Even though I took a nonchalant position in a personalization versus privacy video debate in this week’s Introduction to Digital Communications class, our class discussion did prompt some concerns.

While I overall still feel that the advantages of big data collection and utilization far outweigh privacy and other concerns, the digital explosion and growth of big data applications still need to be kept in check — like everything else in life, I guess.

Part of our discussion had to do with health care, and the growing trend of centralizing health care and fitness records. Perhaps someday, they will all be kept on the cloud somewhere, accessible to any health care provider treating an individual.

The benefits of that would be innumerable. No longer would the left hand not know what the right hand was doing when it came to treatment, prescriptions, insurance, etc. It could eliminate confusion and guarantee that all of one’s health care providers were on the same page.

But at the same time, it could pose a very real threat to some people. A group of employees of a company I’m familiar with were all asked to fill out an annual health survey if they participated in the company’s group health insurance, as a way to show, over time, that some healthy initiatives were having a positive effect and potentially reduce the company’s rates.

While the employer promised that the results of the survey would remain anonymous and not effect health coverage, many employees were concerned. What if the health insurance provider somehow broke the confidence of the employees and provided the employer with confidential information detailing certain health risks — smoking, overeating, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc., and the employer decided to fire those employees to save on rates?

As a former smoker and someone who sees a physician regularly, it’s a daunting scenario. But does the risk outweigh the advantages of all my medical providers being able to share information and come up with the best health care plan for me collaboratively? I think not, but I’m going to be careful nonetheless.

It comes back to caution and personal responsibility. As a society, we need to be diligent about protecting privacy and rights as much as possible and ensure that there are penalties in place for those who would abuse our rights. There will always be abuses, but awareness and scrutiny will help keep those in check.

Gotta go, Amazon is telling me it’s time to spend some money.