As mentioned in class on Friday, privacy and rights to data play a very big role in the work that a data scientist has to do. It's an interesting discussion to have when it comes to this topic because the potential data that can be collected is limitless, and so the only barrier many times can be concerns over privacy and the rights of those whose data is being collected. The reality is that while more data is always theoretically better, that data could always fall into the wrong hands and cause troubles. Even if it's collected by the government, it can just allow the creation of a surveillance state, which is not what we should want. Because of these factors, the key for anyone involved with data has to be that they only collect what people are comfortable with revealing and they store it safely so it never falls into the hands of people that shouldn't see it.
The biggest, and most concerning, story regarding the privacy of data comes from none other than the NSA (National Security Agency). As many people now know, the NSA has the ability to collect a great deal of information on Americans through their phone calls, texts, and emails. This is troubling for two reasons. Firstly, they can now share this information with 16 other government agencies that put in an accepted request. That means that if any agency has some reason for suspicion they can bypass any court and request information from the NSA and get access to all data collected on the person in question. I personally believe that is a very concerning reality, as this lets any higher level employee at a major government agency find out information on someone quickly and without consequence. Whether or not the person in question did something wrong, their information and data implicitly now has very little protections from the government, and they have to be wary of everything they say online.
Of course, there are counter-arguments to this view. Some people say that the NSA needs to use all these tools to keep the country safe, and that it's worth it to give up some liberties to keep safe. The issue I have with this is that it can easily be a slippery slope. The government, in theory, could always make use of more information and more personal details about its citizens. Still, that information could easily be misused or kept as a way to supress the population. It can sound like something one would read in a dystopian novel, but it's still absolutely possible.
In sum, I think that over the coming years the privacy and value of all our data will become more and more important. As we see now, people are very happy with giving up some privacy and data in exchange for services like Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, the type and intimacy of the data collected is likely to continue rising as new, more impressive services become available. The question then is where do we draw the line? The answer to that question will likely have a massive effect on data science for years to come.