Presidential Report on Big Data and Data Privacy

 

In January 2014 the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) studied the nature of current technologies, how they were evolving, and attempted to explain how existing capabilities could help to protect data privacy in the big data realm (Big Data: A Technological Perspective, 2014). The report listed a number of common ways to protect privacy that the public, private, and individual user can implement to better protect their data. Most of these suggestions were common knowledge and while it mentioned certain legal aspects that companies must adhere to, the down side of it was that these were not immediate, guaranteed measures to keep the data safe. Data collectors have to be audited, enforced, and prosecuted when they violate data privacy laws, so there is no on or off switch to ensure data privacy.

A good example of this was in January 2019, the FDC fined Facebook $5 billion for deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information (Nguyen, 2022). After the settlement, Facebook had to submit to new restrictions and implement a new, modified corporate structure that would hold the company accountable for the decisions it makes going forward about its users privacy. It was the largest penalty the FDC had ever imposed but it did not prevent this from happening in the first place. Facebooks user’s private information had already been misused and mishandled. This is an example of how these legal deterrents exist but must be followed, investigated, and enforced (which doesn’t always happen). At the end of the day, the users’ privacy was still violated and there’s no real way to retroactively undo the damage Facebook had already caused. Adding insult to injury, Facebook users did not see a penny of this enormous $5 billion penalty and it was their data privacy that was violated, the users were the victims.

Big Data: A Technological Perspective (2014) suggested the following methods for individuals, public, and private companies to adopt to protect their private data.

o   Adopt and encourage good cyber security – poor cyber security is a threat to privacy

o   Implement and follow these access management methods: identity and authentication, authorization, availability, confidentiality, integrity, non-repudiation, and auditability

o   Introduce or strengthen cryptography and encryption – protect data both at rest and in transit

o   Implement a notice and consent for protecting consumer privacy – although this puts the burden solely on the individual, it at least offers privacy protection information to the user

o   Implement anonymization or de-identification – used in health care and states that data standing alone (not with association to a specific person) does not violate privacy concerns

o   Deletion and non-retention of data – enforce the deletion of records when no longer needed

The report didn’t simply discuss the areas to strengthen to protect data privacy; it also identified areas for advancement in big data. One of these areas was in healthcare, with the advancement of personalized medicine, personalized treatment, and the detection of symptoms from mobile sensors. In the education field, big data advances can lead to more open and online courses, smaller classrooms, and could contribute to the identification of the different abilities and learning styles of students, and even how students respond to different teaching techniques.

Big Data: A Technological Perspective (2014) did a decent job of highlighting both the advantages and disadvantages of big data. It covered the future trends and abilities big data can offer to the economy and the world but it also highlighted the privacy concerns that are already being widely violated and the potential for future abuses as well. We do not know what the future of big data looks like, it is both exciting and frightening. I do believe that it is safe to say that our private data is not private anymore and in our future, we will unfortunately be retroactively going after companies or individuals that violate privacy laws, instead of our private data being protected from the source.

 

References

Executive Office of the President. (2014, May). Report to the president big data and privacy: A Technological Perspective. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/PCAST/pcast_big_data_and_privacy_-_may_2014.pdf

Nguyen, S. T. (2022, January 27). FTC imposes $5 billion penalty and sweeping new privacy restrictions on Facebook. Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook