User-focused threat identification for anonymised microdata

International migration statistics suffer from extensive gaps and shortcomings. Recently, national statistical institutions (NSIs) have started using big data to complement traditional statistics, including on migration. Although these are promising developments, we still lack answers on the extent to which NSIs are currently using big data for migration and to what extent it complements the gaps in traditional data. We gathered data by interviewing experts from 29 NSIs to investigate how big data is used for official migration statistics. We show that 15 out of 29 NSIs either used big data for migration, had a pilot project or have been involved in joint initiatives. We reveal the specific implications of big data in human migration (e.g. internal mobility, stocks, flows and mobility patterns, among others and the most common sources used to extract official statistics). Moreover, we discuss the challenges and barriers preventing NSIs from using such data. Factors deterring countries from utilising big data include limited data accessibility, an absence of legal frameworks for big data usage, ethical concerns, the possession of already high-quality data, a deficit in expertise and methodologies and a lack of perceived necessity for supplementary data or approaches. Moreover, many countries did not know which data to use and were concerned about the quality and accuracy of such data. Legal barriers were more of an issue than the ethical aspects, and overall, participating countries believe that there is a high potential for big data in the future.

SummaryMany National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), especially in Europe, are moving from single‐source statistics to multi‐source statistics. By combining data sources, NSIs can produce more detailed and more timely statistics and respond more quickly to events in society. By combining survey data with already available administrative data and Big Data, NSIs can save data collection and processing costs and reduce the burden on respondents. However, multi‐source statistics come with new problems that need to be overcome before the resulting output quality is sufficiently high and before those statistics can be produced efficiently. What complicates the production of multi‐source statistics is that they come in many different varieties as data sets can be combined in many different ways. Given the rapidly increasing importance of producing multi‐source statistics in Official Statistics, there has been considerable research activity in this area over the last few years, and some frameworks have been developed for multi‐source statistics. Useful as these frameworks are, they generally do not give guidelines to which method could be applied in a certain situation arising in practice. In this paper, we aim to fill that gap, structure the world of multi‐source statistics and its problems and provide some guidance to suitable methods for these problems.

