Big data is perhaps the most powerful asset we have in solving big problems these days. We need it to track and trace infection, manage healthcare talent and medical supply chains, and plan for our economic futures.
But how can we balance data and privacy? Legislation and regulation of big data such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act are partial measures at best. Regulators and pundits have focused so much on the demand side of the data equation — that is, on the use or sale of private citizens’ data in corporate applications like Facebook, Google, and Uber without the individuals’ awareness — that they’ve failed to look at the supply side of data: where data originates, who creates it, who really owns it, and who gets to capture it in the first place.
