In our daily interactions, both online and offline, we leave off “bits” of ourselves. These “bits,” when curated and analyzed by experts, form massive personal data that define our personalities. While this wealth of data could help in policy formulation and act as statistical resources, they expose us to various forms of data breaches – especially unorthodox manipulation of our choices. This is at the core of the field of science known as data mining or profiling.
The Cambridge Analytica Scandal is a classic instance where personal data was mined to influence a political election by the development of psychographic profiles of the voters. In tactics similar to Cambridge Analytica’s, an Israeli firm, Archimedes,¹ was recently banned by Facebook for disseminating smear campaigns against Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) at the last election. While examples are rife with elections, there are many instances of use of data mining in other facets.
Countries have thus sprung up to the legal and ethical deficit created by this practice, notably the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) 2016/679 and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (“NDPR”). Earlier in the year, the French regulator, Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL), slammed a €50m fine on Google for ads targeting consumers in breach of the GDPR.
This paper is an exposé on data subjects’ rights against data-mining or profiling in
¹ Mr. Qudus Adeoye, LL.B., B.L. Associate, Kenna Partners.
1 Isabel Debre, ‘Israeli Company targeted Nigerian election in Facebook disinformation campaign’,
The Times of Israel. Available at https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-company-targeted-nigerian-election-in-facebook-disinformation-campaign/ accessed May 22, 2019.