The concept of big data refers to the collection and storage of large amounts of information about users or customers and their behavior for use in order to provide, for example, personalized services based on forecasts. Collecting, processing and analyzing customer data has now become a way of making money and, in some cases, a factor that can change an entire industry. Most of this data, directly or indirectly, can be considered personal data and is therefore subject to protection (Lokshina & Lanting, 2018). However, this is not enough, as data protection laws usually do not cover ethical aspects.
An example of the use of personal data that is contrary to moral norms is the work of special services, in particular, the activities of the FBI. It was discovered that the FBI database includes millions of photographs of people, including a large number of foreign citizens and individuals who have never violated the law (Goitein, 2019). At the same time, the FBI deliberately conceals information about how and to what extent new technologies are used (contrary to the requirements for protecting confidential data). It should be noted that the use of the face recognition system was effective and helped in the capture of a number of criminals. However, there were a number of false positives: due to the inaccuracy of methods for analyzing big data, the system called law-abiding citizens criminals.
By addressing ethical problems at an earlier stage, action must be taken to either alleviate the issue or eliminate it. Organizations must implement codes of ethics and ethics that cover the full lifecycle of data handling, including acquisition, preparation, processing, aggregation, sharing, storage, archiving, and destruction (Lokshina & Lanting, 2018). The ethical aspect of big data is twofold: on the one hand, technology (including big data) helps in many areas: medicine, finance, education, etc. However, people will have to live in a world where there will be no place for privacy and where their privacy will be limited. Thus, addressing ethical issues is the foundation of the proper implication of big data.
A plethora of organizations aspire to protect their confidential data – for instance, the personal information of employees – by utilizing procedures such as data masking. The latter may be defined as data obfuscation or a method through which real information is concealed by other less essential pieces of data (Brewer, 2017). Often, this process is used to hide sensitive information from hackers and cybercriminals. In many companies, the main purpose that is desired to achieve by data masking is the protection of confidential information from getting into the wrong hands – this is not completely aligned with big-data-driven settings. Without an appropriate utilization, the described process may lead to substantial failures, such as the compromising of the security, which, in turn, results in the breach of privacy of many individuals due to big-data analytics (Brewer, 2017). Because of the fact that the integration of big data generated insights might be considered as a tendency that has started to come into effect not long ago, there are many cases when an organization ignores the pitfalls provided by big data. This is likely to account for hazards associated with consumers’ privacy in the context given.
The second biggest concern regarding privacy within the given scope is that the analytics generated by big data is not accurate to a great extent (McFarland & McFarland, 2015). Despite the fact that the information provided by big data is significant and broad, it may also have crucial flaws sometimes, which might contribute to a number of confidentiality issues. Often, such a state of affairs occurs due to defective algorithms and models. Here, it should be stated that the undertaking of an inappropriate big-data diagnosis leads to an insufficient degree of validation for information. Moreover, it contributes to harm for a consumer as there might be job losses and the denial of vital services.
References
Brewer, W. (2017). Questions about data masking that you were too shy to ask. Redgate. Web.
Goitein, E. (2019). How the FBI violated the privacy rights of tens of thousands of Americans. Brennan Center for Justice. Web.
Lokshina, I. V., & Lanting, C. J. M. (2018). Addressing ethical concerns of big data as a prerequisite for a sustainable big data industry. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications and Networking, 10(3), 33–54.
McFarland, D. A., & McFarland, H. R. (2015). Big Data and the danger of being precisely inaccurate. Big Data & Society, 2(2), 1–4.