What is The Effect Of Big Data On Your Privacy?
With every new disruptive technology comes new issues and with Big Data comes privacy issues. As more and more data is collected, stored and analysed by companies, organisations, consumers and governments it is important to have specific Big Data privacy regulations organised; Big Data brings big responsibility.
More and more consumers and organisations are getting aware of Big Data as can be derived from the Google Trends graph about Big Data privacy searched. There has been a steep rise in Big Data privacy related searches. With more and more people aware of Big Data, it is just a matter of time before consumers will start asking questions about their privacy.
Albeit Big Data seems to bring many advantages to organisations and governments, business cannot forget the privacy aspect of all that data. They will have to map their Big Data privacy needs on time and ensure that Big Data privacy issues are dealt with before any problems arise. They will need to be aware of local regulations or otherwise local authorities will respond and demand action, as was the case with WhatsApp in Canada and The Netherlands.
Privacy wise, the problem with Big Data is not so much the technology or the possibilities it offers, but the vast amounts of (anonymized) data. By nature, Big Data is not privacy-friendly as even anonymized data can re-identify individuals as long as there is enough data and enough links to be created. Microsoft research is developing “Differential Privacy technology” because of this issue, in order to prevent re-identifying anonymous people. Even Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, has an agenda on Digital Online Privacy.
However, traditional privacy regulations will prove not sufficient regarding Big Data. New policies related to privacy, security, intellectual property, data ownership etc. will need to be developed in order to meet the changing needs of business that are developing a Big Data strategy. In reference to this, the UK data watchdog, the ICO, recently published its code of practice in Anonymisation: Managing data protection risk.
Such new Big Data policies will have to be developed by organisations and governments around the world in order to protect consumers and ensure organisation are not left vulnerable to serious data breaches that could occur.
Therefore, as Big Data privacy is such an important issue, it is one of the Big Data trends as described on this platform, we will develop a separate section on privacy at this Big Data platform. Please contact us if you have items you want to discuss or join the discussion in the comment section.