Ten Legal Perspectives on the "Big Data Revolution"

This paper aims to explore from a civilian perspective the impact that “big data revolution” may have on traditional legal categories. The last decade has been characterized by the emergence of three phenomena linked to technological evolution: a) the massive extraction and accumulation of any information which relates to humans and their life; b) the introduction on large-scale of entities capable of acting independently from man’s will; c) the use of Internet as a sensitive, connective tissue capable of picking up, processing and disseminating information and thus influencing the relationship between the human/sentient paradigm and the automated/predictive one. Moving from the concept that information collected in electronic communications hold synchronically different values, closely associated to the purpose of their use and to the role of those who come into contact with them (i.e. personal/economic, private/public, individual/relational), it is possible to affirm that many current rules are still applicable and may coexist with new ones, in order to prevent — and not only to remedy — the consequences of resorting to Big Data and algorithms in every field of human life. From ownership to data access, from privacy to competition, the challenge of regulating technology seems to indicate the importance of Law not only as an instrument to settle conflicts, but also as a tool to promote social balance and to safeguard a general asset of values.