This Monday, May 30th, the Público Newspaper, NTT DATA and Técnico combined synergies to organize the 6th Talk of the 3rd edition of PSuperior. With a focus on big data innovation (complex and large databases) and the limits of privacy, the session began by questioning “Are we safe?”. The lecture was attended by Professor Mário Figueiredo, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) and researcher of Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), José Pombal, Master’s student in Engineering and Data Science, Mauro Almeida, responsible for the area of Cybersecurity at NTT DATA and Maria de Lurdes Gonçalves, lawyer in the area of data protection. The talk took place in the Abreu Faro Auditorium, with live broadcast on the PSuperior Talks page, on the Youtube channel and Facebook page of Público Newspaper.

Karla Pequenino, a journalist in the area of technology, moderated the session that began with a welcome message from Manuel Carvalho, director of Público Newspaper, recalling the need to know how to distinguish information from disinformation, and to draw attention to what the transfer of data implies, without us realizing it.

The President of Técnico, Professor Rogério Colaço also welcomed all present, highlighting the theme in discussion with as a subject of the present, since “we live in a world in which data is increasingly important” with legal, ethical and deontological impacts.

From decision-making adopted by only one algorithm to human decision-making and the inevitable relationship with the culture, politics and laws of each country, there were many questions raised in this event. The legislation, according to Maria de Lurdes Gonçalves, “also regulates personal data and the use of data that concerns people’s data” and should keep up with technological developments, according to Mauro Almeida.

The transaction of databases as the basis of a criminal activity, as a negative aspect, contrasted with the example of the applicability of big data to the sphere of health, associated with artificial intelligence, in a perspective of convenience and comfort of having a personalized and adapted experience. There was also space for questions from the audience to the panel regarding the GDPR and a question about the inspection.

To close, Professor Mário Figueiredo questioned whether or not it would be advantageous to give up some privacy in exchange for some advantage. If so, how many? And in what way? He   also recalled the positive aspects of big data and noted that “there is no area of science that has not been touched by artificial intelligence and machine learning (which allows some applications or softwares to be able to predict more easily the outcome of a given interaction)”.

For those who didn’t have the opportunity to be present at the event or wish to review the session, you may have access to the deferred broadcast.