Big Data technology and Human Rights

The human rights of internet users are being violated

By FELIPE VERA  MARCH 23, 2017

In the era of globalization, where technology is an essential part of most people's lives, it is very important that companies and governments, which collect personal data from their users and customers using Big Data technology, respect their human rights, described in articles 8 and 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

What is Big Data?

Big Data is an emerging technology and practice that enables companies and governments to collect, process, detect and store large volumes of structured and unstructured data quickly and cost effectively.

The data analyzed through this technology are collected in the following ways:

-Generated by people

-Transactions of data

-Internet marketing and web

-Machine to Machine (Internet of Things)

-Biometric (retina scanners, fingerprints, or readers of DNA strings)

Companies can use the information obtained with Big Data for marketing purposes, human resources, scientific research, etc.

Governments may also use the information collected for research, defense, and espionage purposes.

Big Data and Human Rights

The amount of data created annually is already many Zettabytes and tends to grow, of these almost 80% are generated by individuals.

Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that are violated with the use of Big Data:

Article 12- "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks " This article is blatantly violated by numerous companies and governments using Big Data technology, as there is a lot of arbitrary interference in people's private lives, because they are not asked if they want to be monitored online and that the information obtained is analyzed by others (companies and governments) and decisions are made based on it.

Article 8- "Everyone has the right to an effective remedy before the competent national tribunals, which protects him against acts that violate his fundamental rights recognized by the constitution or by law". Current legislation does not provide effective protection to users against the human rights violations they suffer from some of the companies and governments using Big Data technology, since it is almost impossible for these users to be able to protect themselves from acts of companies and governments that violate some of their human rights as described in Article 12 (there are no clear and effective laws).

Solution

It is important to create laws to protect Internet users against the interference of companies and governments in the people’s private lives.

It is also important that the United Nations, through its Commission on Human Rights and other institutions such as the International Telecommunication Union, creates clear regulations governing the use of Internet users' information that is captured, stored, and analyzed with the technology Big Data and that immediately stop the violation of the Human Rights of Internet users.