[MyData & Open Data] The value of data

Lancelot PECQUET (Will Strategy) lpecquet at willstrategy.com
Wed Dec 25 01:17:37 UTC 2013


Hello Stef,

Thank you for your comments.

> i actually think erik nailed it very well, fracking is the 
> exploitation maximizing short-term profit
> while externalizing the costs on the public.

OK. As I said to Erik, I see what you mean but I do not entirely agree. 
Let me explain what I mean.

Let's suppose fracking = "short term profit maximization while 
externalizing costs to the public".

Then "fracking industry" does not makes sense to me, because what you 
call "fracking" can be performed by
any organization or individual that handles data at some point (whereas 
hydraulic fracturing for shale gas
is done by a small set of companies of the primary sector of the economy).

In an environmental setting, virtuous behaviours shall not only concern 
the companies that /produce/
energy but also all actors who /use/ energy: short-term profit 
maximization while externalizing costs
to the public harms the whole ecosystem... (and btw, we know how hard it 
is to sign and enforce treatees
and laws on the subject ; so I would say that having people willing to 
gather and talk about how to preserve
the value of data is a positive sign, isn't it?).

> your research sounds quite similar, how to maximize profits while not 
> stepping over some thresholds
> that makes it very obvious to the exploited how much this short term 
> private profits are harming the
> public in the long-term.

Not quite.  I might not have explained it well enough, sorry about that.

It is true that standards, thresholds, etc. can be deceiving sometimes 
(compliance with SOX or Basel II did
not prevent the subprime mortgage crisis, BP's ISO 14001 certificates on 
environmental management did
not prevent the Deepwater Horizon oil spill...).

Still, our point is not to design standards or find thresholds at that 
point, but more to understand how to
handle data in a sustainable way, without harming the ecosystem in the 
long-term.

> of course the big difference is, that tar-sands will never revolt 
> against being exploited...
> however i would encourage you to conduct this research, this industry 
> will not give up, until they find
> someone without conscience.
> so instead someone with conscience should advice them not even to 
> think about this. 

Thanks for your support.
In my position, I cannot advice them not to think about exploiting data 
but I can highlight things someone without
conscience would not see or raise (ex: the negative consequences of 
short-termism ; especially if you provide relevant
arguments).

>> To some extent, if there is an "ecological substance" of data
>> privacy, wouldn't we be talking about
>> how corporations, countries and even individuals shall behave while
>> using data (as we would
>> say "energy") every day?
> i'm not quite sure what you mean. this discussion is not in the interest of
> govs and industries. however i think we are having this discussion in many
> other places, like this mailing list. no?
>

[NB: This paragraph was just following my comment on Erik's focus on the 
"fracking industry"]
I agree, of course, those questions are on topic: that's precisely why I 
posted here!

Best,

L




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