--- title: Tech: When Big Data Is Bad Data description: Finding bad data in big data, remembering 9/11 and anti-Muslim discrimination that followed, discussing food when discussing race, and more. canonical: https://time.com/4031050/big-data-makes-unfair-policies/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-11T16:01:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:42.972Z article:section: Ideas og:title: When Big Data Makes Unfair Policies og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4031050/big-data-makes-unfair-policies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a1a8155b2497621/698863465f570f7edfb1d546/gettyimages-451653508.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Data Center Of T-Systems og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: When Big Data Makes Unfair Policies twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a1a8155b2497621/698863465f570f7edfb1d546/gettyimages-451653508.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When Big Data Is Bad Data by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Sep 11, 2015 4:01 PM UTC  BIERE, GERMANY - JULY 01: Employee checking a server rack at the new data center of T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG on July 01, 2014, in Biere, Germany. T-Systems is the largest German and one of the largest European IT services companies. (Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images) BIERE, GERMANY - JULY 01: Employee checking a server rack at the new data center of T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG on July 01, 2014, in Biere, Germany. T-Systems is the largest German and one of the largest European IT services companies. (Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)Thomas Trutschel—Photothek via Getty Images by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Sep 11, 2015 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**Sometimes, big data can be bad data.**](http://www.propublica.org/article/when-big-data-becomes-bad-data) By Lauren Kirchner at ProPublica **2\.** [**The stories Americans tell about 9/11 leave out discrimination against Muslims.**](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/11/the-stories-americans-tell-about-911-leave-out-discrimination-against-muslims) By Deepa Iyer in the Guardian **3\.** [**There’s a place for food in our discussion of race.**](http://civileats.com/2015/09/03/why-food-belongs-in-our-discussions-of-race/) By Kristin Wartman in Civil Eats **4\.** [**This moving company will help people escape abusive relationships for free.**](http://laist.com/2015/09/04/meathead%5Fmovers%5Fgood%5Fshepherd.php) By Juliet Bennett Rylah in LAist **5\.** [**Check out the self-healing material that will protect future spacecraft from airborne debris.**](http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/10/nasa-created-a-material-that-can-heal-itself-in-less-than-a-second-from-hurtling-space-debris/) By Sarah Buhr in TechCrunch  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4031050/big-data-makes-unfair-policies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4031050/big-data-makes-unfair-policies/"},"headline":"When Big Data Is Bad Data","datePublished":"2015-09-11T16:01:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:42.972Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4031050/big-data-makes-unfair-policies/","keywords":["Innovation","Food","NASA","Race","Muslims","big data","domestic violence","september 11"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a1a8155b2497621/698863465f570f7edfb1d546/gettyimages-451653508.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a1a8155b2497621/698863465f570f7edfb1d546/gettyimages-451653508.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Data Center Of T-Systems","caption":"Data Center Of T-Systems","creditText":"Thomas Trutschel—Photothek via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4031050/big-data-makes-unfair-policies/","name":"When Big Data Is Bad Data"}}]}] ```