Big data and data protection: cause for concern?

Special software for big data is used to add value to collected information. However, since this information is data, the field can be sensitive and is more often presented in a conflictive light.

Data management and the GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation serves as a kind of guideline for the secure handling of data. Users should be protected against unwanted use of their data and transfer to third parties. Customers must therefore be informed about what happens with their data and give their explicit consent.
The GDPR therefore regulates the laws and conditions for handling data, i.e. how it may be stored and processed, and focuses on the transparency of processes.

The data protection regulations enshrined here relate exclusively to personal data, meaning all (customer) information that allows direct conclusions to be drawn about natural persons. Company data is therefore excluded from this.

Enterprise data management

In order to find their way through the jungle of the General Data Protection Regulation, it often makes sense for companies to check which data is really relevant for the intended use and actually only to collect it.

Specific personal data is often not required at all to use business intelligence systems. If you categorize consumers, for example, the analysis of the respective groups in terms of the “Know-Your-Customer Principle” can already be extremely informative.

Data means responsibility

Viewed banally, a computer is a machine that, as is well known, has no ethical resources and can be neither good nor evil.
The basic principle of protection and security in the digital world is similar to that in the analog world. The same goes for the answer: it's about responsibility.

Through our Internet behavior, we reveal a lot, so that we also have a responsibility to ourselves — namely to protect our data, to read terms and conditions and to choose providers (websites, shops, etc.) carefully. But disclosing account details is probably more thoughtful than allowing cookies on a food blog. That may not always be advisable, but it's okay. We'll weigh it up. The consequences are most likely not the same.

Imagine the following situation: You're at home and you haven't closed the curtains. Your neighbor sees you. He now has three options for action: He ignores you. He's watching you. He photographs you and violates your privacy and rights. Comparable situations arise when it comes to digital usage behavior.