Data Unions
A Data Union (also known as a Data Cooperative or a Data Trust) is an organisation made up of internet users who have come together to sell their collective browsing data. The idea was developed from philosophies of data dignity championed by Jaron Lanier and was discussed by the European Union as early as 2015.[1]
An inversion of the current system, these bottom-up data institutions collect voluntarily shared data by individual members and monetize the pooled data to benefit the entire community. This includes fair payment for the value created by each individual data provider.[2] Some Data Unions are defined as Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and operated as a collective while others might be managed by a company for a small percentage of profits. [3] [4]
Early development
In 2013 Jaron Lanier was arguing for improved data dignity stating that big computers learn from freely available data and then create new technologies and systems that enrich the computer owners. The free flowing data is the core resource used to teach these computers and the public who produce the data should be compensated.[5]
The 2015 EU opinion paper, 'Towards a new digital ethics: Data, Dignity and Technology' discussed how "Customers are not fairly compensated for their personal information which is traded, and some have argued in favour of a data ownership model." The case was made for personal data stores or ‘data vaults’.[6]
Current Model
Under the dominant current model data is collected by companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Google when users access their services. These companies can then sell the data they collect to other organisations to market services and products back to the user.[7] A growing community of internet users are arguing that the value created in this source data should not be harvested from users without their express permission, or in some cases, their financial compensation.
John Lanier and MIDs
A Data Union, much like a traditional workers' union, is a coordinated effort to create collective bargaining power. Computer scientist Jaron Lanier has argued for the need of 'data dignity' where data unions are obliged to compensate internet users for the value of the data they choose to share.[8] He suggests the invention of a new kind of entity that would manage and oversee this process. He proposed a Mediator of Individual Data (MID) which would manage data interests and provide a stream of payments.
In Practice
After joining a Data Union, users can share their data to a DAO that compiles and sorts the data before selling it to data buyers. The funds can then be distributed amongst its users.[9] British author, Shiv Malik has researched the Data Unions making the most progress in the field. He listed Xolo as a data union that collects health data from Withings smart watches, Swash which leads the way for collecting data directly from an internet browser and Unbanks which can read banking transactions and monetise the data for members. [10]
See also
- Decentralized application
- Decentralized computing
- Smart contract
- The Social Contract
- Open value network
References
- ↑ "Sell your data to save the economy and your future". BBC News. 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ↑ "What are 'bottom-up' data institutions and how do they empower people?". Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ↑ "This is the key to designing sustainable data cooperatives". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ↑ "What We Learned from Our Research Sprint on Cooperative Data Governance | Berkman Klein Center". cyber.harvard.edu. 2022-02-10. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ↑ "Sell your data to save the economy and your future". BBC News. 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ↑ "Towards a new digital ethics: Data, Dignity and Technology | European Data Protection Supervisor". edps.europa.eu. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ↑ Porter, Eduardo (2018-03-06). "Your Data Is Crucial to a Robotic Age. Shouldn't You Be Paid for It?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ Lanier, Jaron (2019-09-23). "Opinion | Jaron Lanier Fixes the Internet". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ "Data Unions Offer a New Model for User Data". The New Stack. 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ "Data Unions – 12 months in review". Streamr. 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
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