[MyData & Open Data] MyData-Open-Data Digest, Vol 2, Issue 5

Fri Mar 15 11:56:09 UTC 2013

Hi All,

I'm a PhD researcher at the University of Southampton, looking at personal
data and transparency.  It's great to see this group starting, thanks to
Laura at the OKFN and everyone who has joined so far.

I ran a panel session at last year's Open Knowledge Festival entitled 'Open
data and Personal Data' which may be of interest to everyone (which was
actually inspired by some comments Laura made at a conference on the
Internet of Things earlier that year). More info is available at
http://okfestival.org/personal-data/

A video of the session is up on the OKFest website
http://bambuser.com/v/2991154

On the topic of anonymisation, Dr. Kieron O'Hara from my department has
written a very accessible report commissioned by the cabinet office.
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/272769/

I'm looking forward to future discussions on this list!

-Reuben

On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 12:00 PM,
<mydata-open-data-request at lists.okfn.org>wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Introductions (stef)
>    2. Re: Introductions (Hare, Jason)
>    3. Re: Introductions (Andy Turner)
>    4. Re: Introductions (s at ctrlc.hu)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:56:02 +0100
> From: stef <s at ctrlc.hu>
> Subject: Re: [MyData & Open Data] Introductions
> To: Laura James <laura.james at okfn.org>
> Cc: mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org
> Message-ID: <20130313195602.GX17518 at ctrlc.hu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> heyhey,
>
> i'm stef, someone who surrenders some of his privacy to participate in
> discussions about privacy. i'm also doing benign data-mining into public
> representatives but i hope to go deeper to do predictive behavioral
> analytics.
>
> i'm very happy that we kick of this mydata discussion with privacy as the
> first topic. here's two concerns from the top of my head:
>
> mydata is the data i collect about myself. that data also inherently
> contains
> data about other persons, as no database is used in a vacuum, such personal
> mydata can also be turned into data on my friends. think pictures on
> facebook
> tagged by your friends, whose data is that?
>
> mydata can also be used for singling-out, a method used by the
> advertisement
> industry, where individuals are identified by a unique set of attributes,
> not
> their names - which of course can be added later upon credit card usage for
> example.
>
> it would be interesting to see some kind of cost/benefit analysis of
> trade-offs between mydata and privacy on the individual and societal level.
> the sense for privacy has been eroding with overwhelming amounts of new
> technology, we're not going to reverse that, but maybe we could recommend
> something how to do mydata in a private way.
>
> cheers,s
>
> On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 08:31:58AM +0000, Laura James wrote:
> > Everyone,
> >
> > Thanks for joining this working group! It might be good to introduce
> > ourselves and share our particular interests in this area.
> >
> > Hello, I'm Laura, I'm with the Open Knowledge Foundation, and I've
> > previously worked on internet of things systems and in higher education
> > technologies, both of which are fields where privacy and data are both
> > important and complex, so I have a long standing interest here.
> >
> >
> > A couple of people have asked off-list about what the Open Knowledge
> > Foundation is doing in this area. The answer is we're not *doing*
> anything
> > (in that we have no staff working on this in particular) but we feel it's
> > an important and complex area which ought to be discussed.  As such we
> > thought we should start a working group to provide a forum for
> discussion,
> > and potentially this will lead to ideas for campaigns or projects down
> the
> > line.
> >
> > The OKF definition of 'open knowledge' is and has always been that it's
> not
> > personal data. When we advocate for openness of data, we don't mean
> > personal data.
> >
> > Nonetheless, there are clearly questions about the level of privacy
> > afforded individuals by many of the sorts of datasets which organisations
> > may wish to open up - such as survey or census data. To understand these
> > privacy issues properly, one needs a pretty good understanding of
> > anonymisation techniques and how identity can be revealed, intentionally
> or
> > inadvertently. Personally, I'd like to see the open data community have a
> > greater understanding of these issues than it's perhaps had to date -
> > starting the discussion and gathering useful resources seems helpful
> here.
> >
> > In parallel, we have a sense that to further our aims of empowering
> people
> > through open data, it would be great if individuals were able to choose
> > what happens to some of their personal data, including the informed
> choice
> > to open some datasets if they wish. This means that individuals would
> need
> > to have access to data about them and the ability to process it and
> publish
> > it under an Open Definition compliant licence (if they want). This helps
> > build up the open data commons with rich and interesting datasets, which
> is
