The Dangers of Data Storage

In an opinion article on Forbes, Will Hayes outlines the case against Big Data, explaining why we should all be wary of having our data stored online.
According to Hayes:

The universality of the Internet, paired with the ability to inexpensively, easily and eternally store endless amounts of data, means our personal information lurks in more corners of the digital universe than we’d like to think.  Some of those “corners” are filled through acts of true malice. Everywhere we look on the Internet, Nigerian 419 scams, “polls” promising cash prizes and malware are peddling for our personal information. We are all susceptible to these scams. As Internet users, we put out immense amounts of data about ourselves that makes it incredibly easy to get targeted — and tricked into providing more. Maybe you clicked on a coupon offer that ended up being a scam. Maybe, like me, you live in San Francisco and saw a Craigslist post with a rent price that turned out to be too good to be true.
Internet trickery aside, personal data gets collected even when we’re not online, and with entirely harmless intent. Generally non-malicious places like banks, insurance firms and the doctor’s office gather and store our phone numbers, birth dates, addresses, social security numbers and other personal information. Since we willingly provide that data, this seems perfectly OK, right? Sure — until one of those organizations is the target of a data breach.

 Hackers, since they can store data as long as they want, may choose not do anything with those stolen social security numbers until years after the actual theft. Whether it’s from the breaches of various consumer services and retailers, compromised personal information lives outside the watch of the organizations we originally shared it with, ready to be put to use at any moment.