Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection: the crisis of the European paradigm? (Oxford Internet Institute, 5 June2013)

1. Brown Bag Seminars
Oxford Internet Institute, 5 June2013
Big Data and the EU proposal on data
protection: the crisis of the European
paradigm?
Alessandro Mantelero
Faculty Fellow at the NEXA-Center for Internet & Society (Politecnico di
Torino)
Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford)

2. A. Mantelero © 2013
The evolution of data protection from mainframes to Big Data
✔
The origin: the first generation of data protection laws
✔
Social changes and new regulations: the second generation
✔
Data protection in the Big Data Era: rethinking the role of notice and consent
Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection:
the crisis of the European paradigm?

3. A. Mantelero © 2013
The origin: the first generation of data protection laws
✔
Privacy and data protection: two different notions
– the right to privacy in the US and in EU
– informational privacy and data protection (the theory of the power over information)
✔
The origin of data protection: the Age of the Goldfish Bowl
– economic and technological context:
◦ main-frames
◦ concentration of informational power (high investment, customization for specific
purposes and clients)
Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection:
the crisis of the European paradigm?

4. A. Mantelero © 2013
✔
The origin of data protection: the Age of the Goldfish Bowl
– legal framework (reaction): national laws and international conventions
◦ notification (to know the distribution of the power over information)
◦ access and transparency (to know how this power is used)
◦ public authorities (to control and react against abuses)
◦ lack of importance of individual consent (data collection made by public entities,
lack of economic relevance of data)
Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection:
the crisis of the European paradigm?

5. A. Mantelero © 2013
Social changes and new regulations: the second generation
– economic and technological context:
◦ personal computer (everyone is able to crate databases)
◦ from mass marketing to direct marketing (data-mining)
– legal framework (reaction): Directive 95/46/EC
◦ reduction of the cases of mandatory notification
◦ access and transparency
◦ public authorities
◦ relevant role of notice & consent (economic value p.d., personality rights)
Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection:
the crisis of the European paradigm?

6. A. Mantelero © 2013
Data protection in the Big Data Era: rethinking the role of notice and consent
– economic and technological context:
◦ Big Data
◦ concentration of informational power
◦ behavioural marketing
– legal framework (reaction): Directive 95/46/EC
◦ sub-set of rules for BD analytics which use personal data
◦ reducing the role of consent
◦ increasing accountability, solutions by design and control (DPAs)
Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection:
the crisis of the European paradigm?

7. A. Mantelero © 2013
– From the opt-in model to the opt-out model:
◦ lock-in, complexity, inadequacy of notice
◦ “transformative” use of the data and purposes limitation
◦ right to self-determination
– Accountability, privacy by design and control
◦ risk assessment and privacy by design (PIA, PbD, PbDf, standard)
◦ audit , prior authorization
◦ differential privacy, privacy by obscurity, contextual privacy, de-identification
Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection:
the crisis of the European paradigm?

8. A. Mantelero © 2013
Alessandro Mantelero
http://nexa.polito.it/people/amantelero
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=318
http://staff.polito.it/alessandro.mantelero
alessandro.mantelero@polito.it
@mantelero
Big Data and the EU proposal on data protection:
the crisis of the European paradigm?