Historical Background of JURI The rise of big data and the danger of a surveillance state: Balancing between safety and privacy. Although big data is used for the development of knowledge and scientific progress, there are many examples in history of its misuse by the public sector. Given that potential violations of privacy by government agencies are becoming easier with the ongoing digitalisation of services, how can the EU ensure the responsible use of big data within Member States? Data can be used both for development of knowledge, science, and to achieve progress. However, there are many examples in history of data being misused. One example of this, even before big data being first mentioned was Stasi. Stasi was the official state security service of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It has been described as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies ever to have existed. They got known for its pervasive spying practices and the tracking of every citizens’ life and movements.
used for many years. The first data-processing machine was developed in 1943 to decipher Nazi codes during World War II. In 1995 the first super-computer was built, doing as much work in a second as a calculator operated by a single person can do in 30.000 years. As of now, data production continues to increase, with 90% of the available data being created in the last two years and more and more companies and governments slowly adopting and moving towards Big Data. With this trend, the problems with data abuse and the need for monitoring and strict regulations of the collection and use of Big Data are more urgent The term big data was first used in 2005 and it than ever. opened a world of possibilities. However, data and data processing have been around and