Tom Simonite reports:
When President Obama spoke in January about reforming U.S. surveillance, he also asked a panel of experts to spend 90 days investigating the potential consequences of the use of technology that falls under the umbrella term “big data.” The 68-page report was published today and repeatedly emphasizes that big data techniques can advance the U.S. economy, government, and public life. But it also spends a lot of time warning of the potential downsides, saying in the introduction that:
“A significant finding of this report is that big data analytics have the potential to eclipse longstanding civil rights protections in how personal information is used in housing, credit, employment, health, education, and the marketplace.”
Read more on MIT Technology Review.
Over on The Hill, Kate Tummarello reports:
The White House on Thursday released a sweeping review of “big data” practices that calls for an update to privacy laws.
Officials who conducted the review recommended that Congress enact legislation based on the “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” that President Obama first introduced in 2012.
The report also calls for a law to create notification requirements for companies that suffer data breaches and urges an update to a decades-old statute that allows warrantless access to emails.
Read more on The Hill.