<s>
Hancock	B-Language
is	O
a	O
C-based	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
first	O
developed	O
by	O
researchers	O
at	O
AT&T	O
Labs	O
in	O
1998	O
,	O
to	O
analyze	O
data	B-General_Concept
streams	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
language	O
was	O
intended	O
by	O
its	O
creators	O
to	O
improve	O
the	O
efficiency	O
and	O
scale	O
of	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
works	O
by	O
creating	O
profiles	O
of	O
individuals	O
,	O
utilizing	O
data	O
to	O
provide	O
behavioral	O
and	O
social	O
network	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
development	O
of	O
Hancock	B-Language
was	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
telecommunications	O
industry	O
's	O
use	O
of	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
processes	O
to	O
detect	O
fraud	O
and	O
to	O
improve	O
marketing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
following	O
the	O
September	O
11	O
,	O
2001	O
attacks	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
increased	O
government	O
surveillance	O
of	O
individuals	O
,	O
Hancock	B-Language
and	O
similar	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
technologies	O
came	O
into	O
public	O
scrutiny	O
,	O
especially	O
regarding	O
its	O
perceived	O
threat	O
to	O
individual	O
privacy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
research	O
,	O
including	O
Hancock	B-Language
,	O
grew	O
during	O
the	O
1990s	O
,	O
as	O
scientific	O
,	O
business	O
,	O
and	O
medical	O
interest	O
in	O
massive	O
data	O
collection	O
,	O
storage	O
,	O
and	O
management	O
increased	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
research	O
with	O
a	O
focus	O
on	O
databases	O
became	O
focused	O
on	O
creating	O
efficient	O
data	O
structures	O
and	O
algorithms	O
,	O
particularly	O
for	O
data	O
which	O
was	O
located	O
off	O
of	O
main	O
memory	O
storage	O
,	O
on	O
a	O
disk	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Padharic	O
Smyth	O
believed	O
that	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
researchers	O
aimed	O
to	O
write	O
algorithms	O
which	O
could	O
scale	O
the	O
massive	O
amounts	O
of	O
data	O
in	O
shorter	O
amounts	O
of	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Researchers	O
at	O
AT&T	O
Labs	O
,	O
including	O
Corinna	O
Cortes	O
,	O
pioneered	O
the	O
Hancock	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
from	O
1998	O
to	O
2004	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
,	O
a	O
C-based	B-Language
domain	O
specific	O
programming	O
language	O
,	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
make	O
program	O
code	O
for	O
computing	O
signatures	O
from	O
large	O
transactional	O
data	B-General_Concept
streams	I-General_Concept
easier	O
to	O
read	O
and	O
maintain	O
,	O
thus	O
serving	O
as	O
an	O
improvement	O
over	O
the	O
complex	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
programs	O
written	O
in	O
C	B-Language
.	O
Hancock	B-Language
also	O
managed	O
issues	O
of	O
scale	O
for	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
data	B-General_Concept
streams	I-General_Concept
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
analyzed	O
were	O
intended	O
to	O
handle	O
hundreds	O
of	O
millions	O
of	O
signatures	O
daily	O
,	O
ideally	O
suited	O
for	O
transactions	O
like	O
telephone	O
calls	O
,	O
credit	O
card	O
purchases	O
,	O
or	O
website	O
requests	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
Hancock	B-Language
was	O
developed	O
,	O
this	O
data	O
were	O
usually	O
amassed	O
for	O
billing	O
or	O
security	O
purposes	O
,	O
and	O
increasingly	O
,	O
to	O
analyze	O
how	O
transactors	O
behaved	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
can	O
also	O
be	O
useful	O
for	O
identifying	O
atypical	O
patterns	O
in	O
transactor	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
regards	O
to	O
anti-terrorist	O
activities	O
,	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
’s	O
assistance	O
in	O
pattern-finding	O
can	O
help	O
find	O
links	O
between	O
terrorist	O
suspects	O
,	O
through	O
funding	O
or	O
arms	O
transfers	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
stream	I-General_Concept
applications	O
also	O
include	O
network	O
monitoring	O
,	O
financial	O
monitoring	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
security	O
derivative	O
pricing	O
,	O
prescription	O
drug	O
effect	O
monitoring	O
,	O
and	O
e-commerce	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
