Data opportunities and risks: the dynamic of public, personal, and commercial interest

Public responsibilities such as community safety, government security, health care, education, and welfare are increasingly being looked at through the lenses of big data. Tensions between the use of data to improve these large and complex portfolios and issues of personal confidentiality persist. Yet, people freely serve up their personal information to private companies for the smallest of benefits. This commentary explores this dynamic in terms of current capabilities, opportunities, and constraints. The sheer abundance of data from smart devices, browsing histories, and social media interactions makes it easier to understand how people interact with their neighbours, communities, and societies. People are increasingly interconnected with each other and their environments through the internet of things. Hundreds of millions of photos, texts, videos, and social media updates are sent daily, while businesses collect data on consumers’ preferences and purchases (Khoso, 2016). Data are growing at breakneck speed, and by 2020 almost two megabytes of new information will be generated every second for every person on the planet (Marr, 2015). Companies like Alphabet Inc., Apple, Amazon, Twitter, and others monetize these vast stores of information, taking every opportunity to use personal data to their advantage. Facebook’s average revenue per user was $4.83USD as of December 31, 2016, which is up 29 per cent from the same period one year ago (Facebook, 2017). Last August The Washington Post reported that Facebook collects 98 data points on each of its 1.86 billion monthly active users (Dewey, 2016). Among these are age, education level, income, wealth, ethnicity, relationship status, family composition, employment status, religious preferences, frequent locations, and many more pieces of personal information. Most of this information is provided voluntarily through users’ profiles and posts of things like family photos. Pictures need not be posted by users themselves, as Facebook’s facial recognition software sifts through every picture available to identify and build profiles on everyone featured (Halpern, 2016). Facebook knows much of its users’ browsing histories because it is alerted every time users load a page with a like or share button (Dewey, 2016). Facebook also collaborates with major data brokers to access information from government and public records, consumer contest, surveys, warranties, and private commercial sources like pharmacy records and pay stubs (Dewey, 2016; Halpern, 2016). Municipalities also sell sensitive data like voter registrations, motor vehicle details, death notices, and foreclosure declarations (Halpern, 2016). Facebook is not alone in these types of practices as many other companies, especially those that operate in the social media space, pursue similar opportunities. Several years ago Target was in the limelight for correctly inferring that one of its customers was pregnant. Using information from a customer’s purchase history, Target made this deduction even before the teenager told her parents (Duhigg, 2012). People freely provide information to these companies regardless of how the potential release of their information may affect them in the future. Even if people are aware of the potential consequences, they show little concern. Facebook’s monthly active user base has grown nearly 850 per cent in the last seven years (Facebook, 2017; Facebook, 2013). Within Canada and the United States, growth was only 106 per cent for the same period; there were 231 million monthly active users as of the end of 2016. In other words, nearly 65 per cent of the combined population of these two countries chose to freely share their personal information with Facebook at least once per month. With the exception of Canada’s last general election, more people use Facebook regularly than show up to vote. Voter turnout in Canada’s last five general elections ranged from 59 to 68 per cent (Elections Canada, 2017).