In every big company which depends heavily on big data management, personal privacy is a much debated topic. It is so, because it is a global issue which directly affects billions of people and if one takes into account the real time capabilities of big data the issue becomes even bigger than before. State and local laws are both behind the data privacy but given their pace they may never be able to catch up with the current requirements.
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But, do most of the people want the law to evolve? Given that Big Data benefits everyone. Companies are prime users of this technology as they drive profits from this and consumers enjoy the services based on their likes, dislikes and preferences. But, consumers yet do not realize this that they are giving lots of their information for little convenience, discounts and coupons.
In today’s world which is advancing technologically Big Data is being used to detect many types of behavior and patterns in real-time scenarios. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that intelligence and military complex of any technological advance nation in the world can detect you on the pattern of your behaviors. They already know what you have done and from that they can determine what you are most likely to do and all this from the analysis of the data they have collected from you.
With data, expertise and algorithms available in the market at affordable prices more and more companies are gaining the ability to use the big data in order to serve the consumers.
For example, airports and other areas f security use cameras to monitor people in real time and they can use the facial recognition technology to determine your identity. They can do this for the security reasons but at the same time they can also feed this information to the retailers on the airport to drive up the sales.
Not only airports and companies but grocery chains are also hell bent on using the real time data to boost the business. One example of this is beacon technology. This technology gives retailers the power to track your moment in inside the store and they are able to send you various deals and coupons for the products which you are about to pass by.
You may like the sound of getting special deals and coupons on the phones but the question is once the information pertaining to you has been collected who owns it? It never seems to disappear. So, did you give up your privacy by just walking into the public area and if you do who owns your information and who gave them the right to share that information with the third party retailer.
The hard truth behind this is that you have not given the permission to anyone but rather you were forced in a very special way. Look at the apps, every app is accessing our information and they protect themselves by means of written disclaimers stating that you have given them the permission to use the data however they want.
Now, that you that we are giving away the information at every step let’s talk about the implications. The issue is that once your information is out there anyone with right resources can create a profile of you and the more information you leave the easier it is to create the profile. Also, with real time Big Data companies are trying to influence you decision making into their favor surely, the purpose of marketing is this but with real time data the chances of success are more because it based on your profile. Predictive marketing applications use customer profile, past-purchase history and behavior to offer the deal and discounts.
The answer to this question is: It does not belong to you and it’s not so bad because we live in a connected world and we all benefit from it. But, for sure there is need to have an extensive debate on data and personal privacy to safe guard our own information.
