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44 Monash U. L. Rev. 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/monash44 and id is 1 raw text is: DATA PROTECTION IN AN ERA OF BIG DATA: THE CHALLENGES POSED BY BIG PERSONAL DATA MOIRA PATERSON* AND MAEVE McDONAGH** Big Data involves analysis based on artificial intelligence and machine learning to mine vast troves of personal data to find correlations which are used to inform decisions that affect individuals. This raises privacy issues, as well as broader issues of lack of due process, discrimination and consumer protection. This article analyses the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) ('Privacy Act) and identifies a number of limitations in its capacity to address the issues posed by Big Personal Data. It then discusses three possible sources of solutions for these issues: the new General Data Protection Regulation, which commenced operation in the European Union in May 2018; relevant recommendations in the Productivity Commission 's report on Data Availability and Use; and the proposed new criminal offences for re-identfication of de-identified government data in the Privacy Amendment (Re-identification Offence) Bill 2016 (Cth). It also considers the extent to which other laws may have a role to play in addressing the gaps identified in the Privacy Act. I INTRODUCTION Big Data represents a new frontier in the way in which information is processed and used to inform decision-making. At its core it involves the use of analytical tools based on artificial intelligence and machine learning to mine the vast data troves being gathered and accumulated at ever increasing rates. Its objective is to find 'small patterns or correlations that reveal new insights or truths. While the epistemological claims for Big Data (in particular, the notion that 'the volume of data, accompanied by techniques that can reveal their inherent truth, enables data to speak for themselves free of theory')2 remain open to dispute,3 it is increasingly being used in relation to personal data to inform decisions that impact on many facets of people's lives. This use raises important privacy issues as well as broader issues of lack of due process, discrimination and consumer * Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University. ** Professor, Law School, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. 1 Luciano Floridi, 'Big Data and Their Epistemological Challenge' (2012) 25 Philosophy & Technology 435,436. 2 Rob Kitchin, 'Big Data, New Epistemologies and Paradigm Shifts' (2014) 1(1) Big Data & Society 1, 3. 3 See, eg, ibid 3 5; Lawrence Busch, 'A Dozen Ways to Get Lost in Translation: Inherent Challenges in Large-Scale Data Sets' (2014) 8 International Journal of Communication 1727; Kate Crawford, Kate Miltner and Mary L Gray, 'Critiquing Big Data: Politics, Ethics, Epistemology: Special Section Introduction' (2014) 8 International Journal of Communication 1663, 1668 70.

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