BIG DATA

BIG DATA – opportunities AND RISKS
I think
a lot of people see the advantages
and forget about anything else.“
participant focus group Qualitative survey
32
of all respondents see more
advantages than disadvantages
to big data.
Half of all those questioned (51 percent) see more
disadvantages than advantages to big data, with just
under a third (32 percent) seeing more advantages.
17 percent say they don’t know.
On a country by country comparison, only the Irish see
more advantages (47 percent) than disadvantages (38
percent). In all the other countries – and especially in Germany
(where 27 percent see more advantages and
62 percent more disadvantages) – a critical attitude
predominates among the people.
A positive attitude to big data is slightly more common in
the 18-29 age group, and declines sharply with increasing
age. The picture is similar when different levels of education
are compared: while roughly equal numbers of people
with a higher educational level see both advantages and
disadvantages to big data, amongst less educated people
the disadvantages clearly predominate – and in addition
around one third of this group are in two minds about what
to make of the big data phenomenon at all.
This shows that there is still a need to better educate
society in this respect: on the one hand the risks of big
data and on the other hand the opportunities need to be
more clearly communicated by politicians and companies,
especially the digital service providers. People need to
know about the collection, use and extensive analysis of
their personal data, and the associated advantages and
disadvantages.
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