Photo by Josh Riemer on Unsplash
 Introduction
 With the rapid advancements in neurotechnological machinery and improved analytical insights from machine learning in neuroscience, the availability of big brain data has increased tremendously. Neurological health research is done using digitized brain data.[1] There must be adequate data governance to secure the privacy of subjects participating in brain research and treatments. If not properly regulated, the research methods could lead to significant breaches of the subject’s autonomy and privacy. This paper will address the necessity for neuroprotection laws, which effectively govern the use of big brain data to ensure respect for patient privacy and autonomy.
 Background
 Artificial intelligence and machine learning can be integrated with neuroscience big brain data to drive research studies. This integrative technology allows patterns of electrical activity in neurons to be studied in detail.[2]Specifically, it uses a robotic system which can reason, plan, and exhibit biologically intelligent behavior. Machine learning is a method of computer programming where the code can adapt its behavior based on big brain data.[3] The big brain data is the collection of large amounts of information for the purpose of deciphering patterns through computer analysis using machine learning.[4] The information that these technologies provide is extensive enough to allow a researcher to read a patient’s mind. AI and machine learning technologies work by finding the underlying structure of brain data, which is then described by patterns known as latent factors, eventually resulting in an understanding of the brain’s temporal dynamics.[5]
 Through these technologies, researchers are able to decipher how the human brain computes its performances and thoughts. However, due to the extensive and complex nature of the data processed through AI and machine learning, researchers may gain access to personal information a patient may not wish to reveal. From a bioethical lens, tensions arise in the realm of patient autonomy. Patients are not able to control the transmission of data from their brains that is analyzed by researchers. Governing brain data through laws may enhance the extent of patient privacy in the case where brain data is being used through AI technologies.[6] A responsible approach to governing brain data would require a sophisticated legal structure.
 Analysis
 Impact on Patient Autonomy and Privacy 
 In research pertaining to big brain data, the consent forms do not fully cover the vast amounts of information that is collected. According to research, personal data has become the most sought out commodity to provide content to corporations and the web-based service industry. Unfortunately, data leaks that release private information frequently occur.[7] The storage of an individual’s data on technologies accessible on the internet during research studies makes it vulnerable to leaks, jeopardizing an individual’s privacy. These data leaks may cause the patient to be identified easily, as the degree of information provided by AI technologies are personalized and may be decoded through brain fingerprinting methods.[8]
 There has been an extensive growth in the development and use of AI. It is efficient in providing information to radiologists who diagnose various diseases including brain cancer and psychiatric disease, and AI assists in the delivery of telemedicine.[9] However, the ethical pitfall of reduced patient autonomy must be addressed by analyzing current AI technologies and creating more options for patient preference in how the data may be used. For instance, facial recognition technology[10] commonly used in health care produces more information than listed in common consent forms, threatening to undermine informed consent. Facial recognition software collects extensive data and may disclose more information than a person would prefer to provide despite being a useful tool for diagnosing medical and genetic conditions.[11] In addition, people may not be aware that their images are being used to generate more clinical data for other purposes. It is difficult to guarantee the data is anonymized. Consent requirements must include informing people about the complexity of the potential uses of the data; software developers should maximize patient privacy.[12] Furthermore, there is a “human element” in the use of AI technologies as medical providers control the use and the extent to which data is captured or accessed through the AI technologies.[13] People must understand the scope of the technology and have clear communication with the physician or health care provider about how the medical information will be used. 
 Existing Laws for Brain Data Governance 
 A strict system of defined legal responsibilities of medical providers will ensure a higher degree of patient privacy and autonomy when AI technologies and data from machine learning are used. Governing specific algorithmic data is crucial in safeguarding a patient’s privacy and developing a gold standard treatment protocol following the procurement of the information.[14] Certain AI technologies provide more data than others, and legal boundaries should be established to ensure strong performance, quality control, and scope for patient privacy and autonomy. For instance, currently AI technologies are being used in the realm of intensive neurological care. However, there is a significant level of patient uncertainty about how much control patients have over the data’s uses.[15] Calibrated legal and ethical standards will allow important brain data to be securely governed and monitored.
 Once brain signals are recorded and processed from one individual, the data may be merged with other data in Brain Computer Interface Technology (BCI).[16] To ensure a right and ability to retrieve personal data or pull it from the collection, specific regulations for varying types of data are needed.[17] The importance of consent and patient privacy must be considered through giving patients a transparent view of how brain data is governed.[18] The legal system must address discriminatory issues and risks to patients whose data is used in studies. Laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CCPA) can serve as effective models to protect aggregated data. These laws govern consumer information and ensure the compliance when personal data is collected.[19] California voters recently approved expansion of the CCPA to health data. The Washington Privacy Act, which would have provided rights to access, change, and withdraw personal data, failed to pass. Other states should improve privacy as well,[20] although a federal bill would be preferable. Scientists at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences argue for data security to be governed in a manner that balances patient privacy and autonomy with the commercial interests of researchers.[21] The balance could be achieved through privacy protections like those in the Washington Privacy Act. Although the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides an overall framework to deter the likelihood of dangers to patient protection and privacy, more thorough laws are warranted to combat pervasive data transfer and analysis that technology has brought to the health care industry.[22] Breaches of patient privacy under current HIPAA regulations include releasing patient information to a reporter without their consent and sending HIV data to a patient’s employer without consent.[23] HIPAA does not cover information being shared with outside contractors who do not have an agreement with technology companies to keep patient data confidential. HIPAA regulations also do not always address blatant breaches on patient data confidentiality.[24] Patients must be provided with methods to monitor the data being analyzed to be able to view the extent of private information being generated via AI technologies. In health research, the medical purposes of better diagnosis, earlier detection of diseases, or prevention are ethical justifications for the use of the data if it was collected with permission, the person understood and approved the uses of the data, and the data was deidentified.
 A standard governance framework is required in providing the fairest system of care to patients who allow their brain data to be examined. Informed consent in the neuroscience field could reaffirm the privacy and autonomy of patients by ensuring that they understand the type of information collected. Laws also could protect data after a patient’s death. Malpractice in the scope of brain data could give people a cause of action critical in safeguarding patient’s rights. Data breach lawsuits will become common but generally do not cover deidentified data that becomes part of big data collection. A more synchronized approach to the collection and consent process will encourage an understanding of how big data is used to diagnose and treat patients. Some altruistic people may even be more likely to consent if they know the largescale data collection is helpful to treat and diagnose people. Others should have the ability to opt out of sharing neurological data, especially when there is not certainty surrounding deidentification.[25]
 Conclusion
 Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies have the potential to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of people globally by extracting and aggregating brain data specific to individuals. However, the secure use of the data is necessary to build trust between care providers and patients, as well as in balancing the bioethical principles of beneficence and patient autonomy. We must ensure the highest quality of care to patients, while protecting their privacy, informed consent, and clinical trust. More sophis

