Big data, big risks

The 'big data' literature, academic as well as professional, has a very strong focus on opportunities. Far less attention has been paid to the threats that arise from repurposing data, consolidating data from multiple sources, applying analytical tools to the resulting collections, drawing inferences, and acting on them. On the basis of a review of quality factors in 'big data' and 'big data analytics', illustrated by means of scenario analysis, this paper draws attention to the moral and legal responsibility of computing researchers and professionals to temper their excitement, and apply reality checks to their promotional activities.