Privacy in the Age of Big Data: Exploring the Role of Modern Identity Management Systems

Abstract

In today’s digital world, our ability to better understand data is seen as fundamental to addressing complex economical and societal challenges. The massive amounts of digital data that governments and businesses collect as well as the technological tools they use for analyzing disparate data are referred to as big data. These advances in data collection and analysis have raised concerns about individuals' rights to privacy. In this article, we attempt to provide a short overview of big data and explore the role of modern identity management systems in providing higher levels of security and privacy in online environments. The article also makes reference to one of the most advanced identity management systems in the world, namely the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) identity management infrastructure, and how the government has designed its systems to support privacy and security in e-government and e-commerce scenarios.