I realize that the “Breadcrumb” analogy has been widely adopted by the digital community, though in questioning a recent college grad when he was throwing around the term from whence it was derived…
He had no idea 😑
I used to lead and train SAR teams. The standard bit of levity was to get them thoroughly lost and then ask “Who had breadcrumb duty?”
Those beyond a certain age got it. Below that age… performative and obligatory laughter covered their cluelessness.
Hansel had a reasonable plan upon their first foray into the Deep Woods… he used white pebbles to designate their return path. All went according to plan.
Their second journey, however, was plagued by a lack of materials, in that he ran out of the high visibility pebbles and was forced to substitute “breadcrumbs”.
Birds have a thing for breadcrumbs, consumption occurs, lost kids, witches, hilarity ensues.
If only digital markers were randomly consumed by the natural environment, we might not have so many problems.
“We” collectively leave something more along the lines of obelisks… virtual monuments indicating our links and preferences. And even when some nefarious “bird” consumes them, they’re all still “out there” for the rest of the flock to feed upon, ceaselessly.
Fun to blow IT Frat Boys minds with a bit of Grimm, especially when they’re somewhat inebriated.
OSINT / digital data does go missing regularly. Companies go out of business, or alter their software to prevent its collection. Sometimes it's made illegal to use in certain contexts. Unless a flock of birds finds a use for it, it's gone. I've ran into many brick walls of lost information even with powers to pursue it.
The dual use of the bread crumb as something to aid web navigation and distribute carelessly, but also something for investigators and hackers to consume has always been the strength of that analogy to myself; also the data becoming "stale" or "contaminated".
I can recollect bread another bird consumed, but when I bring it to court... if I can't say I collected the bread personally, it will be challenged. The provenance of datasets is important.
You *are* correct though. Data collection methods are only getting more robust and you would be (potentially) disgusted regarding how much social media content we collect meaninglessly just in case it comes up as useful later. For reference, the company record I've run into is 7 petabytes but its been years since I last checked. It will be higher today.
Great info.
I realize that the “Breadcrumb” analogy has been widely adopted by the digital community, though in questioning a recent college grad when he was throwing around the term from whence it was derived…
He had no idea 😑
I used to lead and train SAR teams. The standard bit of levity was to get them thoroughly lost and then ask “Who had breadcrumb duty?”
Those beyond a certain age got it. Below that age… performative and obligatory laughter covered their cluelessness.
Hansel had a reasonable plan upon their first foray into the Deep Woods… he used white pebbles to designate their return path. All went according to plan.
Their second journey, however, was plagued by a lack of materials, in that he ran out of the high visibility pebbles and was forced to substitute “breadcrumbs”.
Birds have a thing for breadcrumbs, consumption occurs, lost kids, witches, hilarity ensues.
If only digital markers were randomly consumed by the natural environment, we might not have so many problems.
“We” collectively leave something more along the lines of obelisks… virtual monuments indicating our links and preferences. And even when some nefarious “bird” consumes them, they’re all still “out there” for the rest of the flock to feed upon, ceaselessly.
Fun to blow IT Frat Boys minds with a bit of Grimm, especially when they’re somewhat inebriated.
Thanks again for the post. Best.
It depends how you look at it.
OSINT / digital data does go missing regularly. Companies go out of business, or alter their software to prevent its collection. Sometimes it's made illegal to use in certain contexts. Unless a flock of birds finds a use for it, it's gone. I've ran into many brick walls of lost information even with powers to pursue it.
The dual use of the bread crumb as something to aid web navigation and distribute carelessly, but also something for investigators and hackers to consume has always been the strength of that analogy to myself; also the data becoming "stale" or "contaminated".
I can recollect bread another bird consumed, but when I bring it to court... if I can't say I collected the bread personally, it will be challenged. The provenance of datasets is important.
You *are* correct though. Data collection methods are only getting more robust and you would be (potentially) disgusted regarding how much social media content we collect meaninglessly just in case it comes up as useful later. For reference, the company record I've run into is 7 petabytes but its been years since I last checked. It will be higher today.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate your efforts in educating me on the topic. I’ll pass this along to others that might benefit.
Ha. Yeah, now that you say that, "breadcrumbs" probably isn't the ideal metaphor.