Ethics of Big Data: Balancing Risk and Innovation

Ethics of Big Data author Kord Davis remembers exactly why he decided to write his book.

"I found myself attending dozens of working meetings where a big data technologist would suggest a new product feature that was available using big data technology and having other folks in the room begin the that s-creepy-no-it s-not debate," Davis says.

"Those debates would end with no decision or action being agreed upon. I realized that in the absence of a common framework and vocabulary for discussion, people revert to their own moral code." Davis feels that his concise book is timely because, he says, "Big data is literally changing what we value and how we value things. "What I call big data's 'forcing function' is the result of the volume, velocity, and variety of big data s growth. Touching nearly all aspects of our lives, we are just now beginning to understand how it will influence our values and the meaning of words like identity, privacy, ownership, and reputation."

And what we don't know can most definitely hurt us. "Individuals and organizations can suffer direct harm as a result of information being used in ways that it wasn t intended," Davis cautions. "This book addresses how to balance the benefits of big data innovation with the risk of harm from unintended consequences."