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First, users should be given greater access to and control over the information held about them, including whom it is shared with.Google allows users to see what information it holds about them, and lets them delete their search histories or modify the targeting of advertising, for example.By analysing “basket data”, supermarkets can tailor promotions to particular customers' preferences.The oil industry uses supercomputers to trawl seismic data before drilling wells.Analysing it, to spot patterns and extract useful information, is harder still.Even so, the data deluge is already starting to transform business, government, science and everyday life (see our special report in this issue).EIGHTEEN months ago, Li & Fung, a firm that manages supply chains for retailers, saw 100 gigabytes of information flow through its network each day. During 2009, American drone aircraft flying over Iraq and Afghanistan sent back around 24 years' worth of video footage.New models being deployed this year will produce ten times as many data streams as their predecessors, and those in 2011 will produce 30 times as many.

Plucking the diamond from the waste A few industries have led the way in their ability to gather and exploit data.Business intelligence is one of the fastest-growing parts of the software industry.Now for the bad news But the data deluge also poses risks.People can then reuse this information in novel ways to build businesses and hold elected officials to account.Companies that grasp these new opportunities, or provide the tools for others to do so, will prosper.