Privacy analytics

People everywhere are generating ever-increasing amounts of data, often without being fully aware of who is recording what about them. For example, initiatives such as mandated smart metering, expected to be widely deployed in the UK in the next few years and already attempted in countries such as the Netherlands, will generate vast quantities of detailed, personal data about huge segments of the population. Neither the impact nor the potential of this society-wide data gathering are well understood. Once data is gathered, it will be processed -- and society is only now beginning to grapple with the consequences for privacy, both legal and ethical, of these actions, e.g., Brown et al. There is the potential for great harm through, e.g., invasion of privacy; but also the potential for great benefits by using this data to make more efficient use of resources, as well as releasing its vast economic potential. In this editorial we briefly discuss work in this area, the challenges still faced, and some potential avenues for addressing them.