Personal Integrity in the Age of Big Data and Machine Learning

It’s like the air you breathe, that you do not notice, it’s basically running the show but you don’t think about it anymore.

Those were the words Mireille Hildebrandt used to describe the development of data-systems during a seminar at SNS Digitech Forum on February 21.
The technological development is progressing rapidly and legislation is having a hard time keeping up. Professor Hildebrandt believes that the distinction between online and offline is becoming an artificial distinction that is getting harder to separate. With that background, the importance of our personal integrity was debated with respect to how we can protect it in a new, digital context.

In addition to the risks of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Hildebrandt also discussed how the new legislation developed by EU (GDPR) is going to enable protection, not only for individuals but also companies, against exploitation of data:

Don’t look at data-protection as a hindrance, look at it as your biggest ally.

Nicklas Lundblad, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations Europe, Middle East and Africa at Google highlighted the fact that the problems with personal integrity isn’t all about data-protection but also the individuals interest in maintaining it:

Make people not only have the ability to make informed decisions but also the interest in making those informed decisions.

The seminar was moderated by Ulf Wickbom, freelance journalist.
SNS Digitech Forum is funded with support from Vinnova, the Swedish innovation agency.

Participants

Mireille Hildebrandt, Professor of Interfacing Law and Technology at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of Vrije Universiteit in Brussel and Professor of Smart Environments, Data Protection and the Rule of Law at the Science Faculty of Radboud University, Nijmegen
Nicklas Lundblad, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations Europe, Middle East and Africa at Google
Ulf Wickbom, freelance journalist