Ethics and privacy have always been a main concern in data management. They are now of big interest with big data. This is due to the multi-dimensionality of big data:
• Due to the huge volume of data more pieces of valuable information can be identified or inferred than it was possible before.• The high velocity of data makes feasible analysis in real
like Google Flu Trends10 or user recommendation services as those proposed by Netflix or Amazon. The pivotal point is hence about the balance between benefits and drawbacks of snooping around people’s big data. Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier [91] propose four principles which could help to find a trade-off in this era of big personal data flow:
• Privacy should be seen as a set of rules encompassing flows of information in ethical ways but not the ability to keep data secret.
• Shared information can still be confidential.
• Big data mining requires transparency.
• Big data can threaten privacy.