can	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
firms	O
to	O
find	O
their	O
most	O
profitable	O
consumers	O
or	O
to	O
conduct	O
churn	O
analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
can	O
also	O
help	O
firms	O
make	O
credit-lending	O
decisions	O
by	O
designing	O
models	O
which	O
determine	O
a	O
customer	O
’s	O
credit	O
worthiness	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Besides	O
Hancock	B-Language
,	O
other	O
data	B-General_Concept
stream	I-General_Concept
systems	O
in	O
existence	O
by	O
2003	O
included	O
Aurora	O
,	O
Gigascope	O
,	O
Niagara	O
,	O
STREAM	O
,	O
Tangram	O
,	O
Tapestry	O
,	O
Telegraph	O
,	O
and	O
Tribeca	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
is	O
a	O
language	O
for	O
data	B-Algorithm
stream	I-Algorithm
mining	I-Algorithm
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
streams	I-General_Concept
differ	O
from	O
traditional	O
stored	O
databases	O
in	O
that	O
they	O
experience	O
very	O
high	O
volumes	O
of	O
data	O
and	O
allow	O
analysts	O
to	O
act	O
upon	O
such	O
data	O
in	O
near-real	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
scale	O
of	O
massive	O
data	B-Algorithm
stream	I-Algorithm
mining	I-Algorithm
poses	O
problems	O
to	O
data	B-Application
miners	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
internet	O
and	O
telephone	O
network	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
might	O
be	O
tasked	O
with	O
finding	O
persistent	O
items	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
items	O
that	O
regularly	O
occur	O
in	O
the	O
stream	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
these	O
items	O
might	O
be	O
buried	O
in	O
a	O
large	O
amount	O
of	O
the	O
network	O
’s	O
transactional	O
data	O
;	O
while	O
the	O
items	O
can	O
eventually	O
be	O
found	O
,	O
data	B-Application
miners	I-Application
aim	O
for	O
increased	O
time	O
efficiency	O
in	O
their	O
search	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
large	O
data	O
set	O
,	O
data	O
can	O
be	O
contained	O
in	O
random-access	B-Architecture
memory	I-Architecture
(	O
RAM	B-Architecture
)	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
the	O
primary	O
storage	O
,	O
or	O
disk	O
storage	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
secondary	O
storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2000	O
,	O
Padharic	O
Smyth	O
estimated	O
that	O
,	O
using	O
the	O
most	O
recent	O
technology	O
,	O
data	O
located	O
in	O
RAM	B-Architecture
could	O
be	O
accessed	O
relatively	O
quickly	O
,	O
“	O
on	O
the	O
order	O
of	O
10−	O
7-10	O
−8	O
seconds	O
,	O
”	O
while	O
secondary	O
storage	O
data	O
took	O
significantly	O
longer	O
to	O
access	O
,	O
“	O
on	O
the	O
order	O
of	O
104-105	O
”	O
seconds	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
can	O
be	O
broken	O
down	O
into	O
the	O
processes	O
of	O
input	O
,	O
analysis	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
reporting	O
of	O
results	O
;	O
it	O
uses	O
algorithms	O
to	O
find	O
patterns	O
and	O
relationships	O
among	O
the	O
subjects	O
and	O
has	O
been	O
used	O
by	O
commercial	O
companies	O
to	O
find	O
patterns	O
in	O
client	O
behavior	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
KianSing	O
Ng	O
and	O
Huan	O
Liu	O
opine	O
that	O
even	O
with	O
straightforward	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
goals	O
,	O
the	O
actual	O
process	O
is	O
still	O
complex	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
they	O
argue	O
that	O
real-world	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
can	O
be	O
challenged	O
by	O
data	O
fluctuations	O
,	O
which	O
would	O
render	O
prior	O
patterns	O
“	O
partially	O
invalid.	O
”	O
Another	O
complication	O
is	O
that	O
most	O
databases	O
in	O
existence	O
in	O
2000	O
were	O
characterized	O
by	O
high	O
dimensionality	O
,	O
which	O
means	O
that	O
they	O
contain	O
data	O
on	O
many	O
attributes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
's	O
process	O
is	O
as	O
follows	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
analyze	O
data	O
as	O
it	O
arrives	O
,	O
in	O
real-time	O
,	O
into	O
data	O
warehouses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
computed	O
the	O
signatures	O
,	O
or	O
behavioral	O
profiles	O
,	O
of	O
transactors	O
in	O
the	O
stream	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
stream	I-General_Concept
transactors	O
include	O
telephone	O
numbers	O
or	O
IP	B-Protocol
