Big Data — World changing, but at what cost?

Many of us have heard the term ‘Big data’, it’s become somewhat of a buzz word that gets thrown around by governments, corporations and media. At its core, big data offers us advancements in life that will help us become more connected, navigate life easier, and make breakthroughs in many different areas of society (think science, the economy or how we interact). While this is all positive, like most things it comes with a cost (as they say nothing in life is free). With the data that’s collected to bring about these breakthroughs comes the ethical challenges of how the data is collected, how it is handled, who has access and how does it ultimately effect us (once the data is collected, could it come back to haunt us?).

Fig 1. How are data and ethics related?

What is big data?

Before we can delve into the ethical challenges that big data presents, we first have to have an understanding of what big data is. The International Journal of Health Sciences (you can read it here) outlines the concept of big data as the capture and storage of large amounts of data about users, and their usage behaviors with the purpose of offering personalized services based on predications (from the data captured). This includes a wide range of things from biomedical data, online usage habits and e-commerce habits. SAS (Analytics Software developers) put big data in more practical terms as large volumes of data (both structured and unstructured) that inundates businesses on a day-to-day basis that can be analyzed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves (it should be noted that naturally SAS will have a bias to the value of big data — it’s ultimately what keeps them in business). From these definitions, on the surface big data seems like a world changing concept — the idea that by collecting data about our everyday lives things can become easier, more bespoke. For businesses in particular big data offers bountiful opportunities for growth and cost shrinkage. In a blog written by Terence Mills on Forbes, the benefits of big data analytics were boiled down to five points;

1. Customer acquisition and retention (big data helps outline what makes customers loyal and happy)
2. Focused and targeted campaigns (big data helps eliminate wasted marketing opportunities by focusing campaigns)
3. Identification of potential risks (more data equals better risk management)
4. Innovative products (we’ve already talked about how big data leads to innovation — more information leads to more defined solutions)
5. Complex supplier networks (information leads to better B2B opportunities by knowing how supply chains can better interact)

Looking at all of this, we can definitely see the benefits, and particularly why businesses have such a value for big data — but what does it mean for us as consumers, and what ethical problems does it begin to present.

What ethical problems does big data present?

The datafication of life is well and truly underway — particularly in the first world where everything we do leaves a trace, or where every part of our life now involves some form of technology that at its core has to collect data about us to function (think wearable tech like your Fitbit, Google Maps or Facebook). Big data comes in to play here, as what makes up our lives begins to form in the data repositories of tech companies, businesses and governments. So, for all its benefits, what ethical problems does big data start to present;

1. Privacy — If everything we do is now collected, are we ever alone in our own space, where we what do is truly private? Do corporations or governments value privacy in the same way we do? How does this affect our ability to consent?
2. Institutionalized Bias — Do we humans become simple numbers in a database when everything we do is collected, and from that, are decisions made based on cold data that could affect our opportunities as human beings (think education funding based on socioeconomic data and its relation to someone's future prospects)?
3. Transparency — Do we actually know what’s collected and how? Do we know what the world knows about us?
4. Free will — Does big data start to influence human free will? If all of the choices and opportunities presented to us begin to be guided by data collected about us, does this create ‘echo chambers’ where outside influence and choice is limited?
5. Balance of Power — Do we as the users, and ‘creators’ of the data actually hold the balance of power in the relationship with corporations and governments? Realistically, we probably don't. They can live without one persons data, but can we live without the advantages big data provider?
6. Commoditization of Data — Businesses can definitely benefit from big data — as with institutionalized bias, the data that in essence makes us ‘us’, becomes simply a commodity that can be traded for the benefit of others (for example — health data sold to health insurers).

Coupled with the ethical problems comes the practical issues of regulation (or there lack of), the varying rule of law within different jurisdictions and concept of equal data value (is all data actually equal — is spatial data the same value to us as users as our e-commerce patterns). Forbes put forward that the biggest problem with big data when it comes to regulation and ethics is that the pace in which it is being adopted and used is moving faster than regulations and ethical frameworks can manager.

Big Data — Is it worth it?

Balancing the advantages of big data with the ethical and regulatory problems it presents to find the real value in it is realistically (and perhaps cynically) not an easy task depending on your view of ethical theories. For example, if you lean towards utilitarianism (a focus on outcomes, where the most ethical choice is the choice that leads to the greatest outcome for the greatest number — explained here), you would see big data as worth it, despite the risks. On other hand, if you hold a deontological view (the focus on a person adhering to their obligations and duties to society — explained here), you may find the ethical issues too much to stomach. So, with such varying views, opinions, benefits and disadvantages, where does that leave us? Big data isn’t going anywhere, so to hold the view that we should abandons it is unrealistic and unreasonable, but to also believe that it should be let to run amok is wildly irresponsible.

Big data — what is to be done?

So if we are to accept that big data is here to stay because of its overwhelming benefits to society, but that it also comes with a myriad of ethical and regulatory risks, how do we move forward? There really is no one single answer, and with how rapidly big data usage is evolving if we were to establish ethical and regulatory norms now, that would almost certainly be outdated within a decade (similarly to how privacy laws are yet to really catch up to the online world). Some approaches to resolving the issues presented include creating regulatory frame works that have some consistency worldwide (whether that be through international agreements, or some form of professional bodies) or through establishing ethical frameworks that data custodians should adhere to. One such example is the emerging idea of a ‘Hippocratic oath’ for technology and data specialists (proposed here), similar to the oath that many in the medical field adhere to. All of this is also meaningless without a general acceptance that all who use big data should be held to the same level of accountability (though in reality we know that in other industries the level of accountability varies depending on who you know and how deep your pockets are). These may not present an immediate fix, they do present potential steps to reconcile the advantages and disadvantages of big data.

So, big data is to stay, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it brings with it innovation and overall improvement of everyday life, but it also comes with an ever-present danger of misuse, abuse and ethical problems. There’s no easy answer to dealing with these problems, all we know is that it will require constant and fluid work in holding those who use big data accountable for their use of the data.