The law and ethics of big data analytics: A new role for international human rights in the search for global standards

David Nersessian

Business Horizons, 2018, vol. 61, issue 6, 845-854

Abstract: The Economist recently declared that digital information has overtaken oil as the world’s most valuable commodity. Big data technology is inherently global and borderless, yet little international consensus exists over what standards should govern its use. One source of global standards benefitting from considerable international consensus might be used to fill the gap: international human rights law. This article considers the extent to which international human rights law operates as a legal or ethical constraint on global commercial use of big data technologies. By providing clear baseline standards that apply worldwide, human rights can help shape cultural norms—implemented as ethical practices and global policies and procedures—about what businesses should do with their information technologies. In this way, human rights could play a broad and important role in shaping business thinking about the proper handling of this increasingly valuable commodity in the modern global society.

Keywords: Big data ethics; International human rights; Corporate risk management; Data privacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:bushor:v:61:y:2018:i:6:p:845-854

DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2018.07.006

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