The quantity of administrative data created, stored and processed in the world has grown exponentially over recent years, but the statistical theory to support its use in official statistics has not. That’s not to say that within the statistical community we are not using or investigating a wide variety of statistical sources, but the methods used are not based on well-established theory like we have for surveys. As a National Statistical Institute (NSI), we are transforming to put administrative and alternative data sources at the core of our statistics. Combining new sources with surveys will allow us to meet the ever-increasing user demand for improved and more detailed statistics. However, using administrative data involves addressing a range of statistical challenges as identified in “Statistical challenges of administrative and transaction data” (Hand, 2018).
 The Administrative Data Methods Research Programme was set up to address these challenges by developing a statistical framework for using and integrating administrative and transactional data to produce official statistics and analysis. The key themes of the programme include quality, linkage, privacy, estimation, statistical design, analysis and innovative techniques.
 The programme will ensure the rigor and assurance of methods developed, allowing where possible wide-reaching application, and to create and share best practice and guidance. A key part of this programme will be engaging and working collaboratively with the statistical community in academia, government and private sector to help prioritise the challenges, shape the work programme and drive the work forward.

Addressing the policy challenges and opportunities of “Big data”

The thesis concerns the use of big data in Official Statistics; the aim is to bring some new experimental studies into the big data literature. In particular, the purpose is to evaluate if and how big data could be used in Official Statistics. Only a few experiments exists on the use of big data for statistical purposes; it is a challenge task and a lot of experimentation is needed to find out evidence and solutions to use big data for statistical purposes. The analysis performed in the thesis goes into two different directions: 1. combining a traditional data source with a big data source to verify the potential of the latter to replicate official results; 2. analyzing a big data source per se and then trying to combine with an Official Statistics source to identify common patterns. The thesis initially proposes a literature review of definitions of big data and experiments, in particular concerning the use of the new sources combined with traditional data sources. Then, three original studies have been performed: the first two concern mobility in Lombardy region using mobile phone data. They both refer to the same issue (mobility patterns), but they differ in the traditional data source used: Origin/Destination matrix in the first case, an integrated version of the O/D matrix in the second. The objective of these two studies is trying to put in a unique interpretative framework one traditional statistical source and one typical kind of big data in order to evaluate some informative potentialities of this approach. In particular, we wanted to check if the two sources show common patterns, to evaluate future uses of the big data source in Official Statistics. The third study shows the pilot that was carried out during the traineeship I had the opportunity to attend at Eurostat, in collaboration with the Task Force Big Data. It concerns the use of Wikipedia, free online encyclopedia, for Tourism Statistics. The aim is to evaluate the use of Wikipedia page views as a source of information for the identification of factors that drive tourism to an area and whether it is possible to predict tourism flows using these data. A final chapter proposes conclusions and future remarks on the use of big data in Official Statistics. Two of the studies (the first on mobility patterns and the one on Wikipedia) have been or are being published, in a shorter and revised version. The three experiments show some potential in the use of big data in Official Statistics. The study needs more in-depth analysis, many more experiments and considerations will be necessary before we can achieve some definitive and convincing approaches.

