# Statement for the Record: Big Data: Privacy Risks and Needed Reforms in the Public and Private Sectors 

Government use of Big Data is not reserved to intelligence agencies that cite national security concerns as justification for surveillance. Domestic agencies have also engaged in surveillance fueled by Big Data.

February 15, 2022 • Testimony 

By [Matthew Feeney](https://www.cato.org/people/matthew-feeney) 

**Committee on House Administration** 
**United States House of Representatives**

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Dear Chairperson Lofgren, Ranking Member Davis, and members of the committee,

My name is Matthew Feeney. I am the director of the Cato Institute’s project on emerging technologies. Tomorrow’s hearing, titled “Big Data: Privacy Risks and Needed Reforms in the Public and Private Sectors,” is relevant to my research, which focuses on how new and emerging technologies affect our civil liberties. The private and public use of “Big Data” is a critical issue at a time when there is bipartisan concern about the role of prominent technology companies and their influence on our civic and family lives.

Today’s most popular online services collect vast troves of information about their users. As former Google CEO Eric Schmidt once put it in 2010, “With your permission, you give us more information about you, about your friends, and we can improve the quality of our searches. We don’t need you to type at all. We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about.” While services such as Google and Facebook remain popular among Americans, their collection of personal information prompts an understandable sense of unease, not least because law enforcement agencies at the state, local, and federal level analyze “Big Data” while conducting surveillance. Unfortunately, the state of 4th Amendment jurisprudence leaves much to be desired.

Congress can make reforms to address “Big Data” concerns, but these reforms should be carefully tailored to ensure that Americans are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government without hampering growth and innovation in America’s technology sector.

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##### Statement for the Record: Big Data: Privacy Risks and Needed Reforms in the Public and Private Sectors 

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##### About the Author 

[![Matthew Feeney](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Matthew%20Feeney.jpg?itok=O149-e08)](/people/matthew-feeney) 

##### [Matthew Feeney](/people/matthew-feeney)

Head of Technology and Innovation, Centre for Policy Studies

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