Little privacy in the age of big data

[Commentary] In the era of big data, the battle for privacy has already been fought and lost -- personal data is routinely collected and traded in the new economy and there are few effective controls over how it is used or secured.

Data researchers and analysts now say that it’s time for legislation to reclaim some of that privacy and ensure that any data that is collected remains secure.

“We have become the product,” says Rob Livingstone, a fellow of the University of Technology and the head of a business advisory firm.

However, Livingstone says the dilemma facing regulators is how they can regulate the collection, storage and trading of personal data on the on the Internet, when all of these activities, and the corporations themselves, operate across multiple continents and jurisdictions. The task of reclaiming some semblance of privacy is all the more urgent because the rate at which personal data is being collected is accelerating.

The buzz around big data is attracting millions of dollars of from investors and brands hoping to turn a profit, while intelligence agencies are also furiously collecting information about our online activities for much different purposes. And alongside these, there’s also the black market operators that make millions of dollars a year out of things like identity theft and matching disparate data sets across the web to help identify people who might be suitable targets for a scam.

[Porter is an award-winning freelance journalist, editor of PC Mag Australia]