Big Data Dilemmas

This chapter delineates the theory and practice of ethical big data mining for socio-economic development in four parts. The first part enunciates the ethical role of big data mining for socio-economic development by theorizing big data as a 20th Century phenomenon and its surging significance in the 21st Century digital era. The second part elucidates ethical values relating to big data mining with particular emphasis on the interplay of theory and practice. The third part connects classical theories of ethics to propose a code of conduct that relates to core ethical values such as privacy, confidentiality, objectivity, transparency, conflict of interest, and common good. The fourth and final part identifies privacy as a major challenge of ethical big data mining and postulates needed research directions. This chapter also features a list of additional reading and big data terms with concise definitions explicating their relevance to big data mining for socio-economic development.