“Big Data” and New Legal Compliance for Surveillance in Insurance

The evolution of 2013’s “Big Data” into modern data-driven surveillance has revolutionized insurance defense with complete, rapidly delivered, actionable information. However, these new, ultra detailed data sets have raised the eyebrows of legislators. While investigators can now deliver comprehensive profiles—including financial, employment and physical activity—using minimal identifiers, the primary challenge is ensuring that this data acquisition complies with legal privacy guidelines.

For surveillance in insurance, comprehensive data research prior to being dispatched improves accuracy of setup for surveillance. While the final deliverable remains largely the same, the prep work allows pinpointing activity in a way that nearly guarantees success. Better yet, in many cases a human agent isn’t even needed because the data alone provides evidence of enough activity to impact the trajectory of a claim.

Surveillance firms are tapping into many new kinds of data networks. For example, investigators are now able to access content such as traffic camera feeds for accidents that occurred up to a year in the past. Furthermore, savvy investigators use databases to inform data purchased from a second database to provide combined results that were never available before. The sky is the limit in terms of data availability.

The new challenge for investigators is legal compliance in a framework of brand-new privacy laws. As legislators and consumers become more aware of data usage, states have responded with a variety of increased privacy protections.

Surveillance providers for insurance companies will work hand in hand with their clients to ensure both parties are aware of and in compliance with current legislation. In this partnership, the results are not only good findings but also legally compliant findings. In the coming years investigators will be focused on compliance and results in equal measure as the “Big Data” landscape continues to evolve.