As we are living in the era of big data, huge volumes of a wide variety of complex data-which can be of different levels of veracity-are generated or collected at a high velocity from rich sources of data in various real-life applications. A rich source of these big data sources is the Internet of Things (IoT), which include a collection of sensors, smartphones and other mobile devices, wearable devices, as well as other "things" that are capable to operate within the existing Internet infrastructure. Embedded in these big data are valuable knowledge and useful information. Hence, the research problem of data mining from big IoT data have drawn attention of many researchers as it aims to discover implicit, previously unknown and potentially useful information and knowledge from the data. For instance, frequent pattern mining finds sets of frequently co-occurring items in the IoT domains. Associative classification discovers rules revealing relationships among items within the frequent patterns and their associations with the corresponding class labels. Induction based classification uses decision tree or random forest to learn from old big IoT for classifying or making predictions on new data. Over the past quarter of a century, many serial, distributed, parallel, and MapReduce-based (Hadook-based and Spark-based) big data mining algorithms have been proposed. These algorithms are run in local computers, distributed and parallel environments, clusters, grids, clouds and/or data centers. In this paper, we review some of these algorithms, discuss issues and research prospective in mining classification patterns from these big IoT data in fog. Our case study on a real-life application shows the feasibility on classifying real-life big IoT data over fog for urban analytics.

The paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the connection of law and legal science, on the one hand, and the Big Data phenomenon, on the other. The connection of Big Data and law can be thematised in several ways. This article makes a distinction whereby there are two levels of interplay between Big Data and the law (and legal science). Big Data on the one hand can be the subject of legal regulation and legal science, but it also can be a tool for better, ‘predictive’ law making and lawyering. This latter is also true for legal science: Big Data opens a whole range of possibilities as a new tool. Thus, this article discusses three fields and questions in three sections: 1. Big Data as the subject of legal regulation. What kind of moral questions does Big Data, and the predictive potential it has, raise? How does law recently frame, define and regulate the Big Data phenomenon? How does Big Data affect existing legal framework rules regarding privacy, data protection, competition, business regulatory, etc.? What will the new rules, regulating Big Data look like? 2. Big Data as a tool in the regulator’s and the lawyer’s hand. How can we exploit the new possibilities provided by Big Data in law making, policy creation and the application of law? How can we design new ways of ‘Big Data-based social engineering’? How can we create predictive tools and inferencing techniques based on Big Data in policing, law enforcement and litigation? Finally in part 3. I discuss the impact of Big Data on legal science. How can Big Data, as a research tool help legal science? How do we use legal data-sets and textual corpuses as BD? How will these ‘super-empirical’ research methods affect legal scholarship? What is the relationship between traditional doctrinal scholarship and the new types of BD-based research? How can we use statistical analysis, natural language processing, content analysis, machine learning, behavioural prediction, etc. in legal science?

The management of big data is mainly affected by the size of the big graph data that represents the huge volumes of data. The size of this structure may increase with the size of data to be handled over the time. Facing this issue, the querying time may be affected and the introduced delay may not be tolerated by running applications. Moreover, the investigation of attacks through the collected massive data could not be ensured using traditional approaches, which do not support big data constraints. In this context, we propose in this paper, a novel temporal conceptual graph to represent the big data and to optimize the size of the derived graph. The proposed scheme built on this novel graph structure enables tracing back of attacks using big data. The efficiency of the proposed scheme for the reconstruction of attack scenarios is illustrated using a case study in addition to a conducted comparative analysis showing how smart big graph data is obtained through the optimization of the graph size.

Chapter 16 - Big Data Analytics and Social Media in Disaster Management

Massive amounts of building operational data are collected and stored in modern buildings, which provide rich information for in-depth investigation and assessment of actual building operational performance. However, the current utilization of big building operational data is far from being effective due to the gaps between building engineering and advanced big data analytics. Data mining is a promising technology for extracting previously unknown yet potentially useful insights from big data. This paper aims to explore the potential application of advanced data mining techniques for effective utilization of big building operational data. A case study of mining the operational data of an educational building for performance improvement is presented. Decision tree, clustering analysis, and association rule mining are adopted to analyze the operational data. The results show that useful knowledge can be extracted for identifying typical building operation patterns, detecting operation deficiencies, and spotting energy conservation opportunities. Practical application:The current utilization of big building operational data in the building industry is rather limited due to the lack in experience of using advanced big data analytics. This study presents a data mining-based method for analyzing massive building operational data. The case study results validate the efficiency and effectiveness of the method proposed. It can help building professionals to discover valuable insights into building operation patterns and thereby developing strategies for improving building energy efficiency. The method can be fully realized using the open-source software R, which provides great flexibilities in its integration with building automation systems.

