BIG DATA: SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES, PRESERVING VALUES

Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, BIG DATA: Executive Office of the President SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES, PRESERVING VALUES Executive Office of the President MAY 2014 May 1, 2014 DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: We are living in the midst of a social, economic, and technological revolution. How we communicate, socialize, spend leisure time, and conduct business has moved onto the Internet. The Internet has in turn moved into our phones, into devices spreading around our homes and cities, and into the factories that power the industrial economy. The resulting explosion of data and discovery is changing our world. In January, you asked us to conduct a 90-day study to examine how big data will transform the way we live and work and alter the relationships between government, citizens, businesses, and consumers. This review focuses on how the public and private sectors can maximize the benefits of big data while minimizing its risks. It also identifies opportunities for big data to grow our economy, improve health and education, and make our nation safer and more energy efficient. While big data unquestionably increases the potential of government power to accrue unchecked, it also hold within it solutions that can enhance accountability, privacy, and the rights of citizens.