PRIVACY AND BIG DATA

Everything You Need to Know About Our Book and Privacy

We (Terence and Mary) recently wrote a book (buy it here) on how big data has impacted privacy (or a lack of it) in the digital age. After many webcasts, podcasts, and radio interviews, where we talked about the many aspects of privacy and what individuals and companies should be thinking about, we decided to set up this page as a clearing house for all things related to our book. It goes without saying (but we will), that privacy is a hot topic. We’ve certainly written about it a great deal through our blog and now, our book, and wanted to provide you with a central resource for webcast and podcast replays, upcoming events, specific posts from our blog that focus on data privacy and its first cousin, data security, and answers to the questions we are most frequently asked. To make this easier on you, here is a list of quick links to topics:

• About Privacy and Big Data
• Why Two Executives from a Big Data Analytics Company (PatternBuilders) Decided to Write a Book About Privacy
• Events, Podcasts, Webcasts, and Other Stuff
• Some Great Posts From Our Blog on Privacy and Data Security
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Contact Us

About Privacy and Big Data

Much of what constitutes Big Data is information about us. Through our online activities, we leave an easy-to-follow trail of digital footprints that reveal who we are, what we buy, where we go, and much more. This eye-opening book explores the raging privacy debate over the use of personal data, with one undeniable conclusion: our data is the most valuable commodity on the market today—more valuable than gold. Go to Amazon’s Privacy and Big Data page to read reviews or buy the book.

Why We Decided to Write a Book About Privacy

Why would two executives from a growing startup in the big data and analytics industry write a book on digital privacy? Well, in our business we deal with the issues of privacy every day as we support industries like financial services, retail, health care, and social media. So we’ve seen up close how the digital footprints we leave in our daily lives can be easily mashed up and, through expertise and technology, deliver startling accurate pictures of our behavior as well as increasingly accurate predictions of our future actions. Far more is known today about us as individuals than ever before. How organizations, businesses, and government agencies use this information to track and predict our behavior is becoming one of the fundamental issues of the 21st century.

As leaders in a company that provides tools to make this possible, it is important for us to understand the issues of privacy as it applies to big data sets, singularly and in aggregate. We must do what we can to make sure that the significant benefits of big data analytics are maximized (consumer choice, improved health care, protection from terrorism) while the negatives are minimized (lack of privacy, political suppression, genetic discrimination). Of course, we do this for the obvious moral reasons. But there are practical ones as well: If we do not, we will lose the trust of the consumers, the very people that we rely on for much of our data. Or as Reid Hoffman put it at South by Southwest, companies should never “ambush their users.”

Why do we spend so much time writing and blogging about digital privacy issues? As a company that is on the forefront of creating sophisticated tools to analyze digital data, we are acutely aware of the powerful technologies and techniques we—and others in our industry—are developing. Data is the life blood of our industry. If we do not make an effort to understand privacy concerns and bring self-regulation to the forefront, it will disappear under the twin forces of individual distrust and over-regulation. This is why we spend a lot of time thinking about what we can do to ensure that our tools and expertise are used in ways that are ethical and positive. The book is a way in which we can help our customers and the public be proactive about privacy issues which, in turn, keeps us all on the right path.

Events, Podcasts, Webcasts, and "Other Stuff"

Links to upcoming, as well as replays (when they are available)--be sure to check this section often as the list is regularly updated.

Events

pii2011 Venture Forum
Date: November 15, 2011
Place: Quadrus Conference Center, Silicon Valley

The pii2011 Venture Forum will bring together leading tech executives, investors, analysts, policy experts and entrepreneurs for an in-depth look at the opportunities and challenges associated with the “pii” market. Terence and Mary will be discussing the various privacy players and business models driving the  privacy economy. Replay available.

O'Reilly Strata Conference 2012, Making Data Work
Date: February 28 - March 1, 2012
Place: Santa Clara Convention Center
Session: Privacy and Big Data: Is there room for privacy in the digital age?

We all know that digital data is increasing at an exponential rate driven by all the devices we use, ubiquitous networks, social media, and emerging technologies like the Internet of Things. But what is not well understood is how the components of big data, in the form of cheap storage, increased CPU power, and new algorithms, have changed the privacy landscape. Today, the aggregation and analysis of data is commonplace. Predictive models are used to predict your buying behavior or flag you as a possible criminal or terrorist. In this session, Terence Craig and Mary Ludloff, authors of "Privacy and Big Data," provide updated material to their webcast and ask once again: What level of privacy do you really have in the age of big data?