> > great, but it's absolutely critical that it's down to the individual's
> own
> > choice, and that that choice needs to be informed about the potential
> > consequences.  The Quantified Self movement is one example where people
> > measure information about themselves and in some cases may choose to
> share
> > it; this is straightforward (eg if I weigh myself each day on my bathroom
> > scales, that data is mine and I can release it under an open licence, a
> > non-open licence or keep the data to myself).  It gets trickier once data
> > is gathered by third party services, whether that's an online service
> > logging my quantified self data, or the purchases I've made from an
> online
> > shop.
> >
> > So, there's two really interesting angles and the OKF would like to be in
> > the debate, and to bring our expertise about open to the discussions
> about
> > personal data, and to learn about these areas which intersect ours.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Laura
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Dr Laura James
> >
> > Co-Director
> > Open Knowledge Foundation
> > http://okfn.org
> > *Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age*
>
> ---end quoted text---
>
> --
> 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
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:55:37 +0000
> From: "Hare, Jason" <Jason.Hare at raleighnc.gov>
> Subject: Re: [MyData & Open Data] Introductions
> To: "s at ctrlc.hu" <s at ctrlc.hu>, "laura.james at okfn.org"
>         <laura.james at okfn.org>
> Cc: "mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org"
>         <mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org>
> Message-ID: <yn37kwn3g1pgdm51612yqmwy.1363211732888 at email.android.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Has anyone attempted a policy or a statement on PII redaction in regards
> to the posting of open government data sets? I see privacy policies and
> some documents from the UK on privacy in practice but nothing specifically
> about personal data and open data. I am aware of blog posts on the topic
> but not a PSA generated document on the subject.
>
> As an open data program manager at the municipal level I would be
> interested in what other cities have done to protect PII data.
>
> Thank you for your feedback.
>
> Jason Hare
>
>
>
> Sent from my Galaxy S?III
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: stef <s at ctrlc.hu>
> Date:
> To: Laura James <laura.james at okfn.org>
> Cc: mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org
> Subject: Re: [MyData & Open Data] Introductions
>
>
> heyhey,
>
> i'm stef, someone who surrenders some of his privacy to participate in
> discussions about privacy. i'm also doing benign data-mining into public
> representatives but i hope to go deeper to do predictive behavioral
> analytics.
>
> i'm very happy that we kick of this mydata discussion with privacy as the
> first topic. here's two concerns from the top of my head:
>
> mydata is the data i collect about myself. that data also inherently
> contains
> data about other persons, as no database is used in a vacuum, such personal
> mydata can also be turned into data on my friends. think pictures on
> facebook
> tagged by your friends, whose data is that?
>
> mydata can also be used for singling-out, a method used by the
> advertisement
> industry, where individuals are identified by a unique set of attributes,
> not
> their names - which of course can be added later upon credit card usage for
> example.
>
> it would be interesting to see some kind of cost/benefit analysis of
> trade-offs between mydata and privacy on the individual and societal level.
> the sense for privacy has been eroding with overwhelming amounts of new
> technology, we're not going to reverse that, but maybe we could recommend
> something how to do mydata in a private way.
>
> cheers,s
>
> On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 08:31:58AM +0000, Laura James wrote:
> > Everyone,
> >
> > Thanks for joining this working group! It might be good to introduce
> > ourselves and share our particular interests in this area.
> >
> > Hello, I'm Laura, I'm with the Open Knowledge Foundation, and I've
> > previously worked on internet of things systems and in higher education
> > technologies, both of which are fields where privacy and data are both
> > important and complex, so I have a long standing interest here.
> >
> >
> > A couple of people have asked off-list about what the Open Knowledge
> > Foundation is doing in this area. The answer is we're not *doing*
> anything
> > (in that we have no staff working on this in particular) but we feel it's
> > an important and complex area which ought to be discussed.  As such we
> > thought we should start a working group to provide a forum for
> discussion,
> > and potentially this will lead to ideas for campaigns or projects down
> the
> > line.
> >
> > The OKF definition of 'open knowledge' is and has always been that it's
> not
> > personal data. When we advocate for openness of data, we don't mean
> > personal data.
> >
> > Nonetheless, there are clearly questions about the level of privacy
> > afforded individuals by many of the sorts of datasets which organisations
> > may wish to open up - such as survey or census data. To understand these
