There is no reason that companies should be sucking up data willy nilly, says Eric Horvitz from Microsoft Research

We attended the "Privacy in the Era of Big Data" session at the AAAS conference in San Jose, Calif., on Feb. 15 and came away with a new appreciation of how complex the subject truly is. Below is a series of tweets we posted during the meeting, as well as a brief abstract.

There is no reason that companies should be sucking up data willy nilly, says Eric Horvitz from Microsoft Research. #AAASmeeting
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

Collapsing uncertainty gives you better search results, but that requires getting users' personal info, says @erichorvitz #AAASmeeting
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

Collapsing uncertainty gives you better search results, but that requires getting users' personal info, says @erichorvitz #AAASmeeting
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

Repeated visits, query workday vs wknd, working hours, country, top level domain and av. queries/day needed to optimize trade offs #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

A theory of community sensing: model space & time, what population needs who’s around and who’s available @erichorvitz #AAASmeeting
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

We need to understand better how to communicate privacy risks and explain privacy preferences @erichorvitz from MS Research #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

I can make good decisions about you using other people’s data. It’s more than just about the individual, says Deirdre K. Mulling #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

The Privacy on the ground project: definition of privacy in US: limited focus on compliance, avoid having companies seen as creepy #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

The birth of a profession: chief privacy officers: their success is different from corporate bottom line. Deirdre K Mullingan #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

We have to stop looking at just law and legal institutions. #privacy #bigdata Deirdre K Mullingan #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

Privacy can’t just be about compliance, it can’t be left to the lawyers, says Deirdre K Mulligan from UC Berkeley #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

For large companies legal ambiguity forces to wrestle with privacy in a way that’s good for us. Deirdre K Mulligan from UC Berkeley #AAASmtg
— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) February 15, 2015

Abstract:

Privacy in an Era of Big Data: Directions, Advances, and Reflections

Sunday, 15 February 2015: 10:00 AM-11:30 AM

Room 210AB (San Jose Convention Center)

Science, technology, and businesses are being rapidly transformed by innovative ways to collect, organize, and analyze more information. Along with the growth of reliance on big data comes the realities and perceptions about big incursions into personal privacy. This session considers three perspectives on addressing concerns about the access and usage of personal data by organizations such as online services, biotech companies, or research institutes: first, research directions in the development of privacy-protecting technologies that make computing systems and data analysis more secure; second, methods that consider user preferences about the balance between privacy and personalized services, including methods that provide guarantees on minimizing data access; and third, legal and ethical implications of large-scale data collection and mining.

Organizer:

Ersin Uzun, Palo Alto Research Center 

Speakers:

Ersin Uzun, Palo Alto Research Center 
Privacy Enhancing Technologies and New Research Directions

Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research 
Privacy Preferences, Trade-Offs, and Risk: New Methods and Directions

Deirdre K. Mulligan, University of California 

The Management of Privacy Processes: The CPO and Beyond