I will be at the next TDWI conference in Orlando. I will be teaching a course on Tuesday, November 7 on Data Quality and Master Data management. If you are planning to be at the conference and would like to schedule time to chat, please let me know ahead of time via email at loshin@knowledge-integrity.com.

This past week, 60 Minutes had a story on the (lack of) quality of the data on the national "No-Fly" list. Apparently (just as all of you thoughtful readers should have already expected), the list is rampant with names of dead people (including 14 of the 19 9/11 hijackers) and people unlikely to be traveling (e.g., Saddam Hussein and convicted and jailed terrorist Zacarias Mousaoui). In addition, the limited identifying information on the list causes increased scrutiny of those whose identities are falsely matched positively to names on the list.

Actually, the deficiencies in the quality of the data managed by the Terrorist Screening Center had already been discussed in a report issued by the Department of Justice over a year ago, in which a "major Quality Assurance effort" was put underway to "ensure that records of highest priority for correction are addressed by a record-by-record search."

As has been the rage over the past year and a half, yet another announcement indicating the consolidation of information extraction, provision, and delivery came from Oracle today. Oracle is acquiring data integration product company Sunopsis.

Also appearing in acquisition rumors: Hyperion to buy Information Builders?

And Business Objects, itself on an acquisition tear (most recent: ALG Software) is also rumored to be within someone's scope.