[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #284: Personal data: Making the trade

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #284: Personal data: Making the trade
May 30th, 2012

<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/StockQuoteGraph.png>There 
are a lot of companies providing services on the Internet that have 
lately decided they need to make your "web experience" more personal. 
Yahoo! has just introduced Axis 
<http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404877,00.asp>, Microsoft 
recently made their Bing search more social 
<http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the-new-bing-makes-google-look-anti-social.php>, 
Google has for some time encouraged people 
<http://chrome.blogspot.com/2012/05/keeping-tabs-on-your-tabs.html> to 
log in to their Google accounts before they use the Chrome browser to 
enhance their experience, and there's speculation 
<http://www.dreamgrow.com/facebook-search-a-goldmine/> that Facebook 
will soon use the mountains of "like" and profile data it collects to 
offer people a more personalized web search. There's little doubt that 
these new web tools offer a better, custom-fit Internet experience in 
return for giving the companies access to some personal data. But what's 
in it for the companies? Are they improving your web experience just 
because they like you? Well, no; when your personal data is combined 
with other data, it's possible to create a valuable commodity.

  * Facebook's IPO and the Laws of Big Data
    <http://smartdatacollective.com/gilpress/51435/facebook-s-ipo-and-laws-big-data>
    (SmartData Collective/Gil Press) "The value of personal data is
    zero. Personal data is not worth much if it's kept personal and a
    sample of one is good for answering a very limited set of questions.
    Personal data gains value when it is shared, when it is combined
    with and compared to other data."
  * Personal data needs clear trading rules
    <http://forumblog.org/2012/05/personal-data-needs-clear-trading-rules/>
    (World Economic Forum Blog/John Rose and Carl Kalapesi) "...personal
    data is a highly valuable asset, like oil or water. And like these
    assets, it needs to flow or move to create value. But unlike these
    and many other tangible assets, data is not consumed when used.
    Instead, its use increases its value because new data elements are
    accumulated, providing greater insights into individuals."
  * The cost of losing a customer's trust
    <http://gigaom.com/2012/05/19/online-retailers-this-is-what-losing-customer-trust-could-cost-you/>
    (GigaOM/Ki Mae Heussner) "In this report - and a highly cited
    <http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/are_you_ready_for_consumers_to.html> report
    <http://www.weforum.org/news/report-highlights-personal-data-new-economic-asset-class>
    on the topic last year - the World Economic Forum calls personal
    data 'an emerging asset class.' But to really extract its value, the
    organization argues, public and private institutions need to rethink
    how they do business so that consumers get more protection, rights
    and opportunities to hold organizations accountable when it comes to
    their data."
  * A stock exchange for your personal data
    <http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/40330/> (Technology
    Review/Jessica Leber) "On his [Bernardo Huberman, director of HP
    Lab's Social Computing Research Group] proposed market, a person who
    highly values her privacy might chose an option to sell her shopping
    patterns for $10, but at a big risk of not finding a buyer.
    Alternately, she might sell the same data for a guaranteed payment
    of 50 cents. Or she might opt out and keep her privacy entirely. You
    won't find any kind of opportunity like this today. But with
    Internet companies making billions of dollars selling our
    information, fresh ideas and business models that promise users
    control over their privacy are gaining momentum."

*/Privacy fact:/*

In March, 73% of poll respondents told the Pew Internet and American 
Life Project 
<http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Search-Engine-Use-2012/Summary-of-findings.aspx> 
they would "NOT BE OKAY" with a search engine keeping track of their 
searches and using that information to personalize their future search 
results.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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