Big Data is a term used to describe all the bits of information collected by companies and the government about you.
It’s used primarily by marketers to deliver ads to you as you check your Facebook page , read the latest online news and shop for a new pair of shoes.
However, that same data could be the reason you didn’t get a job, were denied health insurance or failed to qualify for a second mortgage. And that’s one reason why the Federal Trade Commission may step in.
In a speech this week, FTC commissioner Julie Brill proposed “Reclaim Your Name,” a program that would force Big Data brokers, such as Axciom, to be treated the same way as credit reporting companies are under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Under Brill’s plan, companies who collect data and those who sell data to third parties would have to provide an easy way for people to find out what data has been collected, correct any errors and decide whether the company can sell the data.
In other words, you, not a faceless corporation, would determine the fate of your data.
The biggest data broker on the planet, Arkansas-based Axciom, will try to beat the FTC to the punch. The company claims to have information on nearly 1 billion online users, including 90 percent of all U.S. social profiles, CEO Scott Howe said, as reported by Forbes.
It plans to give consumers access to a “pretty healthy amount” of data, a program that was scheduled to be available by midsummer, but has been delayed. [See also: How Big Data Organizing Netted $15 Million ]
But Axciom’s plan won’t go far enough for the FTC. Despite claims by data collectors and brokers that the information they use as been anonymized, meaning names, addresses and other personally identifiable information has been removed, Brill said that’s not enough.
“Every day we hear how easy it is to reattach identity to data that has been supposedly scrubbed,” Brill said. “NSF-funded research by Alessandro Acquisti has shown that, using publicly available online data and off-the-shelf facial recognition technology, it is possible to predict — with an alarming level of accuracy — identifying information as private as an individual’s Social Security number from an anonymous snapshot.”
(Brill herself may not be aware of the extremely limited conditions of Acquisti’s experiment, which matched on-campus snapshots to headshots in the Carnegie Mellon student directory. Acquisti then used student biographical data to predict Social Security numbers, which are generally numbered according to region and date.)
Brill wants companies to ensure this doesn’t happen.
“They should do everything technically possible to strip their data of identifying markers; they should make a public commitment not to try to re-identify the data; and they should contractually prohibit downstream recipients from doing the same,” she said.
The Latest Bing News on:
Control of Your Data
- Google launches Data Protection rules for Gmail in Betaon April 26, 2024 at 10:41 pm
Google has introduced data loss prevention rules for Gmail - a functionality that helps admins create data protection policies to control sensitive content shared in Gmail by your users. With this ...
- AI and your rights – who owns your data?on April 26, 2024 at 6:13 pm
Attorney William Meyer joins producer/host Coralie Chun Matayoshi to discuss how your personal information is collected and used, who owns your data, and what laws protect your right of privacy ...
- Military Tank Manual, 2017 Zero-Day Anchor Latest Ukraine Cyberattackon April 26, 2024 at 6:48 am
The targeted operation utilized CVE-2017-8570 as the initial vector and employed a notable custom loader for Cobalt Strike, yet attribution to any known threat actor remains elusive.
- Today's FCC's net neutrality vote affects your internet speed. We explainon April 25, 2024 at 10:23 am
Under Trump, the FCC had argued the net neutrality rules were unnecessary, blocked innovation and resulted in a decline in network investment by internet service providers, a contention disputed by ...
- Protecting Your Business From Cyberthreatson April 25, 2024 at 9:28 am
Some preventative measures against ransomware attacks include offsite backups, security training, frequent system updates and firewalls.
- Thousands mark Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealandon April 25, 2024 at 12:08 am
Thousands gathered across Australia and New Zealand on Thursday at Anzac Day services to commemorate those who fought and died in major conflicts in the nations' history.
- How I built a business that helps you earn money from your online dataon April 22, 2024 at 10:00 pm
Jones founded software company Gener8 in 2018 to help users track, control and monetise their online data – the data often being sold when we aimlessly click ‘accept’ on a cookies pop-up or ‘agree’ to ...
- The secret meaning of your iPhone clock’s 4 different colorson April 21, 2024 at 3:00 am
The bubble behind the clock on your iPhone can appear in different colors. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson explains what each of those colors mean.
- How to take control of your ESG data-management processes, according to reporting expertson April 18, 2024 at 8:14 am
As regulators and market operators around the world tighten their requirements for companies’ ESG reporting standards, many cor ...
- AI Is Here: How Do You Control Your Cloud Spending?on April 17, 2024 at 5:00 am
The growing interest in cloud economics is showing companies how to maximize the value of new technology investments rather than cutting them out altogether.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Control of Your Data
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Control of Your Data” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Big Data
- Which Data Security Strategies Safeguard Businesses Against Potential Threats?on April 26, 2024 at 3:17 pm
Which Data Security Strategies Safeguard Businesses Against Potential Threats? In the age of Big Data, safeguarding sensitive information is a top priority for businesses. We’ve gathered insights from ...
- Big Data From Assembly Tools Raise Quality at Volvo Truckson April 26, 2024 at 6:15 am
Every time an assembler uses an electric fastening tool at the Volvo Group truck factory here, the data from the operation is logged and stored. Engineers are now using that data to increase quality.
- Big Dataon April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
With this acquisition, BMC continues to invest in innovation—from IT operations management to service management, data and application workflow automation, and mainframe management, according to the ...
- The Coolest Big Data Management And Integration Tool Companies Of The 2024 Big Data 100on April 23, 2024 at 3:48 pm
Data management and data integration software is one of the most dynamic segments of the big data universe with hundreds of vendors providing software products for specific data management tasks or ...
- The Coolest Big Data System And Cloud Platform Companies Of The 2024 Big Data 100on April 23, 2024 at 7:41 am
And long-established software giants like Microsoft, Oracle and SAP provide foundational cloud systems, databases and other supporting software for big data initiatives, in addition to offering their ...
- Big data boosts wearable tech: New study enhances physical activity trackingon April 21, 2024 at 7:10 pm
Researchers utilized a large-scale unlabeled dataset from the U.K. Biobank to train deep-learning models for accurately monitoring physical activity through wearables, demonstrating enhanced accuracy ...
- The Key to Success: Harnessing the Power of Big Data for Business Growthon April 19, 2024 at 4:12 am
In today’s fast-paced and competitive business world, staying ahead of the curve is essential for success. And one way companies are doing just that is by harnessing the power of big data. From ...
- What Big Data Means for Your Small Businesson April 16, 2024 at 12:59 pm
The internet has only been around for three decades, but in that relatively short time, it’s become one of the most important tools at our collective disposal. As a small business owner, you can use ...
- AI and Big Data: Why You May Not Want to Let Your SaaS Agreements Auto-Renew Anymoreon April 16, 2024 at 10:20 am
Recent years have seen a rapid change in the technology, economics and regulations driving the software industry, such as the rise of artificial intelligence (including generative AI, like ChatGPT), ...
- Big Data: Data Analytics for Business and Beyondon April 1, 2024 at 3:09 am
Video: Watch Professor Qiwei Yao discuss his course. In this modern information age, the broad availability of Big Data (i.e. data of unprecedented sizes and complexities) brings opportunities with ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Big Data
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Big Data” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]