> > privacy issues properly, one needs a pretty good understanding of
> > anonymisation techniques and how identity can be revealed, intentionally
> or
> > inadvertently. Personally, I'd like to see the open data community have a
> > greater understanding of these issues than it's perhaps had to date -
> > starting the discussion and gathering useful resources seems helpful
> here.
> >
> > In parallel, we have a sense that to further our aims of empowering
> people
> > through open data, it would be great if individuals were able to choose
> > what happens to some of their personal data, including the informed
> choice
> > to open some datasets if they wish. This means that individuals would
> need
> > to have access to data about them and the ability to process it and
> publish
> > it under an Open Definition compliant licence (if they want). This helps
> > build up the open data commons with rich and interesting datasets, which
> is
> > great, but it's absolutely critical that it's down to the individual's
> own
> > choice, and that that choice needs to be informed about the potential
> > consequences.  The Quantified Self movement is one example where people
> > measure information about themselves and in some cases may choose to
> share
> > it; this is straightforward (eg if I weigh myself each day on my bathroom
> > scales, that data is mine and I can release it under an open licence, a
> > non-open licence or keep the data to myself).  It gets trickier once data
> > is gathered by third party services, whether that's an online service
> > logging my quantified self data, or the purchases I've made from an
> online
> > shop.
> >
> > So, there's two really interesting angles and the OKF would like to be in
> > the debate, and to bring our expertise about open to the discussions
> about
> > personal data, and to learn about these areas which intersect ours.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Laura
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Dr Laura James
> >
> > Co-Director
> > Open Knowledge Foundation
> > http://okfn.org
> > *Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age*
>
> ---end quoted text---
>
> --
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> MyData-Open-Data mailing list
> MyData-Open-Data at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/mydata-open-data
> -------------- next part --------------
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> an authorized City or Law Enforcement official.?
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:57:33 +0000
> From: Andy Turner <A.G.D.Turner at leeds.ac.uk>
> Subject: Re: [MyData & Open Data] Introductions
> To: stef <s at ctrlc.hu>, Laura James <laura.james at okfn.org>
> Cc: "mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org"
>         <mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org>
> Message-ID:
>         <
> 03FEE575BFE70B4AA3BB5014DC59648B02161C0EA2B0 at HERMES8.ds.leeds.ac.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Eyup!
>
> Thanks for the introduction Stef and for starting this thread Laura. I
> joined the list today.
>
> I'm a researcher based at the University of Leeds in the UK. I specialise
> in computational geography and eResearch. In recent years I have done some
> demographic work and integrated various data to create enriched individual
> level data.
>
> I am interested in developing, using and mitigating risks of linked data.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Andy
> http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/people/a.turner/index.html
> ________________________________________
> From: mydata-open-data-bounces at lists.okfn.org [
> mydata-open-data-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of stef [s at ctrlc.hu]
> Sent: 13 March 2013 19:56
> To: Laura James
> Cc: mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org
> Subject: Re: [MyData & Open Data] Introductions
>
> heyhey,
>
> i'm stef, someone who surrenders some of his privacy to participate in
> discussions about privacy. i'm also doing benign data-mining into public
> representatives but i hope to go deeper to do predictive behavioral
> analytics.
>
> i'm very happy that we kick of this mydata discussion with privacy as the
> first topic. here's two concerns from the top of my head:
>
> mydata is the data i collect about myself. that data also inherently
> contains
> data about other persons, as no database is used in a vacuum, such personal
> mydata can also be turned into data on my friends. think pictures on
> facebook
> tagged by your friends, whose data is that?
>
> mydata can also be used for singling-out, a method used by the
> advertisement
> industry, where individuals are identified by a unique set of attributes,
> not
> their names - which of course can be added later upon credit card usage for
> example.
>
> it would be interesting to see some kind of cost/benefit analysis of
> trade-offs between mydata and privacy on the individual and societal level.
> the sense for privacy has been eroding with overwhelming amounts of new
> technology, we're not going to reverse that, but maybe we could recommend
> something how to do mydata in a private way.
>
> cheers,s
>
