Privacy and big data

Aside

Privacy and big data Veronica Dixon-Haase Big data is a term given to the great amount of data that is created by companies, organizations and individuals. This data is so huge that it would take immeasurable time to enter it into a database for analysis. Data in this era has become so much that when we speak of its quantity it is referred to as s petabytes and Exabyte of data. The idea of Big Data is to look at patterns and how data is generated, stored and used efficiently. If this data is not managed properly it can cause problems. The real issue is that every minute of the day Exabyte of data is stored. Through Big Data, data is stored and distributed on several hundred computers, making it accessible to the world. Privacy as suggested by Terence Graig is like a horse that has left the stable. He says the idea that we can keep data hidden or private is futile.  Since we have crossed the border in the exchange of information there is nothing private, this has been erased by the technology “internet”.  There is nothing that can truly be done to have total privacy in this digitized era.  The only way to experience this privacy is not to be on the internet, not to use cards or do anything at all that requires technology. And this is totally impossible, because every aspect of our existence requires the use of some form of technology. Once you enter the realm of using technology in this society your data is globally wide open, all of it is literally transparent. The United States government have introduced a variety of bills to address the issue of privacy and the use of technology that fall in the realms of Big Data, one of which is the Mobile Device Privacy Act. This was more complicated than using the cell phone.  The effort proved empty as it would have to seek to cross geolocation. A lot of suggest that are made to put privacy policies in place are more expensive than the companies involved. So this is placed on the back burner all. And so Big Data continues to gather and analyse at the cost of everyone else. Privacy will soon become a thing of the past. It’s like we have been going around in circles trying to figure out what to do to secure privacy. But in my estimation this has gone through the door with the emergence of technology especially that of the internet. Anything you do on-line is recorded somehow, somewhere. There is literally no one accountable. The government gathers for their purpose, so do businesses and other entities. When this is done your information will be seeped elsewhere and may be in the wrong hands. I think we just have to embrace the era that we have come to live in and realize that we have become one big family where everyone knows your business. So, in other words whatever we put out there in the public or on line know that, what it is public information. My question is how devices invade our privacy. In essence it is our counterparts, our colleagues, other humans that do the invasion. We are the ones who manipulate the data through what is programmed in the software or Big Data. As long as we use these devices our privacy is shot. There is nothing we can do about privacy because somehow that information will be out there. I have come to realize that this world is just a little speck; everyone in it through technology has actually become little specks in one cell. Reference

1. Barlow, M. (2013). The culture of big data. O’REILLY
2. Pavolotsky, J. (2013). Privacy in the Age of Big Data. Business Lawyer, 69(1), 217-225.
3. Rouse, M. (March 8, 2011). Big Data (BIG DATA). Retrieved on April 2, 2014 from http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/big-data-Big-Data