Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Big Data and the Death of Internet Privacy

Knibbs, Katie. "Big Data and the Death of Internet Privacy." Mobiledia, June 25, 2012.

From the article: "Big data is a big deal, illuminating and predicting societal and economic trends -- but its all-consuming, comprehensive nature may obliterate privacy as it is understood today.

With companies competing to suck in and analyze data at an astonishing pace, the burgeoning world of data collection builds insights into Internet-user behavior, but this deep analysis mines even the most personal particulars of user actions.

Beyond sussing out larger societal and economic patterns, big data can assemble information into an intimate picture of the people it relies on for raw data.

…. Bottom line: big data, particularly personal data analysis, is eroding privacy. Without significant policy changes from governments and major sites like Google and Facebook, this is the way the Internet, and society at large, is headed."
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