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21 Conn. Ins. L.J. 255 (2014-2015)
Big Data and Insurance Symposium

handle is hein.journals/conilj21 and id is 265 raw text is: BIG DATA AND INSURANCE SYMPOSIUM ATTORNEY GENERAL GEORGE JEPSEN UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT SCHOOL OF LAW APRIL 3, 2014 (REVISED FOR PUBLICATION) This Article reproduces the keynote address delivered by Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen at the University of Connecticut School of Law's Spring 2014 Big Data and Insurance Symposium. In his address, Attorney General Jepsen describes the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of big data technologies. He stresses the need to consider personal privacy concerns at every step of the data collection and analysis processes. Moreover, he argues that self-policing is not enough and that it is vital for the government to play a role in defining and enforcing individual privacy protections. Attorney General Jepsen concludes by calling for regulators and industry to remember that they share the common goal of achieving an effective balance between protecting personal privacy and promoting the use of big data to create new business opportunities and more efficient service delivery. I would like to thank the University of Connecticut School of Law, the Insurance Law Center, and the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal for hosting this important event and for inviting me to join the discussion here today. We all know that big data has the power to change the world. In fact, it already has. I like to imagine big data as the Colorado River in spring flood stage. It took a marvel of technology, the construction of the Hoover Dam - one of the largest man-made structures in the world when it was built in the 1930s - to contain that river and use its flow to generate electricity. Harnessing big data - the torrents of information being generated every day - will take equivalent feats of technology. Engineers and data scientists are coming up with new ways to aggregate data and filter it to extract patterns and other information useful to consumers and business, such as the insurance industry. But perhaps the biggest challenge is protecting the privacy of the men, women, and children whose personally identifiable information, patterns of behavior, preferences and buying habits, medical risks, and even their location can be filtered from the data stream.