Insights From The I Spy Conference On Big Data And Privacy

On Friday February 5, 2016, we attended the I Spy: Opportunities and Challenges Surrounding Privacy and Big Data conference organized by the Osgoode JD/MBA Students' Association. Speakers from industry, government and private practice explored the challenge organizations face in maximizing insights from big data while maintaining a respect for individual privacy.

While we often see major privacy breaches as the subject of front-page news stories, most breaches are actually unknown and unregulated. As the promise of new insights drives business to collect and analyze more data than ever before, it will be more and more important for organizations and governments to develop frameworks for detecting privacy breaches and protecting individuals' data. In her keynote address Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Executive Director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute, warned that a reactive approach to privacy protection has been failing. A reactive approach creates the potential for