As usual, Daily Kos was
on to this story a year before it got the notice of the Washington media. Still, imagine my surprise to find this
on the front page of Politico:
Who watches the watchers? Big Data goes unchecked
Unchecked is putting it mildly. There is not a single industry in America that operates with as much freedom from regulation of any kind as Big Data. Not Big Banks, not Big Oil, Big Ag, or even Big Defense.
More below the fold.
Folks might be up in arms about data gathered by the NSA, but at least there are the legal and administrative means to rein that agency in, as it is owned and controlled by elected officials. But as the article accurately points out, Big Data is far more invasive of privacy and it will get even moreso:
The National Security Agency might be tracking your phone calls. But private industry is prying far more deeply into your life.
Commercial data brokers know if you have diabetes. Your electric company can see what time you come home at night. And tracking companies can tell where you go on weekends by snapping photos of your car’s license plate and cataloging your movements.
Private companies already collect, mine and sell as many as 75,000 individual data points on each consumer, according to a Senate report. And they’re poised to scoop up volumes more, as technology unleashes a huge wave of connected devices — from sneaker insoles to baby onesies to cars and refrigerators — that quietly track, log and analyze our every move.
There are those who find this level of invasion by private business less alarming than that of the NSA, by virtue of the government's power to jail or even kill with rightful authority. But it should be noted that such abilities that NSA has are not and do not spring from anything in a government lab or legislative committee. The data the NSA gathers is first gathered by private businesses. That is where the invasion begins, and it's only a matter of time before government begins to catch up with private industry on tracking and monitoring the American people:
But far from cracking down, the administration has floated several proposals for using data mining to advance its goals. The Pentagon, for instance, is considering tapping into commercial data banks to monitor the behavior of employees and contractors with top security clearances, so it can keep an eye out for bankruptcies, domestic violence charges or other signs of instability.
Privacy advocates fear all this information will find its way to the commercial data brokers who compile and sell profiles packed with details about individuals’ health, behavior, interests and preoccupations, including education level, political and religious affiliations, and address, phone numbers and email accounts.
Some data brokers slice and dice consumer profiles into categories such as “Ethnic Second-City Strugglers,” “X-tra Needy” and “Fragile Families” for ease of marketing, the Senate Commerce Committee reported last year. One company sold lists of families afflicted by specific illnesses, from AIDS to gonorrhea — and even offered a specialty list of rape victims, until a reporter from The Wall Street Journal inquired about it.
It’s information that privacy advocates fear could be used to discriminate against individuals — or to target them with advertising cleverly designed to exploit vulnerabilities.
Data brokers are people who buy, analyze, and sell profiles of just about everyone. Unlike credit reporting agencies, there are no controls over these profiles and the public has no right to see them or check them for accuracy. This is a huge, huge unregulated industry. As I've noted, much of this data is finding its way into the justice system as prosecutors are able to profile jurors to determine who is most likely to vote to convict. That's a resource that most private defendants will never be able to afford. Corporations can use this data to find jurors most sympathetic to them in tort cases involving faulty or dangerous products. It won't be long before organized crime gets in on the act, creating potential for more efficient extortion and confidence schemes. And of course there's the disturbing trend in discrimination when hiring for jobs based on profiles that you, the applicant, will never see or get to review. I don't see anything that would stop foreign governments from purchasing this very same data, potentially compromising national security and military operations.
Both parties allow this go on with no regulation of any kind.
I want to be clear that I am no Luddite. I use many of the new gadgets like the rest of the general public. But I am wise enough to know from history that any industry allowed to operate without regulation will eventually do harm to the public at large, no matter how cool things seem at first glance. With the Supreme Court eliminating any power of the public to check big corporations and the wealthy elite, and with Big Data making huge wads of cash, it won't be long before the difference between NSA data and the much more invasive corporate data is meaningless.