Who owns our data?

Jackson Beltrandi
Nov 6 · 7 min read

Before I stepped foot into a college classroom, I could not care less about how my data was used as it was of little concern to me. I use Facebook (not often) and so many Google products, such as; Chrome, Gmail, and Google Maps. Little did I know that these companies were tracking and holding onto my digital footprint. Check yourself first, before I go off on these companies. What device or software are you reading this post on? If it is an iPhone or a Mac, you should feel a little better about yourself. Apple really cares about protecting the data of their customers, kind of. However, if you are reading this on an Android or Windows device, just know that you are being watched right this second (digitally, of course).

What are these bills?

Honestly, I would not think that anyone cares about my google searches, which mostly coincides with music, sports, or whatever crazy situation I’m thinking about at 2 a.m. But, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the United States version, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) beg to differ.

The United States was not first in developing data protection, as they followed in the footsteps of the European Union. The GDPR timeline shows the bill was drafted on June 15th, 2015, and adopted by European Parliament on April 16th of 2016. This bill began full enforcement by European Union in May 2018. So barely just over a year ago, the first data protection law was set into place. This revelation could be as important as the first man to step on the moon. The core of the GDPR is meant to give citizens more control over their data. Almost everywhere we go online, we leave our digital footprint. From online shopping, social media, banks, and any other information we give up online will pique the interest of anyone who advertises. The GDPR was created to give users protection of their personal data online, providing legal liability for processing data. The GDPR allows consumers to know when their data has been breached or hacked into. The GDPR lists requirements for lawful consent requests, with clear affirmative action. Essentially, users must opt-in to give consent of the collection of their data. Part of this regulation is forcing any retailer to provide clear rules and standards for how they process the data of those who traffic their website, in a conspicuous way. A large benefit to this set of regulations is the “Right to be Forgotten,” which allows users to request to have their data deleted or not be placed on a mailing list. Online controllers and processors will have to be smarter about what data they collect and how they use this information.

The United States is lagging when it comes to protecting data collection of its citizens. However, we have beefed up the GDPR in our version, the California Consumer Privacy Act. In our last TID we discussed how the terms and conditions of many ecommerce companies are long and designed to NOT be read by the users. In these terms were hidden clauses about the collection of data, secret arbitration rules, and what you’re giving up when you mindlessly hit “I agree.” The CCPA is designed to protect consumers from falling into that trap. Initially known as the Consumer Right to Privacy Act of 2018, the CCPA underwent many changes to be made into its final form. The law is expected to be enforced on January 1st of 2020, and only applies to Californian commerce. The law applies to certain circumstances: “business that has more than $25 million in revenue, or buys or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, or derives 50 percent or more of its annual revenue from selling consumers’ personal information.” That last part is important, this bill does not care if you are a small company if most of your revenue comes from ad marketing. Essentially, this law can eliminate third-party data processers because most of their business is related to the selling or trading of personal data. The CCPA allows users to opt out of the sale of their personal information. This feature which was not present in the GDPR prevents large companies that collect your data, from selling that data to third-party businesses which use this information to advertise against you.

Apple? Apple sets the standard?

In a sick and twisted online world Apple Inc. may be our digital vigilante. This progressive company is one of the few who remains ahead of active legislation against data collection. Apple’s Developer Enterprise Program is the basic standard required to be an application manager on the App Store. This contract binds the organization to legal disputes regarding payment, security, and data collection. Apple genuinely cares about the protection of our data, and protecting the rights of their users. Facebook breached this contract when they advertised to users as young as 13 to download the Facebook Research app, which directly sells your data to third-party businesses. Apple removed this app from the App Store, and issued warnings to Facebook about the future of the app being run on Apple devices. Android could not care less about all this drama, as the app still runs on Google devices.

Can we be rewarded for our data?

Most importantly, you can get paid for your data! If you are someone who could not care less about the collection and processing of your personal information online, then this might be something for you. With the passing of both the GDPR and CCPA, you now own your personal data (what a concept). Permission.io is a new eCommerce startup which allows you to get paid for your data. Instead of ad marketers buying data from Google or Facebook, they are “renting” from this company, which has the rights to your data. This company allows you to basically sell your data, by giving them “consent” to list your data to other companies in the Permission Marketplace. This company then sells your data to advertisers, and you watch these ads which earns you cryptocurrency. It is no place close to perfect, but it is the first step to a new system.

What scares me about the Permission Marketplace is that it is not a government regulated sector. I was thinking about how we could tie modern damages process to Universal Basic Income (UBI). As someone who is skeptical of Socialistic ideology, initially the idea of $1,000 in everyone’s pockets monthly throws me off because it makes little sense. The UBI is not directly socialism, in my opinion, it is nearly putting economic value to our data. Under one of Presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s tweets regarding the subject of UBI, someone replied with, “My data is worth more than oil — today and much more over my lifetime.” While it is never good to use Twitter as a resource, this comment made me wonder how this could actually work. With a Value-Added Tax (VAT), large companies such as Google or Facebook will be providing to government or potentially UBI based off of the addition of tax to every point of the supply chain. So instead of simply taxing the income, companies will be taxed off of their consumption methods and production. This will prevent Amazon from becoming our source for everything, which is necessary. Now, what does this mean for Americans? If we generate a value-added tax to companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon — we will be getting money back that we put in, and forming economic value to our data.

What can we do?

I have theorized a resolution of shortening terms and conditions and making the legislation regarding ecommerce beneficial to the American consumer. This connects to the breaching of our digital information because we as a country have finally recognized the importance of digital media and how our data is collected, kind of. I say “kind of” because 73% of the country is not prepared to take on the future (pwc). This statistic includes the automation of the workforce and acceleration of digital transformation. First off, we need all 50 states to follow in California’s footsteps when it comes to data collection. The United States needs to recognize the issue of soon-to-be monopolized companies like Amazon using our data against us, without our consent. As mentioned before, I suggest we form an economy where companies are taxed based off of their data, through VAT, then form that into a monthly income for those who traffic these websites. This will form economic value to the American consumer’s data.

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