We have heard much about the drawbacks and dangers of Big Data sharing and privacy. Select a related current event (something in the recent past) and discuss the case. What was the company’s mission when using the data? What were the dangers? Did it cause harm? Was it beneficial to users in some way? This is related to Big Data use gone wrong and done right.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/world/1682144/south-korea-to-build-medical-big-data-highway
South Korea just announced it is building one of the biggest medical Big Data networks ever. The government itself will start collecting information on a million people by 2029 to build a national bio database. Hospitals will start the first collection of data, the article says quote “Major hospitals in Korea each possess clinical information of an average 5 million to 6 million patients.” That will allow the country to boost research along with develop treatments and cures to rare diseases. Patients will have to approve that their data be collected, which includes their genetic information, family history, and medical and health conditions.
South Korea is creating this Big Data network after President Moon declared that bio health is one of three growth sectors the country will sponsor. The government hopes to boost the national economy through innovative growth. Using Big Data will hopefully lead to more personalized customized drugs and new medical technologies that the country hopes to profit from.
The dangers of this massive data collection include having people’s private medical information leaked or hacked. Patient data is the highly sensitive information which is intensely personal and could be even used against a person by their company or as blackmail. In America, we have HIPAA laws that are supposed to protect a patients privacy. In this country, if the government was going to do such a large data collection, privacy and civil rights proponents would fight hard against it. We will see how the information collection plays out in South Korea. There are also questions on what happens if a patient denies to have their information shared.
The benefits of Big Data to medical field are real and can have dramatic effects. The more information medical and health professionals have can greatly benefit how they treat patients. Also the data could lead to the creation of new drugs or treatment which will change millions of lives.
Anthony R. Leong 