Heh - data mining for fun and profit
From
The Atlantic:
The (Unintentional) Amazon Guide to Dealing Drugs
One day, some drug dealer bought a particular digital scale -- the AWS-100 -- on the retail site, Amazon.com. And then another drug dealer bought the same scale. Then another. Then another.
Amazon's data-tracking software watched what else these people purchased, and now, if you buy the AWS-100 scale, Amazon serves up a quickstart kit for selling drugs.
Along with various scale-related paraphernalia, we find:
- Many "spice" grinders
- Pipe screens
- A rolling paper and tray bundle
- Bulk pure caffeine powder (perhaps to cut heroin?)
- Baggies
- More baggies
- Skull baggies
- Pot-leaf baggies
- An encapsulation machine and gelatin capsules
- A scientific spatula
- A diamond tester (?!)
- "Air Tight Odorless Medical Jar Herb Stash Medicine Container"
- Digital caliper
- Tweezer and snifter set for "miners and prospectors"
- A tool for cleaning a gun part
- A safe in the form of a Dr. Pepper can
- Potassium Metabisulfite (for decontamination?)
- A drug testing kit ("this kit contains the same reagent chemicals as found in Justice Department test kits")
- A really powerful magnet
- "TAP DAT ASH" ashtray
- Beta alanine powder (maybe for bodybuilders?)
- An actual drug called kratom (big in Thailand, apparently)
This is classic data mining at work. Even if each scale purchaser only made one other drug-related purchase, when you look at the clusters, the pattern becomes obvious.
The original article had links to each of the items listed above. Didn't feel like doing a large cut and paste session. Also, the Kratom link is suddenly 404'd for some strange reason.
Unintended consequences -- never know when you need some skull baggies or an encapsulation machine...
Posted by DaveH at April 16, 2014 7:28 PM