From the report: "'Big
data' refers to novel ways in which organizations, including government and
businesses, combine diverse digital data sets and then use statistics and other
data mining techniques to extract from them both hidden information and
surprising correlations. While big data promises significant economic and
social benefits, it also raises serious privacy concerns. In particular, big
data challenges the Fair Information Practices (FIPs) as embodied in various
privacy laws including the EU Data Protection Directive. This past January, the
European Commission released a proposal to reform and replace the Directive by
adopting a new Regulation. In this paper, I argue that this Regulation relies
too heavily on the discredited informed choice model, and therefore fails to
fully engage with the coming big data tsunami. My contention is that when this
advancing wave arrives, it will so overwhelm the core privacy principles of
informed choice and data minimization on which the Directive rests that reform
efforts alone will prove inadequate. Rather, an adequate response must combine
legal reform with encouragement of new business models premised on consumer
empowerment and supported by a personal data ecosystem. This new business model
is important for two reasons: first, existing business models have proven time
and again that privacy regulation is no match for them. Businesses inevitably
collect and use more and more personal data, and while consumers realize many
benefits in exchange, there is little doubt that businesses, not consumers,
control the market in personal data with their own interests in mind. Second, a
new business model, which I describe in this paper, promises to stand
processing of personal data on its head by shifting control over both the
collection and use of data from firms to individuals. This “control shift” —
and this alone — stands a chance of making the FIPs efficacious by giving
individuals the capacity to benefit from big data and hence the motivation to
learn about and control how their data is collected and used, while also
enabling businesses to profit from a new breed of services that are both
data-intensive and imbued with privacy values." Read more