This was such a treat to read and was quite interesting to imagine how as MyData community we can envision new imaginaries: "I suggest that these struggles and reactions are openings for thinking about different data futures through what I call an experiment in citizen data. It is an experiment that reconsiders relations between states, citizens and digital technologies in the production of data and statistics by imagining a new political subjectivity, that of the data citizen."

In Invisible Women, campaigner and writer Caroline Criado Perez brings gender data to the fore. Although it sells itself as a book about data bias, it’s more of a book about data on bias, a catalogue of the facts and figures that document persistent gender inequalities in society.

How do data trusts relate to data commons? When trying to make sense of the many data governance models and data sharing arrangements in existence this question comes up a lot. This article gives some basic insights into the relationship between a data commons and a data trust.
And the author (Anouk Ruhaak) also compiled a comprehensive reading list about the topic of Data Trusts.

A little-known start-up helps law enforcement match photos of unknown people to their online images — and “might lead to a dystopian future or something,” a backer says.

Novelists, poets and artists imagine life in the age of surveillance.

Two book recommendations:

• Privacy in the Modern Age: The Search for Solutions (2015) - check out also other interesting books at the EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) bookstore
  
• Dead Souls (1842) - An absurd and hilarious satire. Good for the discussion who - if any - owns mydata, or about ethics. And sometimes too close to the real life. More also on Wikipedia
  

Data activism has emerged as a response to asymmetries in how data and the means of knowledge production are distributed. This article examines MyData, a data activism initiative developing principles for a new technical and commercial ecosystem in which individuals control the use of personal data.

Our digital environment is changing, fast. Nobody knows exactly what it’ll look like in five to ten years’ time, but we know that how we produce and share our data will change where we end up. We have to decide how to protect, enhance, and preserve our rights in a world where technology is everywhere and data is generated by every action.

Don’t just give away your privacy to the likes of Google and Facebook – protect it, or you disempower us all.

This week the first reading club was held on Thursday and a number of interesting things were posted subsequently: @Fredrik Löfman posted an Economis article (Is Google an evil genius?) and an interesting article series on data-rights related issues. @Antti 'Jogi' Poikola proposed to read and discuss Laron Lanier, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now next.

The first reading club chat is in the coming week on July 11th.