현대 빅데이터 사회와 새로운 인권 구상

Abstract

Today, as the fourth industrial revolution progresses, new legal problems are emerging. An example of those is the problem associated with ‘Big Data’. Big Data provides new social utilities that were not possible before. At the same time, however, Big Data puts us at new risks. The first thing to mention is that Big Data can seriously infringe our intimate personal information. Big Data also poses a variety of social risks. So how do we deal with the risks of this Big Data? This article approaches this issue from the perspective of ‘Big Data and a new concept of human rights.’ Big Data has two meanings. It is formal and practical. In a formal meaning, Big Data is simply huge data. In a practical meaning, Big Data is the analysis of big data with mathematical algorithms to discover new information or insights that were not known in the past, and thus to predict the future. Big Data can be utilized in diverse areas of society and helps to gain new information and insights. However, Big Data can also perform negative dysfunctions. There are three major stages in the risk of Big Data. First, at the stage of collecting big data, Big Data can infringe personal information. Second, there is a risk of ‘bias’ in analyzing Big Data. Third, there is a risk of ‘new discrimination’ in the process of using Big Data. So how do we respond to the risks of this Big Data? As a countermeasure against those risks, it is possible to consider a rights-based countermeasure and a duty-based countermeasure. The rights-based countermeasure is a measure to cope with risks by granting rights to each individual. The duty-based countermeasure is countermeasure to protect the other party or the society as a whole by imposing certain obligations on the actors who can cause personal and social risks. Nowadays, it is reasonable to choose the rights-based countermeasure from these two methods. Especially, the human rights-based countermeasure is the most desirable method. This is because human rights are the most comprehensive and universal right. If we choose human rights as a way to respond to the risks posed by Big Data, we need to refine human rights so that we can effectively respond to Big Data risks. In this regard, this article proposes ‘human rights against Big Data’ as human rights complementing ‘human rights to information.’