addresses	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Telecommunications	O
data	B-General_Concept
streams	I-General_Concept
consist	O
of	O
call-records	O
,	O
which	O
include	O
information	O
on	O
the	O
locations	O
of	O
callers	O
,	O
time	O
of	O
calls	O
,	O
and	O
sometimes	O
include	O
recordings	O
of	O
conversations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
was	O
used	O
to	O
process	O
signatures	O
based	O
on	O
data	O
like	O
the	O
length	O
of	O
phone	O
calls	O
and	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
calls	O
to	O
a	O
particular	O
area	O
over	O
a	O
specified	O
interval	O
of	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
used	O
link	B-Application
analysis	I-Application
to	O
find	O
“	O
communities	O
of	O
interest	O
,	O
"	O
which	O
connected	O
signatures	O
based	O
on	O
similarities	O
in	O
behavior	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Link	B-Application
analysis	I-Application
require	O
that	O
linkages	O
between	O
data	O
are	O
continually	O
updated	O
,	O
and	O
are	O
used	O
to	O
detect	O
fraud	O
networks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Link	B-Application
analysis	I-Application
,	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
considered	O
a	O
form	O
of	O
association	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
,	O
aims	O
to	O
find	O
connections	O
between	O
relationships	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Association	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
aims	O
to	O
find	O
relationships	O
between	O
variables	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
Hancock	B-Language
code	O
performed	O
efficiently	O
,	O
even	O
with	O
large	O
amounts	O
of	O
data	O
,	O
the	O
AT&T	O
researchers	O
claimed	O
that	O
it	O
allowed	O
analysts	O
to	O
create	O
applications	O
"	O
previously	O
thought	O
to	O
be	O
infeasible.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
AT&T	O
Labs	O
researchers	O
analyzed	O
telecommunications	O
data	B-General_Concept
streams	I-General_Concept
,	O
including	O
the	O
company	O
’s	O
entire	O
long	O
distance	O
stream	O
,	O
which	O
included	O
around	O
300	O
million	O
records	O
from	O
100	O
million	O
customer	O
accounts	O
daily	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
2004	O
,	O
the	O
entirety	O
of	O
T	O
's	O
long-distance	O
phone	O
call	O
record	O
signatures	O
were	O
written	O
in	O
Hancock	B-Language
and	O
the	O
company	O
used	O
Hancock	B-Language
code	O
to	O
peruse	O
through	O
nine	O
gigabytes	O
of	O
network	O
traffic	O
,	O
nightly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Telecommunications	O
companies	O
share	O
information	O
derived	O
from	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
network	O
traffic	O
for	O
research	O
,	O
security	O
,	O
and	O
regulatory	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
assisted	O
in	O
T	O
's	O
marketing	O
efforts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
1990s	O
,	O
large	O
data	B-Algorithm
stream	I-Algorithm
mining	I-Algorithm
and	O
the	O
increased	O
automation	O
of	O
government	O
public	O
record	O
systems	O
allowed	O
commercial	O
corporations	O
in	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
to	O
personalize	O
marketing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ng	O
and	O
Liu	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
applied	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
to	O
customer	O
retention	O
analysis	O
,	O
and	O
found	O
that	O
mining	O
of	O
association	O
rules	O
allowed	O
a	O
firm	O
to	O
predict	O
departures	O
of	O
influential	O
customers	O
and	O
their	O
associates	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
assisted	O
telecommunications	O
companies	O
in	O
viral	O
marketing	O
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
buzz	O
marketing	O
or	O
word-of-mouth	O
marketing	O
,	O
which	O
uses	O
consumer	O
social	O
networks	O
to	O
improve	O
brand	O
awareness	O
and	O
profit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
method	O
of	O
viral	O
marketing	O
is	O
to	O
target	O
the	O
neighbors	O
of	O
prior	O
consumers	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
“	O
network	O
targeting.	O
”	O
Using	O
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
,	O
analysts	O
at	O
AT&T	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
find	O
"	O
communities	O
of	O
interest	O
,	O
"	O
or	O
interconnected	O
users	O
who	O
featured	O
similar	O
behavioral	O
