secretive, asymmetric, and networked enemy. Yet, in a free and open society, policies must ensure that these powerful technologies are used responsibly, and that privacy and civil liberties remain protected.

Emergent Information Technologies and Enabling Policies for Counter-Terrorism provides a unique, integrated treatment of cutting-edge counter-terrorism technologies and their corresponding policy options. Featuring contributions from nationally recognized authorities and experts, this book brings together a diverse knowledge base for those charged with protecting our nation from terrorist attacks while preserving our civil liberties.

Topics covered include: Counter-terrorism modeling Quantitative and computational social science Signal processing and information management techniques Semantic Web and knowledge management technologies Information and intelligence sharing technologies Text/data processing and language translation technologies Social network analysis Legal standards for data mining Potential structures for enabling policies Technical system designto support policy

Countering terrorism in today's world requires innovative technologies and corresponding creative policies; the two cannot be practically and realistically addressed separately. Emergent Information Technologies and Enabling Policies for Counter-Terrorism offers a comprehensive examination of both areas, serving as an essential resource for students, practitioners, researchers, developers, and decision-makers.

Thisyear'svolumeofAdvancesinWebMiningandWebUsageAnalysiscontains thepostworkshopproceedingsofajointevent,the9thInternationalWorkshopon Knowledge Discovery from the Web (WEBKDD 2007) and the First SNA-KDD Workshop on Social Network Analysis (SNA-KDD 2007). The joint workshop on Web Mining and Social Network Analysis took place at the ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD). It attracted 23 submissions, of which 14 were accepted for presentation at the workshop. Eight of them have been extended for inclusion in this volume. WEBKDD is one of the most traditional workshops of the ACM SIGKDD internationalconference, under the auspices of which it has been organizedsince 1999. The strong interest for knowledge discovery in the Web, fostered not least by WEBKDD itself, has led to solutions for many problems in the Web's p- mature era. In the meanwhile, the Web has stepped into a new era, where it is experienced as a social medium, fostering interaction among people, enabling and promoting the sharing of knowledge, experiences and applications, char- terized by group activities, community formation, and evolution. The design of Web 2. 0 re?ects the socialcharacterof the Web, bringing new potential and new challenges. The 9th WEBKDD was devoted to the challenges and opportunities of mining for the social Web and promptly gave rise to the joint event with the First Workshop on Social Network Analysis (SNA-KDD). Social network research has advanced signi?cantly in the last few years, strongly motivated by the prevalence of online social websites and a variety of large-scale o?ine social network systems.