Peter Wells
Jul 21, 2017 · 1 min read

Interesting but a couple of things make me worry about the rest.

“Individuals are in full control of their own data and solely responsible for deciding who can view it”

Is this true? Can a citizen refuse a policeman the ability to look at their (perhaps existing, perhaps not) driving licence? That would be fun :) Does a woman have to give permission before a doctor can look at her partner’s medical records which discuss IVF treatment? If they can, is that a good thing? What about when the relationship breaks down, who decides issues of control and access to health data which might contain information about both parts of what was a couple? Are children in control of data about them? Most data is interactions between people or between people and the state/other organisations. Isn’t a set of rights and responsibilities, rather than ‘ownership’ or ‘full control’ a better model?

“Secondly, the UK operates a strict regional structure that limits it to boundaries dating back to the Doomsday Book.”

This is certainly not true. The UK’s regional boundaries have changed many many times since the Doomsday Book (easiest example: look for Scotland and Wales in the Doomsday book, second easiest example: look at current city devolution deals. The regional structure needs updating, see city devo deals :), but exaggeration doesn’t help.

Anyway, I’m off to Estonia and Helsinki myself in a couple of months. Will blog on what I find too :)

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    Peter Wells

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    Pondering what digital socialism of the heart looks like. I talk about Blackpool FC & books, I ask questions, & I do some stuff @ODIHQ.