Ethical Issues of Data Rights in the Big Data Era

Abstract

The ethical issues of data rights have presented unprecedented complexity in the era of big data, and traditional rights frameworks are difficult to effectively respond to the inherent conflict between data liquidity and ownership certainty. The essence of data rights is not simply a matter of legal recognition, but rather involves the dynamic balance between individual dignity, social equity, and technological power. The informed consent during the data collection stage often becomes a formality, and the data processing process leads to a gradual dilution of ownership. The distribution of benefits in the data trading process is clearly tilted towards the platform, and these ethical dilemmas collectively point to the failure of the data subject rights protection mechanism. Starting from the perspective of the data lifecycle, this study analyzes the generation logic of ethical conflicts in each stage, proposes a governance path for constructing a full cycle ethical review mechanism and platform responsibility list, in order to promote the transformation of data rights from formal rights confirmation to substantive protection.