John Battelle blogged today about a topic he’s covered in the past, a Data Bill of Rights. He makes the case for greater transparency from search and other online service companies. And he outlines a list of terms for the use of consumer attention by these organizations.
- Data Transparency. We can identify and review the data that companies have about us. A sticky issue is whether we can also identify and review data that is made about us based on other data the company might have. (IE, based on your behavior, we at Amazon know you might also like….)
- Data Portability. We can take copies of that data out of the company’s coffers and offer it to others or just keep copies for ourselves.
- Data Editing. We can request deletions, editing, clarifications of our data for accuracy and privacy.
- Data Anonymity. We can request that our data not be used, cognizant of the fact that that may mean services are unavailable to us.
- Data Use. We have rights to know how our data is being used inside a company.
- Data Value. The right to sell our data to the highest bidder.
- Data Permissions. The right to set permissions as to who might use/benefit from/have access to our data.
While this isn’t directly in line with what Trufina does, it’s certainly in step with our corporate mission and our perspective that users should control their information, and should be able to protect their privacy online.
There’s at least one Dot-Org taking a look at this issue: AttentionTrust. The brainchild of one of the brainiest people I’ve ever known, Seth Goldstein, who’s launched several companies with the intention of shaping and monetizing the “attention economy�.
‘The recent spamacornucopia means more than $10 BILLION DOLLARS OF YOUR DATA IS BEING EXCHANGED AMONG BUYERS AND SELLERS THAT YOU DON’T CONTROL, starting with DoubleClick (and H&F their private equity owner) and Google, and then Right Media (Redpoint) and Yahoo!, and then 24/7 and WPP, and now aQuantive and Microsoft.’
Between recent ad network acquisitions, the report from Privacy International which ranked Google at the bottom of a list of major internet companies for privacy, and the Apples iTunes debate, the issue has become a hot topic again among professionals.
‘Privacy can be a touchy subject; generally people want their privacy maintained and yet the delivery of many services from Internet startups is dependent on personal data to deliver personalized content. It has long been known that Google gathers more personal data than any other company, yet Google’s growing marketshare would seem to indicate that people are willing to ignore these privacy concerns. From an industry perspective, personalization is a defining quality of the new Internet – without this data we would be winding the clocks back to 1999.’
It’s great to see some of the smartest people in our business thinking and talking about these issues. It would be just as interesting to hear what the rest of the community has to say about it. There are any number of companies, individuals and organizations committed to issues of consumer privacy protection. Beyond that, there are folks taking care of “family identity management� and using ecommerce and online services daily. We’d love to have greater insights into their needs and concerns.
