Big Data and Its Exclusions

Stanford Law Review Online, 66 Stanford Law Review Online 55 (2013)

9 Pages Posted: 15 Jul 2013 Last revised: 29 Mar 2014

See all articles by Jonas Lerman

Jonas Lerman

Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State

Date Written: September 3, 2013

Abstract

Legal debates over the "big data" revolution currently focus on the risks of inclusion: the privacy and civil liberties consequences of being swept up in big data's net. This essay takes a different approach, focusing on the risks of exclusion: the threats big data poses to those whom it overlooks. Millions of people worldwide remain on big data's periphery. Their information is not regularly collected or analyzed, because they do not routinely engage in the sorts of behaviors big data is designed to capture. Consequently, their preferences and needs risk being routinely ignored when governments and private industry use big data and advanced analytics to shape public policy and the marketplace. Because big data poses a unique threat to equality, not just privacy, this essay argues that a new "data antisubordination" doctrine may be needed.

Keywords: big data, information privacy, equality, antisubordination

Suggested Citation

Lerman, Jonas, Big Data and Its Exclusions (September 3, 2013). Stanford Law Review Online, 66 Stanford Law Review Online 55 (2013), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2293765 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2293765

Jonas Lerman (Contact Author)

Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State ( email )

Washington, DC
United States
202-957-2283 (Phone)

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