Privacy Is The New Money, Thanks To Big Data
[Commentary] The Apple/FBI showdown was the recent installment in an unfolding legal battle over privacy protection. Beginning with the Snowden revelations, it is widely thought that the major threat to our privacy in the digital era comes from the power of Big Government to access personal information stored in devices and websites. As this debate rages, we are losing sight of the other enterprise of personal data collection—known as “Big Data”—which is subject to less popular interest, but is far grander in scope, involves higher stakes and numerous ongoing legal battles.
The FBI or NSA data collection is Small Data. It focuses on meta-data or on few targeted individuals under investigation. In contrast, Big Data business is really big. I am talking about the collection of personal data by websites, mobile apps, retailers, insurance companies – any commercial entity that receives information from people. In the old brick-and-mortar world, firms had Pendaflex files about their customers, neatly tucked away in file cabinets. If you walked into a supermarket or bookstore and browsed the shelves, there would be no record of this activity. In the digital world, people leave their prints everywhere. The sum of our activities – where we browse, shop, or drive; what we read, eat, or own; who we chat with, like or love – is collected, neatly organized by algorithms, smartly analyzed by sophisticated software, and used or sold primarily for marketing purposes. It does not decay or gather dust, and it is never forgotten. Is this a threat to our privacy? At one level, absolutely. Surely, if the occasional collection of (much less) data by government is worrisome, the rich harvesting of every shred of information about our existence by ruthless for-profit companies not subject to any public-interest scrutiny should be of much greater concern. Privacy regulation in Europe is indeed motivated by the worry that Big Data is the new Big Brother.