Rear view mirror, crystal ball: Predictions for the future of data protection law based on the history of environmental protection law

摘要

Several authors have compared the impact of Big Data to the environmental impact of industrialisation (Kuneva, 2009, Schneier, 2013, Hirsch, 2006). This analogy seems useful: like the exhaust and use of chemical compounds, the omnipresent generation and subsequent use of personal data can impact individuals as well as society as a whole. Similarly to the effects of industrialisation, adverse side-effects of datafication on individuals, societies and ecosystems could manifest themselves only years later and in seemingly unrelated contexts.