Direito e Informação na Sociedade em Rede: atas Direito e Informação na Sociedade em Rede: atas | Page 63

(National Science Foundation, 2012)17 Big data relies on the increasing ability of technology to support the collection and storage of large amounts of data, and on its ability to enable analysis, understanding and taking advantage of the full value of data using sophisticated algorithms (The White House, 2014). Promising fields for big data technologies range from health to intelligent transport systems and smart cities, from social research on human and group behaviour to models of economic growth (Allemand, 2013, p. 27 ff). The other side of the coin is the growing use of big data for consumer profiling and, more than that, for purposes of surveillance and control. One of the greatest values of big data for businesses and governments is derived from the monitoring of human behaviour and resides in its predictive potential, entailing the emergence of a revenue model for Internet companies relying on tracking online activity. Such “big data” should be considered personal even where anonymisation techniques have been applied since it is widely admitted that it is relatively easy to infer a person’s identity by combining allegedly anonymous data with publicly available information such as on social media. These may include highly sensitive data such as health data and information relating to our thinking patterns and psychological make-up18. All in all, notwithstanding the improvements that big data may bring about to the performance of both commercial and public services, a true apprehension arises that this new paradigm may considerably alter the balances of power with respect to personal data appropriation and control with adverse effects upon the effectiveness of data protection principles and rights. 3. Changing power balances in data control, and how the data protection regime responds On the European Data Protection Day, 28th January 2015, Vice-President Andrus Ansip and Commissioner Věra Jourová underlined that “citizens and businesses are waiting for the modernisation of data protection rules to catch up with the digital age”. The Commissioners reaffirmed their faith in the new data protection rules to “strengthen citizens' rights” and “put citizens back in control of their data”19. They also recalled, the “EU Data Protection reform also includes new rules for police and criminal justice authorities when they exchange data across the EU. This is very timely, not least in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris”. As the EU approves the GDPR, and the law enforcement directive, the belief thus persists in the ability of this reform to cope with technological progresses. Likewise, EU leaders underline the aptitude of the reform to conciliate economic Article 29 Working Party (WP29) Opinion 3/2013 on purpose limitation. European Data Prot4ection Supervisor, Opinion 7/2015, Meeting the challenges of big data, November, p. 7. 18 European Data Protection Supervisor, Opinion 7/2015, Meeting the challenges of big data. A call for transparency, user control, data protection by design and accountability, 19 November, 7. 19 European Fact Sheet, Data Protection Day 2015: Concluding the EU Data Protection Reform essential for the Digital Single Market, Brussels, 28 January 2015, (last accessed 18.03.2016). 17 51