Through a PRISM, Darkly

By now, most people have heard about the NSA surveillance program known as PRISM that, according to a recent AP story, is about even bigger data seizure. Without question, big data has both positive and negative aspects, but these recent revelations are casting more light on the darker side of big data, especially its considerable data privacy implications.

A few weeks ago, Robert Hillard blogged about how we are living as far from 1984 as George Orwell, whose dystopian novel 1984, which was published in 1948, has recently spiked in sales since apparently Big Brother is what many people see when they look through a PRISM, darkly.

Although the Big Data and Big Brother comparison was being made before the PRISM story broke, it’s now more frequently discussed and debated, especially in regard to government, and rightfully so.

However, I still can’t help but wonder if we’re overreacting to this issue.  After all, the data that passes through PRISM is sourced from mobile phones, social networks, and a variety of services provided via the mobile web and Internet, which is data we voluntarily provided to companies like Verizon, Facebook, and Google.  Moreover, in many cases, this data is associated with services we didn’t pay for, apart from the money we do pay for our mobile phone plans and to our Internet service providers.

So, if we are so concerned about the government accessing this data, then why were we not similarly concerned about having voluntarily provided this data to those companies in the first place?  Because we agreed to a data privacy policy (which we have no choice but to accept, and most of us never read)? Or because those companies have comforting corporate mottos like “don’t be evil” (Google)?

A Big Data Panic Room?

A panic room is a fortified room installed in a private residence or business to provide a safe shelter, or hiding place, for the inhabitants in the event of a break-in, home invasion, or other physical threat.

Some reactions to PRISM seem to be advocating the equivalent of a big data panic room.  However, locking your data in a virtual hiding place and cutting yourself off from the digital world would be just as impractical as living your whole life in a real panic room.  In both cases, the more secure and private you are, the more cut off you are.  The bottom line is no matter how vigilant you are about data privacy, there has always been, and always will be, times you will need to share some of your data.

And while, as James Kobielus recently blogged, data is not directly monetizable as a form of currency, there are many things we can’t purchase without providing some of our personal data.  For example, if I want to buy a car, and I don’t have enough cash, I have to finance the purchase with an auto loan, which I can’t get without providing my personal financial data to the lending organization.

Although I never did (and still don’t) agree with Mark Zuckerberg’s infamous 2010 claim that Facebook’s success proves “privacy is dead,” the harsh reality is unless you want to become a Neo-Luddite or join an Amish community, absolute data privacy is pure fantasy, an idyllic dream that will never come true.

Don’t Panic

Ours is a world still struggling to come to terms with the implications of having more aspects of our everyday lives, personal and professional, captured as data, or metadata as is discussed with PRISM. The geo-location tags, date-time stamps, and other information associated with phone calls, text messages, emails, and status updates are the bits and bytes of digital bread crumbs we scatter along our daily paths.  Our own self-surveillance avails companies and governments with the data needed to track us, target us with personalized advertising, and terrorize us with the thought of always being watched.

Scandals like PRISM force us to confront the fact that our Brave New Data World comes at a cost greater than any currency could calculate.  Therefore, we should be concerned about data privacy, and demand that better data privacy policies be created and enforced.  And, of course, governments should not be allowed to sacrifice our data privacy in the name of national security.

I just don’t think panic is the best response.

Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a science-fictional big data guidebook to almost everything about the known universe and an indispensable companion for the intergalactic traveler, emblazoned the words “Don’t Panic” on its cover.  Arthur C. Clarke said this was perhaps the best advice that could be given to humanity.  I would argue “Don’t Panic” is also the best advice that could be given to anyone hitchhiking their way through our increasingly data-driven world.