The "New Oil" of Big Data - The zeitgeist and alarm bells of the 2010s

The "New Oil" of Big Data - The zeitgeist and alarm bells of the 2010s

In the 2010s, the world entered a data-driven society with the explosive spread of smartphones and social networking services. Personal purchase histories, behavior patterns, location information, and other data were constantly collected, and giant platform companies such as Google and Facebook treated this data as a resource equivalent to "oil. This has led to the rapid expansion of new data-driven industries, the spread of algorithmic ad serving and personalized optimization services, and the over-surveillance and dependency of society as a whole.

In the context of the times, this period coincided with the low cost and widespread use of cloud computing and the development of big data analysis technologies: distributed processing technologies such as Hadoop and Spark were spreading among companies and research institutions, while NoSQL databases and large-scale data warehouses were being developed. NoSQL databases and large-scale data warehouses were being developed at the same time. As a result, data collection and analysis at levels previously impossible became possible, and applications ranged from algorithmic trading in financial markets to manipulating public opinion in election campaigns and analyzing patient data in the medical field.

However, behind the convenience, it became clear that personal information could be weapon-grade dangerous: the Target customer data breach in 2013, the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures in 2014, and the Cambridge Analytica incident during the 2016 U.S. presidential election and others were emblematic cases. In particular, Cambridge Analytica's combination of psychological analysis and ad serving was influential enough to affect the outcome of the election, demonstrating the danger of big data being used as a "weapon to manipulate society.

Related technologies include data mining, machine learning, natural language processing, and the use of cloud-based AI platforms. These were originally developed to streamline scientific research and economic activities, but at the same time could be translated into surveillance, profiling, and information warfare at the national level. Furthermore, the proliferation of IoT devices and sensor technologies solidified a structure in which all data in our living space is collected via networks, and personal privacy was rapidly lost.

The alarm bells sounded in the midst of this trend was that treating data as a new resource would support social convenience and development, but at the same time, it had the potential to fundamentally threaten national security and individual freedom. In other words, while big data is a resource that can enrich the economy as "oil," it also has the dual aspect of being an "explosive" that threatens to shake society.