The short answer: probably. Long answer, as always: it's complicated. Before we take a look at the factors that could influence big data we need to answer a question that's on most everyone's mind these days.

What Exactly Is Big Data?

You hear a lot about "big data", but it seems like a pretty catch-all term, doesn't it? To put it briefly, it refers to increasingly large amounts of data that many (especially corporate) entities nowadays want to exploit for useful information. Information which, in theory, should simply be used to improve services provided to customers and to increase the companies' bottom line as well.

A solid example of a company that uses big data for those purposes is Amazon. They try to understand the habits of online shoppers so they can market and recommend other products customers would be willing to buy. To understand why it's called "big" data, just take a look at some examples of how much they collect:

•  Purchase, browsing, and shopping cart history

•  Geography and customer demographics

•  Responses to any marketing emails and promotions they might have sent (no response, clicks, successful purchases etc.)

•  Use of any coupon codes

And that's just scratching the surface. Huge amounts of data are used to find patterns in customer behavior and offer promotions or other perks based on that.

When Does Big Data Go Too Far?

You need only look a few years back to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users were paid to take a simple Facebook psychology test through an app called "thisisyourdigitallife" and have their data collected for "academic purposes."

However, it didn't just collect the subjects' data but that of their Facebook friends as well – totaling in at about 50 million exposed accounts. All this data was used to micro-target people on Facebook with politically-charged ads, based on their likes, fears, and opinions. It became a big story on how Cambridge Analytica influenced the U.S. elections in 2016.

Or, you could look at how Facebook sees what you're doing online even if you don't have an account. Basically, any website or app you visit that has a Facebook share/ like button sends information back to their servers. This information includes things such as your IP address, which can be used to pinpoint you or your Internet provider's geographical location. You may be placed in a geographical data set of "people from X city that visit Y site," for example.

Then, it could go as far as finding out who your friends and even simple acquaintances are through contact chaining. According to Gizmodo:

[…] if two different people both have an email address or phone number for you in their contact information, that indicates that they could possibly know each other, too. It doesn't even have to be an address or phone number that you personally told Facebook about.

And again, this isn't even taking into account how much data Google collects; never mind the rest of the "usual suspects."

How Are People Reacting?

All these data-gathering and data leak scandals have to lead to more and more users utilizing VPNs for privacy, among other online privacy-oriented tools. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts the data you send and receive online, making it virtually impossible for outsiders to peek in on your browsing activity.

Moreover, it hides your real IP address, leaving techniques like the above Facebook example pretty ineffective at gathering useful data. Other methods, such as a Firefox add-on created by Mozilla itself, prevent the social media giant from associating your browsing activity with your Facebook identity. That is if you still want to keep your account for whatever reason.

Taking care of your digital fingerprint as well as using ad-blockers to ward off malicious cookies (and block annoying ads) is also taking off as privacy measures, even among less Internet-savvy people.

Where Is Big Data Headed?

All in all, the steady growth of privacy-conscious companies and influencers, VPN users, ad-blocking and so on will leave a noticeable dent in big data gathering. On the other hand, those involved have mountains of resources at their disposal. Rest assured that the main contenders in the big data biz will find new ways to circumvent current privacy best practices just to fill up their coffers.

In short, the fight for privacy is an ongoing struggle. Big data will only be affected insofar as people are willing to listen to these concerns and stop sharing every bit of information in their lives online. And with over 75% of Internet users not being bothered by data-sharing, it's not exactly looking promising. It's up to each of the privacy-minded people to do their best and inform the rest of their role in the grand scheme of things.