[MyData & Open Data] this group's thoughts on definitions

Fri Dec 20 11:02:02 UTC 2013

I think Stef’s point on the Californian worldview has been quite developed by Morozov.  Giving people a “right to data” as individuals without building the corresponding mechanisms (legal, technical and social) for the collective construction of value is not enough. The current oligopoly of digital giants will end up syphoning that data to generate value, economic for them and practical for us, so we keep feeding them.  

People like Jaron Lanier want to close this split by proposing that we get paid for our data, but the value of a little data is peanuts. The value of data increases with scale, whether it is the NSA global metadata social graph or motorway traffic. So, if only the oligopolies have the necessary infrastructure (das kapital, really) to create real economic value, why should they share it with you? They already give you convenience. And if you opt out, who cares. There are plenty of substitutes because not many people will do. Good luck sharing location data with your wife to calculate how long it will take to get home.

Thinking how to build our little data islands and digital identities without looking at the social perspective is very limited. If we just say “my data” we appear to define our digital experience purely in terms of ownership: personal property that we need to extract out of corporate-controlled digital devices.  

Anthropologists have been grappling with alternative views of property in different contexts, like patenting human DNA or dealing with pollution impacts in tribal lands without “owner”. There is a lot to learn from outside of California.

http://derianga.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/kirsch-ptcv-2004-property-limits1.pdf  

--  
Javier Ruiz
javier at openrightsgroup.org (mailto:javier at openrightsgroup.org)
+44(0)7877 911 412
@javierruiz
www.OpenRightsGroup.org (http://www.OpenRightsGroup.org)

On Friday, 20 December 2013 at 08:08, Andy Turner wrote:

> Hi
>  
> I suggested that "MyData" is personal data about an individual which they control ownership and access control rights over. I'm not sure about the ownership part, mainly because I was thinking about what happens to these data after the individual dies... Perhaps better is:
> "MyData" is personal data about an individual which they have rights to share and restrict the use and access control rights over.
>  
> This latter attempt is a bit more positive and somehow provides the right for the data owner (the individual person of the personal data) to licence their use even after their death.
>  
> The suggestions here contained are in comments to the Google Docs Document.
>  
> I read the rest of the thread to date, but I thought this was the best place to make this post.
>  
> HTH
>  
> Andy
> http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/people/a.turner/index.html
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mydata-open-data [mailto:mydata-open-data-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of stef
> Sent: 19 December 2013 12:02
> To: Sam Smith
> Cc: mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org (mailto:mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org)
> Subject: Re: [MyData & Open Data] this group's thoughts on definitions
>  
> On Fri, Dec 13, 2013 at 12:40:14PM +0000, Sam Smith wrote:
> > OKF have created a page for this group here:
> > http://personal-data.okfn.org
> >  
>  
>  
> it defines "my data"
>  
> > "My Data is information about me personally, where I am identified in  
> > some way, regardless of who collects it"
> >  
>  
>  
> - which i believe is a very negative term.
>  
> similarly to the dichotomy between free and open software. while "private data" is emphasizing the ethical aspects, "my data" is like the consciously unethical californian profit-making reinterpretation of that.
>  
> please remove this definition and use "private data"
>  
> > I'm sure we'll have comments, which anyone can leave here. I'll ping OKF and find out what their process is for changing things:
> >  
> > https://docs.google.com/document/d/10ZfCBi8W91m7_SIR7lwyOy9d0cmw5DUj7F
> > Cjg1cPXbc/edit
> >  
>  
>  
>  
> haven't/couldn't check that for obvious reasons.
>  
> > (no login should be required to edit that, and OKF have decommissioned  
> > their public etherpad which I used to be able to create things on)
> >  
>  
>  
> very sad.
>  
> best,s
>  
> --
> pgp: https://www.ctrlc.hu/~stef/stef.gpg
> pgp fp: FD52 DABD 5224 7F9C 63C6 3C12 FC97 D29F CA05 57EF otr fp: https://www.ctrlc.hu/~stef/otr.txt
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>  

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