The Guardian view on big data: the danger is less democracy #49

The Guardian view on big data: the danger is less democracy



This article talks about the Observer’s discovery that a secretive firm apparently bankrolled by a rightwing billionaire was at work in the Brexit referendum to sway voters selected on the basis of their Facebook profiles highlights the way in which the erosion of privacy can lead to an erosion of democracy – and will inevitably do so without firm, clear, principled action by governments and courts.

-Our model of democracy is based on public campaigning followed by private voting.

-There are two kinds of privacy under threat in the emerging economy, where everyone is almost always connected to the internet, and has their lives enmeshed in big data

I believe that to an extent what the article is saying is true, for instance in the USA the NSA have lots of power and influence in terms of collecting data and information to protect the people but many would argue that this type of data gathering could be considered spying and a breach of privacy despite being for a 'good' cause.