Memex – The new search tool for the Deep Web
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DARPA has publicly presented for the first time a new set of search tools called Memex, which will improve also researches into the “Deep Web”.
In 2014, the U.S. Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched a the MEMEX project to design advanced search tools that can be used to scan the deep web, which isn’t indexed by Google and other commercial search engines.
The Memex search engine was started to allow search of not indexed content, an operation that in the majority of cases is still run manually by Intelligence Agency. The Pentagon’s research agency gave Scientific American a preview of the software and 60 Minutes exclusive looks at the technology. The researchers explained that there is an impressive amount of data that is not considered useful for ordinary web users, but that represents a crucial source of information for law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The majority of information in the Deep Web is unstructured data, which are gathered from multiple sources that could not be crawled by ordinary search engines. The most popular subset of the Deep Web is the Tor network, an anonymizing network that is accessible only by using specific software.
“We’re envisioning a new paradigm for search that would tailor indexed content, search results and interface tools to individual users and specific subject areas, and not the other way around... By inventing better methods for interacting with and sharing information, we want to improve search for everybody and individualize access to information. Ease of use for non-programmers is essential,” Chris White, DARPA program manager told CBS News.
The ambitious projects aim to revolutionize the way to search and present information from a larger pool of sources, including the content on the Deep Web.
According to several reports, including one published by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University, the New York District Attorney’s Office is one of several bureaus and agencies that already used earlier versions of the Memex system to collect information on human trafficking cases to prosecute criminals.