traits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
addressed	O
data	O
scaling	O
issues	O
and	O
allowed	O
analysts	O
to	O
make	O
decisions	O
as	O
the	O
data	O
flowed	O
into	O
the	O
data	O
warehouses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Through	O
cell	O
site	O
location	O
data	O
,	O
Hancock	B-Language
programs	O
were	O
capable	O
of	O
tracking	O
wireless	O
users	O
 '	O
movements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Statisticians	O
Murray	O
Mackinnon	O
and	O
Ned	O
Glick	O
hypothesized	O
in	O
1999	O
that	O
firms	O
hid	O
their	O
use	O
of	O
commercial	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
because	O
of	O
potential	O
consumer	O
backlash	O
for	O
mining	O
customer	O
records	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT&T	O
researchers	O
,	O
including	O
Cortes	O
,	O
showed	O
that	O
Hancock-related	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
programs	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
finding	O
telecommunications	O
fraud	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
fraud	O
cases	O
were	O
relatively	O
few	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
hundreds	O
of	O
millions	O
of	O
daily	O
telephone	O
transactions	O
that	O
occurred	O
,	O
algorithms	O
for	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
of	O
telecommunication	O
records	O
need	O
to	O
provide	O
results	O
quickly	O
and	O
efficiently	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Through	O
social	O
network	O
analyses	O
and	O
link	B-Application
analysis	I-Application
,	O
they	O
also	O
found	O
that	O
the	O
set	O
of	O
numbers	O
that	O
were	O
targeted	O
by	O
fraudulent	O
accounts	O
,	O
which	O
were	O
then	O
disconnected	O
,	O
were	O
often	O
called	O
on	O
by	O
fraudsters	O
from	O
different	O
numbers	O
;	O
such	O
connections	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
identify	O
fraudulent	O
accounts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Link	B-Application
analysis	I-Application
methods	O
are	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
assumption	O
that	O
fraudsters	O
rarely	O
deviate	O
from	O
their	O
calling	O
habits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2007	O
,	O
Wired	O
magazine	O
published	O
an	O
online	O
article	O
claiming	O
that	O
Hancock	B-Language
was	O
created	O
by	O
AT&T	O
researchers	O
for	O
"	O
surveillance	O
purposes.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
article	O
connected	O
Hancock	B-Language
's	O
concept	O
with	O
the	O
recent	O
public	O
findings	O
that	O
the	O
Federal	O
Bureau	O
of	O
Investigation	O
(	O
FBI	O
)	O
had	O
been	O
making	O
warrantless	O
requests	O
for	O
records	O
of	O
"	O
communities	O
of	O
interest	O
"	O
from	O
telecommunication	O
companies	O
under	O
the	O
USA	O
PATRIOT	O
Act	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
article	O
claims	O
that	O
AT&T	O
"	O
invented	O
the	O
concept	O
and	O
the	O
technology	O
"	O
of	O
creating	O
"	O
community	O
of	O
interest	O
"	O
records	O
,	O
citing	O
the	O
company	O
's	O
ownership	O
of	O
related	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
patents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NSA	O
,	O
the	O
article	O
claims	O
,	O
obtained	O
such	O
data	O
with	O
the	O
intention	O
of	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
it	O
to	O
find	O
suspected	O
terrorists	O
and	O
warrantless	O
wiretapping	O
targets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
article	O
claimed	O
that	O
law	O
enforcement	O
discovered	O
the	O
existence	O
of	O
such	O
records	O
based	O
on	O
research	O
by	O
Hancock	B-Language
's	O
creators	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Analysts	O
at	O
the	O
NSA	O
,	O
under	O
authority	O
of	O
the	O
secret	O
Terrorist	O
Surveillance	O
Program	O
,	O
also	O
used	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
to	O
find	O
terrorist	O
suspects	O
and	O
sympathizers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
in	O
2007	O
,	O
the	O
Wired	O
article	O
noted	O
how	O
AT&T	O
and	O
Verizon	O
were	O
being	O
sued	O
in	O
federal	O
court	O
for	O
providing	O
the	O
NSA	O
with	O
access	O
to	O
billions	O
of	O
telephone	O
records	O
belonging	O
to	O
Americans	O
for	O
anti-terrorism	O
activities	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
using	O
data	B-Application
mining	I-Application
to	O
locate	O
suspected	O
terrorists	O
and	O
warrantless	O
wiretapping	O
targets	O
.	O
</s>
