▁because ▁it ▁ins inu ates ▁an ▁employ er ’ s ▁susp icion ▁and ▁lack ▁of ▁trust . ▁ ▁Data ▁min ing ▁and ▁profil ing ▁Data ▁min ing ▁is ▁the ▁application ▁of ▁statistical ▁techniques ▁and ▁program m atic ▁algorithms ▁to ▁discover ▁previously ▁un not iced ▁relationships ▁within ▁the ▁data . ▁Data ▁profil ing ▁in ▁this ▁context ▁is ▁the ▁process ▁of ▁assemb ling ▁information ▁about ▁a ▁particular ▁individual ▁or ▁group ▁in ▁order ▁to ▁generate ▁a ▁profile   — ▁that ▁is , ▁a ▁picture ▁of ▁their ▁patterns ▁and ▁behavior . ▁Data ▁profil ing ▁can ▁be ▁an ▁extremely ▁powerful ▁tool ▁for ▁psych ological ▁and ▁social ▁network ▁analysis . ▁A ▁sk illed ▁anal yst ▁can ▁discover ▁facts ▁about ▁a ▁person ▁that ▁they ▁might ▁not ▁even ▁be ▁cons ci ously ▁aware ▁of ▁themselves . ▁ ▁Econom ic ▁( such ▁as ▁credit ▁card ▁purch ases ) ▁and ▁social ▁( such ▁as ▁tele phone ▁calls ▁and ▁emails ) ▁transactions ▁in ▁modern ▁society ▁create ▁large ▁amounts ▁of ▁stored ▁data ▁and ▁records . ▁In ▁the ▁past , ▁this ▁data ▁was ▁documented ▁in ▁paper ▁records , ▁leaving ▁a ▁" paper ▁trail ", ▁or ▁was ▁simply ▁not ▁documented ▁at ▁all . ▁Cor relation ▁of ▁paper - based ▁records ▁was ▁a ▁labor ious ▁process — it ▁required ▁human ▁intelligence ▁operators ▁to ▁manually ▁dig ▁through ▁documents , ▁which ▁was ▁time - consum ing ▁and ▁incomplete , ▁at ▁best . ▁ ▁But ▁today ▁many ▁of ▁these ▁records ▁are ▁electronic , ▁resulting ▁in ▁an ▁" elect ron ic ▁trail ". ▁Every ▁use ▁of ▁a ▁bank ▁machine , ▁payment ▁by