The War Over the Value of Personal Data

Data has been called the "new oil," and one reason for this is that personal data greases the wheels of our connected world. Data makes online advertising super-targeted (and super-profitable) for Internet giants like Google, and data about online habits is highly lucrative for any brand selling online (which is most of them). If data is the new oil, we're discovering gushers each and every day. Consultancy IDC predicts the total amount of data generated globally will hit 44 zettabytes by 2020, a tenfold jump from 2013's 4.4 zettabytes. The value of this new oil has been enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems that are able to make sense of it all.