The Ethics of Big Data: Vendors Should Take A Stand
We can now gather, correlate, and analyze information in ways that were unthinkable in the past. The book “The Human Face of Big Data” does a particularly good job of rounding up some of the most interesting stories of how these technologies will touch our lives.
However, with great power comes great responsibility. Analytics is a very powerful weapon, and weapons can be abused.
The past clearly shows that without proper controls, there can be irresistible temptations for companies and governments to combine data in ways that threaten personal liberties. Misuse of every previous data gathering technology has eventually come to light, sometimes only decades after the facts, leading to new laws re-establishing privacy limits.