The FTC has just released a 33-page report that provides insights and guidance to businesses concerning how they can and should use big data. The report recaps much of the information that the FTC gathered during a public workshop that was conducted back in September of 2014.
It seems that the FTC is concerned that companies using big data may be using it to discriminate against certain groups of people, even if not intentionally.
Since most businesses that use big data have it gathered up using automated tools and services, analyzed automatically and then incorporated into their marketing or other business efforts, it is easy to see how this can happen.
The report was titled, “Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion” and in addition to providing readers with insights into how big data is collected and used, it also provides some important legal guidelines.
Whenever the FTC releases this type of report on a topic you can expect them to start cracking down on businesses that aren’t following their guidelines, so make sure to keep that in mind if you are using big data in any of your marketing or other efforts.
They go into some detail regarding what types of laws and regulations businesses could be violating when using big data and also how this can be avoided. Be warned, however, they do come right out and recommend additional human involvement in analyzing big data. Many businesses will be concerned since one of the main advantages of having this source of information is that it comes in largely without requiring them to spend human capital to get it (though that is not always the case).
If you use big data in any of your business efforts, make sure to take some time to read through the report to see how it may impact you. You can find the report on the FTC’s website located HERE.
