One of the hottest trending news headlines of the summer was whistleblower Edward Snowden.
As a former CIA and NSA employee, Snowden disclosed classified details about several top secret US and British government Internet mass surveillance programs to the press. The result is a global surge in discussions about privacy and big data, contributing to increasing awareness of the public on the use of big data by commercial enterprises to target and profile customers.
To quote Snowden, “I don’t want to live in a society that does [surveillance on its citizens]… I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded…”
Big data, like most innovations, is a double-edged sword.
It brings huge benefits to corporations by allowing them to use information to personalize products and services to their customers’ wants and needs. Businesses are able to fuel new services, business models, and mitigate business risks.
On the other hand, big data runs the risk of harming individuals and institutions in unanticipated ways. Breach of privacy is the biggest concern. Organizations using consumer data run the risk of facing reputation damage due to inadequate understanding of information trust issues.
Advice: Initiate debate within corporations by posing ethical dilemmas
The ethical debate at hand for organizations is determining what is ‘appropriate’ and ‘not appropriate’, and considering the delicate balance between the benefits that big data analytics bring and the ethical and privacy risks they pose. Organizations hold different values, principles, beliefs and convictions and an ethical debate forces an organization to take a stance on what it believes itself to be.
Advice: Develop a code of conduct
Leaders of the company, together with their marketing and legal departments, should develop a code of conduct for big data analytics. This code of conduct should contain a list of principles, a process of ethical checks and balances when conducting big data analytics, and legal implications.
Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/105e30a4-2549-11e3-b349-00144feab7de.html#axzz2fsOVasnR