Data protection frameworks fit for 'Big Data'

Data is rapidly changing how companies operate, offering them new business opportunities as they generate increasingly sophisticated insights from the analysis of an ever-increasing pool of information. Today’s technology enabled data analysis and use are providing rich value added scenarios and services to consumers, business and society in general. Businesses have clearly moved beyond a focus on data collection to data use, but users of data and consumers have an inadequate model of notice and consent at the point of data collection to limit inappropriate use or enable appropriate and value added use. A flexible system encompassing a newer public policy model built for a data rich society, paired with an interoperable metadata-based architecture that allows permissions and policies to be bound to data, and a flexible permission system engaging consumers will allow for changing trust norms, help balance the tension between users and business, satisfy regulators’ desire for increased transparency, and still enable data to flow in ways that provide value to all participants in the ecosystem.