Data is property.
That seems to be an unassailable contention in our society. People — and by people I mean companies — own it, store it, sell it, manipulate it, and profit from it. Entire industries have been built up over its control and use. It has been described as the oil of the information economy, and many of the harms of the social media age stem from its use in algorithms and dark patterns. Most solutions to these issues accept the same frame: property rights. We should have more control over our data. We should profit from our data when it is sold. We should have our data stored in places entirely under our control. We should have the data fairy on retainer.
I don’t think we are thinking about this in the right way.
I doubt what I am about to say is original to me, but I am unable to find the ur-text, or, really, any significant text laying this out in detail. So my apologies if I am taking someone’s words without credit. But I think that most people do not think of the actions that generate data as a matter of property but rather, at some level, a matter of privacy. Most of what we call data, at least data we care about, are either facts about us that are intimate or identify us in some way — health information, address, phone number, marital status, etc. — or the record of things we have done — voting, shopping, searches, etc. These are less discrete pieces of information — though, obviously, they can certainly be seen as such — and more exercises in privacy. In some cases, I may be willing to share that information with some people for some purposes. In many cases, we want to retain our privacy. This is extends to things like our words and our likenesses. We bristle at deepfakes, even innocuous ones, not because we feel that our data has been taken from us but because something intimate, something private, has been used in a way that we see as a violation.
I suspect that this is why there is such a disconnect, such unease, between tech firms and regular people. No one can live in a world of absolute privacy, completely shut off from everyone else. You cannot build meaningful personal relationships like that, nor can you operate in a commercial or mutual aid environment in complete secrecy. We have spent essentially all of human history building societal expectations for how to open up to other humans and how to respect that privacy. Those expectations can and do change, but the shift to treating what we have before seen as a matter of privacy to a matter of property is perhaps the most radical shift in some time.
It is certainly not one that most people are comfortable with — as evidenced by the fact that data firms are not forthcoming with other how much material they collect on you nor what they do with that material. They know that most people would see these not as a question of buying and selling, like you would, say a bike, but of betraying long-standing expectations of what it means to be a good member of society.
Data, then, I think to most people, is at its core privacy.
That realization could change, for the better, how we deal with the sheer amount of data the internet and various other technologies produce. The devil is in the details, of course, but a world in which Ring videos, for example, cannot be used to humiliate delivery drivers (like the stupid fscking driver dancing craze from a little while ago) without their explicit consent, or where the videos cannot be used to harass people “who don’t look like they belong in the neighborhood” while walking down the street is better. As is one where every personalized ad has to be approved by you ahead of time, not just once. As is one where every interaction collected has to be notified, clearly, and approved by you.
None of this will be easy, of course. Many businesses have been built on the idea that once an interaction is “owned” it can be treated like any other property. But a privacy first mindset toward data is one where tech firms and the larger society are more closely aligned in both expectation and action. One where the benefits of technology are not the sole property of the owners of technology. One where we manage to retain a dignified society based on human needs rather than business desires. Getting there may not be easy, but it will certainly be worth the effort.
In the meantime, if you do have the data fairy on retainer, mind sending them my way?
I agree with your thoughts, my stuff is mine and no one else should have access to it but, unfortunately, they do. A lot of info can be derived just from public records but much is for sale which should be illegal. I've also found it weird that all the sudden there's a hundred substack articles dropping in you inbox...how the hell did they get your email address? Then it becomes your job, your time to read(if you want), delete ( and you know there is more coming later) or unsubscribe, which doesn't always happen. I live in a community with a homeowners association and I swear they sell your address, phone # and email to local businesses, ect. I just can't prove it. Technology and the internet has really laid us bare for many who are probably not trustable or with good intentions but what are you gonna do? Hope for the best, keep an eye on your stufff and deal with the shit when it hits the fan. Happy Tuesday !!!