“I want to propose a daring project”. It is in these terms that the governor of california Gavin Newsom presented his “dividend data” in the beginning of last week. Its goal: to enable the citizens of his State to be paid according to the amount of personal data they share with the giants of the web such as Google or Facebook. According to him, “consumers in california should be able to share the wealth that is created from their data.” A few days before, the CEO of BlackBerry had advanced in the Echoes the idea that each individual should have the choice to monetize his personal data or gain otherwise party”.
The idea, which takes its origin in the publication of a book by the american computer scientist Jaron Lanier Who Ows The Future in 2012, has caused many reactions across the Atlantic. The powerful lobby, “the Internet Association” with groups such as Google, Facebook or Amazon opposed to the project in california. Same sound of bell on the side of the “Center for Digital Democracy”, an association fighting for the protection of personal data, which estimated that selling its personal data, including the most intimate, means to expose them transparently to large groups digital. “Californians should not have to give up their privacy for a few dollars,” she adds.
Debate in France
In France, a similar debate had stirred the political and intellectual scene there is a little more than a year, after the publication of a report by the think tank liberal GénérationLibre titled “My data belong to me”. His idea was to create a property right in personal data for their owners, the users, have the opportunity to sell to companies who use them as Facebook and Google. The economic model of these major platforms is based on the use of personal data that they then sell to advertisers.
A year later, Maxime Sbaihi director-general of GénérationLibre note an awareness in the society: “a few months ago, it looked at us with big eyes, but today, curiosity replaced the surprise,” he says to the Figaro. According to him, a “sacred journey” has been made thanks to scandals like repeat Cambridge Analytica, a company that thanks to Facebook has siphoned off the personal data of 87 million people for purposes of political propaganda. “Citizens and decision makers understand more and more that the current regulation is out-of-date” he adds. The mp LREM, Bruno Bonnell, who had introduced an amendment – rejected – by February 2018 claiming the creation of a property right in personal data goes further: “We have at our disposal a gold mine that could turn into a form of tax for the giants of the tech and which would benefit directly to the purchasing power of French” according to him. Today, he advocates a French adaptation of the “dividend data” of california, he considers “innovative”.
States vs GAFA : who will win the arm wrestling ? – Look on Figaro Live
“A gold mine”?
what motivate the creation of start-ups specialized, particularly in France. This is the case of the start-up rochelaise My Data is Rich, who has since last may a service “give and take” between internet users and businesses. Thanks to it, every citizen who wants to can sell anonymously his / her personal data. The start-up will then take care of the transfer to enterprises like banks or insurance and equally share the revenues collected with the user. Knowing that some of the data – often more intimate – are worth more than others, the start-up offers the same accessories as this terminal that it is possible to plug into a car cigarette lighter. Once installed, it records your data moving. A mine of information for the automotive manufacturers who wish to offer you a model suitable to your needs and commuting, for example. “We believe that the valuation of the personal data anonymous has a future, and we notice that there is a real customer. People know that their data are useful, but they want to put the hand on it to make it grow. It is there that we operate in,” says founder Eric Zeyl.
Monetization complex
For their part, the authorities are not favourable to the idea. In a report in 2017, the CNNum (national digital Council) had considered the establishment of a model of patrinomy data “dangerous”. Serge Abiteboul, research director at INRIA (National Institute for Research in Computer science and control) and data specialist, also thinks that it is a “false good idea”. It is estimated that the monetization of personal data is far from being obvious. “This represents the money, it is the combination of your personal data with those individuals who are just like you. When they are collected and sorted, they are potentially valuable but at the individual level, personal data is not large-thing, and you would barely ten euros per year,” explains the researcher. The monetization of the data is also complex to implement. Indeed, it is impossible to precisely define the ownership of personal data today, because no legal framework does not allow for this. “If I publish a post or a photo on Facebook in which many of my friends are identified, who owns this data?” asks Serge Abiteboul.
GénérationLibre account well, bringing the subject back on the table in the coming months. He is currently preparing a new report on the valuation and the fair price of the given, with the support of several researchers. Ultimately, the organization wants to believe in a model that is more “free” that would leave the choice to users. Either accept to disclose all of his personal data for the benefit of social networks for free. Either pay for the use of these platforms by maintaining its privacy. So that the user is no longer “a product of Facebook or Google, but one of its customers”. The terms are posed, the debate can continue.
SERVICE: Discover all the good plans N26 valid at this time
