Findings of the Big Data and Privacy Working Group Review

In January, President Barack Obama asked me to lead a wide-ranging review of "big data" and privacy -- to explore how these technologies are changing our economy, our government, and our society, and to consider their implications for our personal privacy. Together with Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, the President's Science Advisor John Holdren, the President's Economic Advisor Jeff Zients, and other senior officials, our review sought to understand what is genuinely new and different about big data and to consider how best to encourage the potential of these technologies while minimizing risks to privacy and core American values.

On May 1, we presented our findings to the President. We knew better than to try to answer every question about big data in three months. But we are able to draw important conclusions and make concrete recommendations for Administration attention and policy development in a few key areas.

Our review raised the question of whether the "notice and consent" framework, in which a user grants permission for a service to collect and use information about them, still allows us to meaningfully control our privacy as data about us is increasingly used and reused in ways that could not have been anticipated when it was collected. Big data raises other concerns, as well.

One significant finding of our review was the potential for big data analytics to lead to discriminatory outcomes and to circumvent longstanding civil rights protections in housing, employment, credit, and the consumer marketplace.

We make six actionable policy recommendations in our report to the President: 1) Advance the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, 2) Pass National Data Breach Legislation, 3) Extend Privacy Protections to non-U.S. Persons, 4) Ensure Data Collected on Students in School is used for Educational Purposes, 5) Expand Technical Expertise to Stop Discrimination, and 6) Amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

[Podesta is a Counselor to the President]