Opinion | Big data, big traps: How massive stores of personal information can be misused

Advances in information and communications technology have led to the phenomenon of “big data”. Vast quantities of data are generated, gathered, stored, linked and analysed with phenomenal ease and efficiency.

Much of this big data is personal data generated online through our social interactions, our relationship with organisations, and our connection with smart devices which record and process data.

This includes “content” data such as tweets, texts, emails, phone calls, social network posts, photos and videos; as well as “contextual” data (called metadata) relating to these communications, for example, the time, origin, destination and duration of a communication.

It also includes internet transactions such as our web search, purchase and browsing histories. Together, it can reveal the details of our personal, political, social, financial, and working lives.

No doubt big data can bring enormous economic and societal benefits as companies and governments use it to unleash powerful analytic capabilities. They are connecting data from different sources to find patterns and generate new insights for optimising customer relationships, targeted behavioural advertising, combating criminal activities, improving health care and many other aspects of our lives.

While these efforts are to be welcomed, they have potential ramifications for privacy and data protection.