Podcasts

Online Privacy and Protecting Our Personal Data
In this podcast with Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand, Terence discusses the many aspects of privacy and whether privacy could become a competitive advantage for those companies that are transparent about what data they collect and how they use it.

Webcasts

• The Evolution from Private to Public: Is there privacy in the digital age?
  Panelists: Jim Adler, danah boyd, Terence Craig, Natalie Fonseca (moderator), Heather West
  Replay Available
  It is safe to say that the digital age has fundamentally changed all our lives. Certainly, it has given us the ability to share more information with more people (and more companies) than ever before. The explosion of personal information is fueling new data-driven business models, calling into question how we think about what's private and what's public. In this webcast, a leading group of privacy panelists explore how the line between private and public is blurring.

• Privacy and Big Data: Is there privacy in the age of big data?
  Speakers: Terence Craig and Mary Ludloff
  Replay Available
  In this webcast, Terence Craig and Mary Ludloff, authors of Privacy and Big Data, ask and answer this question: What level of privacy do you really have in the digital age? Get their take on the privacy debate from a number of different perspectives!

Other Stuff

What does Privacy mean in the age of big data?
In this interview with O'Reilly Radar's Audrey Watters, Terence discusses why data transparency trumps anonymization.

Some Great Posts from Our Blog on Privacy and Data Security

Posts about our book:

• Data Privacy in the Age of Big Data
• Privacy and Big Data—Post-Book Thoughts, Terence’s Point-of-View
• Privacy and Big Data—Post-Book Thoughts, Mary’s Point-of-View
• Follow Up on Privacy and Big Data Webcast & Slate’s Take on Privacy  

Posts on privacy:

• Confessions of a Privacy Junkie (and a list of favorite privacy resources!)
• Data and Technology Have No Moral Compass: But that does not mean that we get to abdicate all responsibility.
• Three Things Everyone Should Know About Privacy
• Data Privacy: Facebook, Facial Recognition, and Opting Out
• Location Tracking: Why You Should Care (Hint: It’s All About the Aggregation)
• Connect.me: The Beginning of a Consumer-Centric Data Monetization & Privacy Model?
• Your Expectation of Privacy: Think Before You Share
• On Data Privacy—Where Do You Fall on the Tolerance Scale?
• Anonymous Does Not Equal Private
• Big Data, Analytics, and Privacy: Do No Harm
• Data and Privacy: Who Owns You?
• TMI: Your Privacy, Data, and the Internet
  

Posts on data security:

• Mobile Apps: Be Really Careful Out There
• Epsilon’s Data Breach: Be Careful Out There
• Data Security, Privacy, and Your Mobile Phone
• Fraud Detection By the Numbers
• The Power of Analytics: Take Credit Card Fraud as an Example
• Spring is Here: Time to Clean Up Your Passwords!

Curation posts that cover privacy and/or data security:

• Thoughts on Identify Theft, Government IT, Facebook, and Google Plus
• Data Privacy Regulation Roundup for February and Facebook’s FTC Response
• Data Privacy Roundup: From Self-Policing to Regulation and Litigation

Frequently Asked Questions

During interviews and webcasts we are often asked the same questions so we decided to start a list of FAQs. If you have a specific question for us, drop us an email, tweet, or comment on our blog and we will answer you and if it’s a “good-to-know” question we will address it here as well!

1. What sites provide background or personal information about me and how can I remove myself from these sites?
   There are a number of what we call personal information sites that aggregate a lot of data about you from different sources and provide the information for free or for a fee. Reddit has a great list of these sites AND provides information on how to remove yourself from them. Keep in mind, though, that you while you may be able to remove yourself from the site, your data (all the information about you) is still on the net.

2. What are good sites or blogs to follow to keep up on privacy issues?
   Okay—there are lots of sites, both U.S oriented and international. Our favorites are: American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU), Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). All of these sites have blogs and twitter feeds that you can follow. And EPIC has done all of us a great service by providing a pretty exhaustive list of other privacy resources. Also, if you are interested in keeping abreast of privacy legal issues in the U.S., the InfoLawGroup has a great blog that specifically focuses on this area.

3. What kinds of privacy tools are available and where can I get them?
   This is a tough one because there are so many of them available and they are usually directed at one specific issue, like surfing anonymously, HTML filters, or cookie blockers. That being said, our friends at EPIC have created an online guide to privacy tools. Like them, we simply remind you that we do not endorse any products or services.

Contact Us

We would like to continue the conversation with you. You can tweet us at @terencecraig or @mludloff, email us, or follow us on our blog – Big Data Big Analytics. Hope to hear from you soon.

---