Qlik: Three ways to win the data war

With The Great Hack – Privacy violated, Netflix has allowed its vast public to discover for the first time – or to deepen – the dynamics related to the processing of our data and, more precisely, to the use that some companies and certain governments make of it .

The documentary talks about the Cambridge Analytica case, its role in Brexit and the 2016 US presidential campaigns, and how our personal data have been exploited in order to alter the opinions of others through the simple use of social media.

” You share the data, which is analyzed to return to you as messages aimed at changing your behavior, ” is the so-called analogy of the boomerang, exposed in the documentary by the whistleblower Brittany Kaiser. The phrase explains briefly, and somewhat brilliantly, how all this can compromise the idea of personal autonomy and the principles themselves on which democracy is based.

As a direct result of these cases of exploitation and unethical use of public data, in the most-recent period a climate of fear has developed around the analysis of such data, the valorisation of which is thus hampered by such fears.

A first solution would be to identify the most responsible organizations, that is, those companies capable of adopting a reasonable and ethical approach towards the collection and use of data. According to Qlik, there are three other solutions, three fundamental steps that would allow us to win the data war.

The data war has started, but we can win it

Qlik, a leading company in Data Analytics, shows us that there are concrete hopes to break down the aforementioned climate of fear that hovers over the processing of our data. To be precise, there are three steps to follow :

• A new Digital Social Contract : according to Qlik, we need a precise regulatory framework to be followed in order to preserve consumer confidence. The GDPR, the general data protection regulation promoted by the EU, nor the Contract for the Web Project launched by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 2018 is not enough.
• Data Literacy : the literacy of people in the matter of data is essential, you should be able to read, understand, query and communicate through the same data, deciphering and contesting the information that comes to us in an attempt to make thoughtful decisions and autonomous.
• A solid open platform : people should be able to take advantage of an ‘open platform’ capable of managing and processing data and content, made available in a transversal, connected, transparent, ethical and certified way. A goal far from unattainable, which refers directly to the open sharing of data and insights on which our digital society is based – and to the origins of the World Wide Web, according to the methods conceived by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

This new system, based on data and analytics, can only work through responsible and ethical sourcing of data which, supported by the transparency of a new open platform, can push companies to re-evaluate the relative methods of collecting and using data. James Fisher, Sr. Vice President, Strategic Marketing of Qlik spoke to investigate the topic :

” If we want to give free rein to our innovation capacity, finding new ways to create value starting from the data we have, we must be able to overcome the mistrust surrounding data analysis and commit ourselves to develop a new reasonable and ethical approach to collection and use of the same. It is the only way to ensure that we, as citizens, workers and consumers, can continue to enjoy the benefits of a data-driven society, without compromising our right to own it and, more generally, our rights autonomy and democracy ”.