Daniel Honan, writes in Big Think that Big Data is neither good nor bad but it may be used for either. He and Rick Smolan suggest it’s time individuals, the data creators, get more control over how their data is used.
In another Big Think article in their Predictive Analytics series, Eric Siegel, author of Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die, talks about how the ways organizations predictive capabilities will give them the ability to change the future. Social services, law enforcement, medical services, employee rewards all will be influenced as our ability to predict the future improves. Of course, a high-likelihood of an action or outcome is not certain. Kenneth Cukier, data editor at The Economist, in this video talks about how these predictions may drive preemptive actions that reduce free-will as we know it today.
As with any new “tool”, Big Data / Open Data is able to improve the products and services provided and they can be used improperly or immorally.