> On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 08:31:58AM +0000, Laura James wrote:
> > Everyone,
> >
> > Thanks for joining this working group! It might be good to introduce
> > ourselves and share our particular interests in this area.
> >
> > Hello, I'm Laura, I'm with the Open Knowledge Foundation, and I've
> > previously worked on internet of things systems and in higher education
> > technologies, both of which are fields where privacy and data are both
> > important and complex, so I have a long standing interest here.
> >
> >
> > A couple of people have asked off-list about what the Open Knowledge
> > Foundation is doing in this area. The answer is we're not *doing*
> anything
> > (in that we have no staff working on this in particular) but we feel it's
> > an important and complex area which ought to be discussed.  As such we
> > thought we should start a working group to provide a forum for
> discussion,
> > and potentially this will lead to ideas for campaigns or projects down
> the
> > line.
> >
> > The OKF definition of 'open knowledge' is and has always been that it's
> not
> > personal data. When we advocate for openness of data, we don't mean
> > personal data.
> >
> > Nonetheless, there are clearly questions about the level of privacy
> > afforded individuals by many of the sorts of datasets which organisations
> > may wish to open up - such as survey or census data. To understand these
> > privacy issues properly, one needs a pretty good understanding of
> > anonymisation techniques and how identity can be revealed, intentionally
> or
> > inadvertently. Personally, I'd like to see the open data community have a
> > greater understanding of these issues than it's perhaps had to date -
> > starting the discussion and gathering useful resources seems helpful
> here.
> >
> > In parallel, we have a sense that to further our aims of empowering
> people
> > through open data, it would be great if individuals were able to choose
> > what happens to some of their personal data, including the informed
> choice
> > to open some datasets if they wish. This means that individuals would
> need
> > to have access to data about them and the ability to process it and
> publish
> > it under an Open Definition compliant licence (if they want). This helps
> > build up the open data commons with rich and interesting datasets, which
> is
> > great, but it's absolutely critical that it's down to the individual's
> own
> > choice, and that that choice needs to be informed about the potential
> > consequences.  The Quantified Self movement is one example where people
> > measure information about themselves and in some cases may choose to
> share
> > it; this is straightforward (eg if I weigh myself each day on my bathroom
> > scales, that data is mine and I can release it under an open licence, a
> > non-open licence or keep the data to myself).  It gets trickier once data
> > is gathered by third party services, whether that's an online service
> > logging my quantified self data, or the purchases I've made from an
> online
> > shop.
> >
> > So, there's two really interesting angles and the OKF would like to be in
> > the debate, and to bring our expertise about open to the discussions
> about
> > personal data, and to learn about these areas which intersect ours.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Laura
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Dr Laura James
> >
> > Co-Director
> > Open Knowledge Foundation
> > http://okfn.org
> > *Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age*
>
> ---end quoted text---
>
> --
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> MyData-Open-Data mailing list
> MyData-Open-Data at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/mydata-open-data
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:14:15 +0100
> From: "s at ctrlc.hu" <s at ctrlc.hu>
> Subject: Re: [MyData & Open Data] Introductions
> To: "Hare, Jason" <Jason.Hare at raleighnc.gov>
> Cc: "mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org"
>         <mydata-open-data at lists.okfn.org>
> Message-ID: <20130314111415.GH17518 at ctrlc.hu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> heyhey,
>
> On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 09:55:37PM +0000, Hare, Jason wrote:
> > Has anyone attempted a policy or a statement on PII redaction in regards
> to the posting of open government data sets?
>
> what do you mean with redaction? that sounds very analog. which is an
> excellent protection against cheap/digital data-krakens, collect the data
> in
> analog form on dead trees and use a huge tipped black pen to redact stuff.
> but
> in the digital realm this does not work. either you have useful data or
> anonymous, but both does not work :/
>
> what works best in the digital world is to practice data minimization. only
> collect data if it's necessary, there's no alternative and only as long as
> needed.
>
> --
> 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
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> MyData-Open-Data mailing list
> MyData-Open-Data at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/mydata-open-data
>
>
> End of MyData-Open-Data Digest, Vol 2, Issue 5
> **********************************************
>
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