Buried in a 2020 report called “Māori Perspectives on Trust and Automated Decision-Making” is the following insightful commentary on authorization and consent related to big data collection:

In the context of Aotearoa, Pool (2016) notes how research and data collection were part of Britain’s broader ‘civilising mission’. To this end missionaries utilised ‘imported data methodologies’ to gather information which would label Māori often in contradictory terms as murderers, brutes and noble savages (Pool, 2016). The ‘research’ activities of missionaries, referred to by Pool (2016) have informed a ‘collective memory of imperialism’, the effects of which are still visible today (Smith, 2012). As Linda Smith (2012) sums it up:

The word itself, ‘research’, is probably one of the dirtiest words in the indigenous world’s vocabulary. When mentioned in many indigenous contexts, it stirs up silence, it conjures up bad memories, it raises a smile that is knowing and distrustful. (p.1)