Competencias laborales

As explained in the last section, since 2000,it can be deduced that different laws across Europe regulates tracking cookies and gathering individual’s information, such as the implicit/explicit cookies consent. On the contrary, the upcoming European data protection rules (2018) will give customers more control over their personal data and it will create a “uniform” level of data protection in Europe by setting minimum standards on data use (Uldall 2016). This reform will also replace the current directive in The Netherlands (DTA) established in 1995, where the new law is designed to give customers increased control over their own information. The new upcoming law in 2018 will be termed “The General Data Protection Regulation” (Verlaan 2016) and will be applied to all companies and institutions in Europe by 2018. This is an important change for the European parliament, supporting consumer rights over the growing data analysis that is occurring nowadays. Udall (2016) further summarizes the most important points of these new regulations:

● A right to be forgotten

● Clear and affirmative consent to the processing of private data by the person concerned ● A right to transfer your data to another service provider

● The right to know when your data has been hacked

● Ensuring that privacy policies are explained in clear and understandable language

● Stronger enforcement and fines up to 4% of firm's' total annual turnover, as a deterrent to breaking the rules

It proposes fines for violation of this law, for example by not protecting personal data of customers, or accidentally leak sensitive customer information (Appendix C). These types of

Ana Fernández Ethics of Big Data Technologies in Online Marketing

breaches (leaks) will be required to be reported to the authority. Moreover, companies will be obliged to take into account the risks that could occur in the future; as they will need to report any data breaches.

The protection of people’s privacy will become an important factor. The new law will also favour the "right to be forgotten”, stating clearly that companies need to have the possibility of deleting completely the customer’s data if required. This supposes that the people should have more control and understanding of their personal information.The direction of the new European law of 2018 will make companies to re-think their way of gathering of data, as companies will have to inform users about cookies and privacy policies, as well as giving them more options to opt-out.

In addition, Butarelli outlines four essential parts for the EDPS, the future regulations of Big Data (Butarelli 2015, p. 9-10). The EDPS gives importance to the technology, as shown in the latter point “privacy conscious engineering” for future Big Data uses:

● Future oriented regulation: to give individuals more influence over decisions which affects them.

● Accountable controllers: internal policies and control systems that ensure compliance and provide relevant evidence in particular to independent supervisory authorities. ● Empowered individuals: the digital trends described above present opportunities for

strengthening the role of the individual. They should become responsible together with service providers for processing personal data.

● Privacy-conscious engineering: The EU should develop and promote engineering techniques and methodologies that allows data processing technologies to fully respect the dignity and rights of the individual. Technical solutions should empower individuals who wish to preserve their privacy and freedom through anonymity.

Ana Fernández Ethics of Big Data Technologies in Online Marketing

2.3 Conclusions

Conclusively, these facts collapse to elucidate the second sub-question of this study: What are the rules and limitations on legal regulations? It states how data is handled in very different manners across European borders, such as with the placements of cookies with implicit/a priori consent, which allows for a broadly retrieval of data by companies. It also shows the limits of these regulations with privacy concerns: people still feel discomfort and that they have no control over their personal information. Legal requirements are therefore not enough to protect people’s privacy. In addition, it has been shown that a new European law of 2018 will bring more strictness in this data gathering.

Taking technical design (ethics of technology) into account therefore becomes a necessity, as Butarelli (2015) showed with “privacy conscious engineering”. However he does not mention how this can be achieved. It has been exemplified that design or engineering should also play a role to empower the people with more control and understanding of the values in design. It is therefore evident that technical side also plays a role in reinforcing ethics of Big Data in online marketing technologies. Then, I argue that an ethics of Big Data should support both sides, legal European requirements as well as consider the non-neutrality of Big Data, ad how this affect to values in Big Data design. It is clear that there is an interrelation between ethics and the technology behind Big Data: technologies that should be included in the discussion about the ethical uses of Big Data in online marketing.

Ana Fernández Ethics of Big Data Technologies in Online Marketing

CHAPTER 3: TOWARDS AN ETHICAL USE OF BIG DATA IN ONLINE MARKETING