Corporations are sucking up massive amounts of data and passing it around to all sorts of software partners, but setting privacy and security limits for certain types of data hasn't always been top of mind. Amid a flurry of product updates this week, cloud data giant Snowflake has expanded its data governance capabilities and integrations with several firms that provide various services for automating data protections.
In general, the data governance partners, including Accenture, DataOps.live and OneTrust, among others, promise businesses some balance between full-speed-ahead data use and compliance with company and regulatory rules. As regulators crack down on data collection and use, businesses are recognizing the need to set rules to govern who can access their data and how they can use it.
Snowflake said the new capabilities include a way to keep track of which specific data columns or tables have been accessed in a data query. Accenture said its data governance offerings include data quality and relevance assessments, while Alation, another Snowflake partner, lets companies manage data governance policies for Snowflake — such as rules for data access — from within its Alation platform. Meanwhile, OneTrust, a firm that serves as the backend for many website cookie collection and privacy notices, said it can apply data security rules set up in Snowflake to its data preference management records.
The idea behind these integrations is to enable governance protections that block access and travel along with data as it moves from one system to another. However, it remains to be seen whether these sorts of data governance tools can satisfy the growing chorus of critics in government and academia urging AI and data-centric tech firms to slow down data use and minimize data collection.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE