Big Data, Big Deal

It once took us centuries to create as much data as we now create in a matter of days. It’s a case of data, data everywhere: texts, email, Facebook likes and photo uploads, Tweets, Google searches, YouTube videos, online purchases and reviews, wearable technology, sprawling mobile networks, millions of RFID tags, billions of smart devices connected to each other and the Internet (the Internet of Things), and so on.

In releasing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report on big data on January 6, 2016, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez noted that big data’s role is increasing in virtually every area of business. The report, Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion? Understanding the Issues, outlines some of the laws that apply to big data, explores benefits and risks of big data, and provides questions for businesses to consider when using big data analytics. The report can be found at www.ftc.gov/reports/big-data-tool-inclusion-or-exclusion-understanding-issues-ftc-report.

As big data gets bigger, the corresponding legal issues grow exponentially. It’s not just privacy, security, and information governance issues, though those loom large. Big data plays a huge role in the quest to attract and retain great talent in the workplace. Litigation matters are being transformed by data analytics. Questions about big data linger even after data subjects die. In this issue of The SciTech Lawyer, we explore all of these issues.

Big data figures prominently in the work of many SciTech committees. Nowhere is this more apparent than in SciTech’s Security, Privacy and Information Governance Division, which includes the Section’s Big Data Committee and the new Internet of Things Committee. Whether it’s Cloud Computing, E-Privacy Law, E-Discovery and Digital Evidence, Homeland Security, Information Security, Privacy and Computer Crime, or any of the other committees in the Division, big data will likely play a significant role in the issues being explored. Likewise SciTech’s Life and Physical Sciences Division and Interdisciplinary Division (including the Healthcare Technology Committee and Data Property Rights Committee) touch on big data issues from other perspectives.

SciTech members who want to delve into big data issues and tap into some great resources have a lot of options.

• Members can join an unlimited number of the Section’s committees for free; just go to ambar.org/scitechcommittees, and the sky’s the limit.
• Big data will be covered in upcoming issues of The SciTech Lawyer, particularly in our upcoming issue on the Internet of Things (and report on the Section’s first National Institute on the Internet of Things, held on March 30–31, 2016, in Washington, DC).
• SciTech has many books (ambar.org/scitechbooks), podcasts (ambar.org/scitechpodcasts), and programs (ambar.org/scitech) that provide easy ways to get a handle on big data issues.

Big data is a big deal, but SciTech provides members with many ways to avoid big trouble.