Don't Build a Database of Ruin

Ohm, Paul. "Don't Build a Database of Ruin." Harvard Business Review, August 23, 2012.

From the blog: "Many businesses today find themselves locked in an arms race with competitors to see who can convert customer secrets into the most pennies. …I have become convinced that my earlier, bleak predictions about the Database of Ruin were in fact understated, arriving before it was clear how Big Data would accelerate the problem. … If nothing else, I anticipate that society will slowly develop new norms for engaging with the massive amount of information collected about us, creating informal rules governing when and how it is appropriate to release, collect, and use data, the way minors have learned to speak and listen carefully on social networks." Read more