[MyData & Open Data] Blog on open data ABOUT privacy

Thu Mar 20 13:07:42 UTC 2014

On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 12:22:40PM +0000, Sally Deffor wrote:
> One exception and grey area is people wanting to share their personal data
> with the world. Not all their data, but maybe something they feel proud of
> (e.g. weight loss, miles run), or they are patients hoping a cure will
> come. And throw in a few extras to make it more useful (postcode, gender,
> age). Soon you have a privacy situation.

not really, if the people themselves share this data, it is with their
consent. what must be understood - and apparently is not - is that once you
have pushed the toothpaste out, you can't put it back into the tube.

> The ability for people to volunteer personal information is a key to many
> problems in this space.  But, this ability needs a bit of work to be
> useful, e.g. pseudonyms with attributes attached, time limits on use of
> attributes, post consent control - etc.

attribute based crypto as in abc4trust would be a good solution. pseudonyms
unfortunately are not protected if i understand correctly what the EP voted
last week.

> The question is whether they can have any control over what happens to
> their data afterwards.

no. see barbara streisand.

> Legally it is not clear if you disclose your personal information yourself.

why? that is consent, if you do it by yourself. even if you have been tricked,
or forced by some tactical benefits (like getting laid via facebook)

> But we could follow the consent principle and say that these people consent
> to share.

the problem is, that many people are forced to surrender their data, and this
cannot be retroactively pushed back into the tube, when it turns out, that the
colorful pebbles they got in exchange for their fathers burial grounds are
totally worthless.

> My concern here is whether we ought to be prescribing any sorts of
> standards  for  people who want to open up their data totally without
> considerations for re-use, future third-party access, explicit
> identification etc.

people opening up data without consideration for the consequences is not
something i call consent. that is what i call exploitation of information
asymmetry.

> Wouldn't that go against the principle of My Control?

it goes against basic human rights.

-- 
otr fp: https://www.ctrlc.hu/~stef/otr.txt