A practical vision for personal data empowerment
Late in 2019, as Mydex CIC Chairman I was invited by the Korean Government’s data agency K-Data to give a keynote address at its MyData conference. 1000 people attended. This is an excerpt from my speech.
“In Mydex’s view, we need to change the way the digital data system itself works via fundamental structural reform that builds safety, fairness, efficiency, equity and inclusivity in to how it works. By empowering individuals with their own data.
To deliver these benefits we need a new neutral, independent layer of data infrastructure — one that empowers individuals with their own data, enables them to use this data for their own purposes, and to share their data safely and efficiently. This is what Mydex personal data stores are designed to do.
The logic of this approach is simple. Currently organisations use data to do many things.
Organisations use data:
- To measure and monitor things.
- To do administration — keep records of people, transactions, correspondence, contracts, agreements and so on, to check that information is accurate, up-to-date, complete
- To analyse data sets to uncover patterns and trends
- To make better decisions.
AND, crucially,
- to implement these decisions better: to make plans, organise and coordinate actions, to deploy available resources.
- to actually deliver services. For example, it is impossible for a bank to provide a current account service if it cannot gather information about who is spending what money where; it is impossible for a retailer to maintain its operations if it does not gather information about what products it is selling, in what volumes, to who, where
Now here is the crucial point. Organisations do not have a monopoly on doing these things, measuring and monitoring, insight and analytics, administration, making decisions, implementing these decisions. Individuals and households do all of them too. But currently they have no digital tools. mechanisms or infrastructure to help them do these things efficiently and effectively.
We think every individual in the world should be provided with these tools: with their own personal data store that enables them collect, store and use their own data, independently of any relationship with any data controller. This personal data store enables them to share their data when and where they want, in ways that always protect their privacy and where they are always in control.
If my bank collects data about my finances, it should provide an electronic copy of this data to my personal data store if I ask it to. So that I can use it and share it with other service providers if I want to.
If my doctor or a hospital collects data about my health, it should provide an electronic copy of this data to my personal data store if I ask it to. So that I can use it for my own purposes, or share it with another hospital if I want to — so that if I get sick in Korea while visiting from Britain, a hospital in Korea can instantly have access to my data.
And if organisations have tools and technologies to manage relationships with their customers, individuals also need tools and technologies to manage relationships with their service providers. Just as organisations want to use data to manage their businesses and operations better, individuals should have the practical ability to use their data to manage their lives better.
What we do is provide individuals with these tools: with their own personal data store that enables them collect, store and use their own data, independently of any relationship with any data controller. This personal data store enables them to share their data when and where they want, in ways that always protect their privacy and where they are always in control.
We’ve been going for 13 years now. In that time we have made many mistakes and explored many avenues that we thought would lead to progress but turned out to be dead-ends. Over that time we have learned a lot.
What we’ve learned
Perhaps most important of all we’ve learned that most debate about personal data focuses on the wrong things.
It’s not just about empowering organisations with data. It’s also about empowering individuals with their data. We can never complete the 4th industrial revolution without doing this.
Monetising data is just a tiny part of it. Most uses of data, by both organisations and individuals, are for operational and efficiency purposes and for better quality outcomes.
It’s not just about analytics and big data. It’s about operational uses of data, which is about accessing and using specific bundles of data points — or ‘small data’.
It’s not just about privacy. What really motivates individuals is utility that comes with privacy rather than at the expense of privacy.
And these issues cannot be addressed just by changing organisations’ policies, or rules and regulations. As I said, we need a new neutral, independent layer of enabling infrastructure.
That is what we have built and are continuing to build.”
