18
ISSUES: Privacy
Chapter 1: What is privacy?
of these data, it is not uncommon that
they are sold to third parties.
It’s opaque and distributed
Our digital traces are collected by
multiple governmental and business
entities which engage in data
exchange through markets whose
structure is mostly hidden from
people.
Data are typically classified into
three categories: first-party, which
companies gather directly from their
customers through their website,
app,
or
customer-relationship-
management system; second-party,
which is another company’s first-
party data and is acquired directly
from it; and third-party, which is
collected, aggregated and sold by
specialised data vendors.
Despite the size of this market,
how data are exchanged through it
remains unknown to most people
(how many of us know who can see
our Facebook likes, Google searches
or Uber rides, and what they use
these data for?).
Some data surveillance applications
go beyond recording to predicting
behavioural trends.
Predictive analytics are used in
healthcare,
public
policy
and
management to render organisations
and peoplemore productive. Growing
in popularity, these practices have
raised serious ethical concerns around
social inequality, social discrimination
and privacy. They have also sparked
a debate about what predictive big
data can be used for.
It’s nudging us
A more worrying trend is the use
of big data to manipulate human
behaviour at scale by incentivising
‘appropriate’ activities, and penalising
“inappropriate” activities. In recent
years, governments in the UK, US, and
Australia have been experimenting
with attempts to ‘correct’ the
behaviour of their citizens through
‘nudge units’.
With the application of big data, the
scope of such efforts can be greatly
extended. For instance, based on
data acquired (directly or indirectly)
from your favourite health app, your
insurance company could raise your
rates if it determined your lifestyle
to be unhealthy. Based on the same
data, your bank could classify you as a
‘high-risk customer’ and charge you a
higher interest on your loan.
Using data from your smart car,
your car insurance company could
decrease your premium if it deemed
your driving to be safe.
By signalling “appropriatebehaviours”
companies and governments aim to
The intelligence services and personal information
In practice, the intelligence service probably...
Have access to almost
everything about us
Have wide access to
a lot of personal information
about us
Don’t have access to
that much personal
information about us
Don’t have access to
hardly any of our
personal information
Source: YouGov, July 2014
39%
47%
44%
36%
5% 5%
2% 1%
June 2013
July 2014
shape our behaviour. As the scope of
data surveillance increases, more of
our behaviours will be evaluated and
“corrected” and this disciplinary drive
will become increasingly inescapable.
With this disciplinary drive becoming
routine, there is a danger we will
start to accept it as the norm, and
pattern our own behaviour to comply
with external expectations, to the
detriment of our free will.
The “datafication” of our lives is an
undeniable trend which is impacting
all of us. However, its societal
consequences are not predetermined.
We need to have an open discussion
about its nature and implications, and
about the kind of society we want to
live in.
10 October 2016
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The
above
information
is
reprinted with kind permission
from
The Conversation
. Please
visit
for further information.
© 2010–2017,
The Conversation Trust (UK)