Big Data Analytics (BDA) in accounting, play an important role in strategies for business management and can help in all decision-making processes. Most companies must therefore be seen as adopting BDA in accounting system, which is critical for a company to organize, manage and operate its processes. In order to implement BDA in accounting systems successfully, it is important to understand the underlying factors that influence BDA in accounting. Therefore, this research intends to study this perspective of factors that influence and affect successful BDA in accounting and related accounting performance. For this research, case study and questionnaire methods have been adopted. Case studies have been conducted in two Thai organizations. The findings of the two key case studies indicated 19 variables that could have an impact in accounting in BDA, which contributed to the preliminary framework being developed. Moreover, based on the findings of case studies, a survey instrument was created. Survey questionnaires from 213 respondents were obtained from two large-scale surveys were sent to selected members of Thailand accountant, and Thailand computer to test the research framework. The results indicate that the top five critical factors for ensuring BDA in accounting were: 1) information technology strategists; 2) top management commitment, 3skills development in BDA, 4) technology capability, and; 5) competitive environments. All factors were statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Therefore, it is now clear which factors are influencing BDA in accounting system and which of those factors are critical success factors for ensuring DBA in accounting system successes.

Data Protection and Competition Law: The Dawn of ‘Uberprotection’

Advances in the field of technology enabled individuals and businesses to collect large amounts of data (structured and unstructured) from various sources like never before. Data from social media, user-generated, internet, health care, manufacturing, supply chain, financial institution, and sensors have grown exponentially. This paper’s objective is to review how big data drive and impact innovation, competitive advantage, productivity, and decision support. Methodology: A comprehensive literature review on big data and identifying the impact of big data analytics on innovation, competitive advantage, productivity, and decision support are studied. The reviewed literature created the foundation for studying, a model that was developed based on an extensive review of literature as well as case studies and future forecast by market leaders. Big data is the latest buzzword among businesses. A new model is suggested identifying big data and the correlation between innovation, competitive advantage, productivity, and decision support. Findings: A review of scholarly literature and existing case studies finds that there is a gap between existing frameworks and the integration of big data into various business and management functions and objectives. The findings are interesting that literature is rich with concepts and frameworks for achieving the end goal for business or management function along with framework but very little is available in the literature on the question of how to integrate big data analytics into those frameworks. This paper finds that a key question is missing i.e., what are the essential steps that businesses should perform to implement and integrate big data analytics into existing frameworks to fully exploit the big data potential. Research Limitations/Implications: The research was limited to a review of selective literature focused on in-depth understanding of big data. Additionally, it focuses on how big data leads to innovation, competitive advantage, productivity, and decision support. Although there are many other related fields of studies where big data impact can be studied but is not part of this study effort. Future studies can lead to more in-depth studies of other related areas of studies. Practical Implications: The review of the literature suggested that “Big Data” is playing an important role in innovations, creating competitive advantage, enhancing productivity, and assisting in data-driven decisions. Businesses are taking advantage of the customer insights that are innovating products and services which are very customer-centric, keeping the competition on the run, improving productivity at all levels, and making educated decisions every day. The future will be driven by smarter big data solutions and insights. Originality/Value: The study provides evidence that big data is the catalyst for innovation, creates competitive advantage, enhances productivity, and assists in decision making. The methodology is to review scholarly literature and case studies. It supports the need for developing new models, implementation frameworks for better insights, and patterns. The big data implementation methodologies, framework, and governance have been ignored in empirical research.

Big Data, Big Expectations, and Big Judgements.