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Big data and data protection
20140728
Version: 1.0
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30.
Using ‘all the data’. Analysing data for research often
necessitates finding a statistically representative sample, or
carrying out random sampling. Big data analytics, on the other
hand, tends to collect and analyse all the data that is available.
For example, in a retail context it can mean analysing all the
purchases made by shoppers using a loyalty card, and using
this to find correlations, rather than asking a sample of
shoppers to take part in a survey. This feature of big data has
been made easier by the ability to store and analyse ever
increasing amounts of data.
31.
Repurposing data. Big data analytics often repurposes data
that was obtained for a different purpose and in some cases by
another organisation. Companies such as DataSift take data
from Twitter, Facebook and other social media and make it
available for analysis for marketing and other purposes. Social
media data can also be used to assess individuals’ credit
worthiness
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. In many cases the data that is being used for the
analytics has been generated automatically, by interactive
technology, rather than being consciously provided by
individuals. For example, mobile phone presence data is used
to analyse the footfall in retail centres
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. Sensors in the street
or in shops can capture the unique MAC address of the mobile
phones of people passing by
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. Although the MAC address does
not itself identify a specific individual, it could be used to track
repeated visits.
32.
Some see big data merely as a continuation of the processing
they have always done, even when they are handling very
large volumes of data. This may be because they do not
consider that what they are doing creates any new issues for
them, especially in terms of data protection, or because they
are sceptical of the ‘hype’ surrounding big data. Certainly,
some examples may be closer to traditional business
intelligence analytics even though they are reported as big
data. Where the term is being used only as marketing, and the
processing represents a continuation of what has been
happening previously, then it is unlikely that it will raise any
8
Deville, Joe. Leaky data: how Wonga makes lending decisions. Charisma, May
2013 http://www.charisma-network.net/finance/leaky-data-how-wonga-makes-
lending-decisions Accessed 25 June 2014
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Smart Steps increase Morrisons new and return customers by 150%. Telefonica
Dynamic Insights October 2013 http://dynamicinsights.telefonica.com/1158/a-
smart-step-ahead-for-morrisons Accessed 25 June 2014
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Seward, Zachary M and Datoo, Siraj City of London halts recycling bins tracking
phones of passers-by Quartz 12 August 2013 http://qz.com/114174/city-of-
london-halts-recycling-bins-tracking-phones-of-passers-by/ Accessed 25 June
2014