White House sees potential for discrimination in big data usage

Next week, White House counselor John Podesta is set to present the results of a 90-day “big data” study, commissioned by President Barack Obama in January as part of a wave of NSA reform announcements. According to the Associated Press, Podesta’s study will hinge largely on the discriminatory potential of the mountains of data accumulated by public and private firms alike. The study’s results could mean changes to federal anti-discrimination laws, particularly in the case of financial and employment policies.