Noteworthy Information

MyData White Paper - 3rd, revised edition (PDF)

A new English version of the MyData white paper was published! The last white paper in English was released 5years ago, and it was about time to package all the everevolving MyData's thinking and doing into a new paper.
Congratulations to everybody who contributed to this work, and thank you Viivi Lähteenoja and the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Finland for making this happen.

Personal Data Ownership: Economic Considerations

With this article Paul Jurcys continues to dive deeper into personal data ‘ownership’ topic.

  • What data is most valuable to you?
  • What segments of your data would you prefer to keep anonymous?
  • What segments of your personal data would you be willing to share with third parties?

Human rights in the digital age

Keynote speech by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at Japan Society, New York, 17 October 2019

The digital revolution is a major global human rights issue. Its unquestionable benefits do not cancel out its unmistakable risks.

Maps where landlords may be using tech to spy on tenants

Landlord Tech Watch aims to track the deployment, usage, and testing of potentially discriminatory housing surveillance tech.

Privacy Icons and Legal Design

Data ecosystem is rapidly shifting towards user-centric model. What factors affect how people perceive the value of their personal data?

Not Fit-for-Purpose - MSI Integrity

Not Fit-For-Purpose reflects on a decade of research and analysis into international standard-setting Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs). It concludes that this grand experiment has failed in its goal of providing effective protection against abuse. While MSIs can play important roles in building trust and generating dialogue, they are not fit-for-purpose to reliably detect abuses, hold corporations to account for harm, or provide access to remedy.

Relationships and Identity

A great post from Phil Windley on the importance of Self Sovereign/ Decentralised Identity in forming better digital relationships than we have at present.

CJEU invalidates “Privacy Shield” in US Surveillance case

The EU's Court of Justice has just invalidated the "Privacy Shield" data sharing system between the EU and the US, because of overreaching US surveillance.

Individuals Intermediate read

Atlas of Surveillance

A crowdsourced effort between the EFF and the University of Nevada, Reno, resulted in a nationwide map of police surveillance tactics: ‘Atlas of Surveillance’ now provides a searchable, interactive database of police surveillance.

New data shows publisher revenue impact of cutting 3rd party trackers

In January 2020, when NPO switched from tracking-based targeting to contextual targeting, revenue increased 61% more than January 2019.

The Security Value of Inefficiency

Bruce Schneier about efficiency and inefficiency in times of Covid-19.

Open Source Body: Small data, self-research, open humans

An exploration of individuals using their own data – with a focus on quantified self, open humans, and various examples self-research where individuals collect and use their personal data in new ways.

Business & Government Intermediate read

IBM ends all facial recognition business as CEO calls out bias and inequality

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna announced today that the company would no longer sell facial recognition services, calling for a “national dialogue” on whether it should be used at all.

A Post-COVID-19 Digital Bretton Woods

When world leaders came together in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944, they laid the foundation for a model of global governance that would last for more than 70 years. To manage the far-reaching implications of digital technology and hyper-globalization, we must now pick up where they left off.

Internet Identity Workshop

We have been at it for 15 years working to cultivate the space for the community who cares about how people can control their own digital identities come together and move the ball forward on all of our work.

Reclaiming Data Trusts

The idea of using trusts to improve data governance is relatively new, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise; in a time of waning public trust in mass data collection and use, people are looking to scholarship and legal precedent for new solutions.

Recover from the Impact of the Covid-19 Crisis

This is a brilliant resource for business owners to help with COVID planning and impact minimisation.

You Really Don’t Want to Sell Your Data

Without fundamental legal rights underpinning the relationship between those who control data and those subject to it, data ownership will erode the control of those who need it most.

MyData Webinar #7: Personal APIs

The MyData Webinar about Personal APIs (presented by Lal Chandran from iGrant.io) moderated bei Ansku is now up at https://mydata.org/webinars and in MyData Global’s Youtube channel.

AI Needs Your Data—and You Should Get Paid for It

A new approach to training artificial intelligence algorithms involves paying people to submit medical data, and storing it in a blockchain-protected system.

MyData vs COVID-19

A blog post on MyData vs COVID-19 describing who we are, what we do and why people should join the efforts now!

Report: Out of Control

A recent extensive whitepaper from the Norwegian Consumer Council that demonstrates the need for alternative ecosystems to connect merchants with consumers.

MyData and Coronavirus

Some thoughts here about how bottom up, human-centric 'MyData' would vastly improve how global pandemics can be managed for all parties. Clearly we won't get to build much for this time around, albeit my prototype only took 20 minutes; but one has to assume there will be a Covid 20 and beyond.

Ada Lovelace’s Call for Papers

Call for papers for the Data for Policy Conference (London, 15-16 September 2020) on data governance models, data sharing agreements, imbalances of power, ethical values and struggles for justice. Deadline 20 April 2020. And there is also a call for pre-conf workshops and tutorials here.

The World in 2030: Nine Megatrends to Watch

Especially relevant for MyData are: Urbanization: Two-thirds of us will live in cities; Transparency: Our world will become even more open — and less private; Technology Shifts: The internet of things will have won the day, and every new device will be connected.

Data Portability & Services Incubator

DAPSI is a €5.6M fund powered by the European Commission, solely dedicated to Data Portability.

EU Datathon

The fourth edition of EU Datathon, the open data competition, has been launched on 19 February and you can submit your project description until March 3rd.

Bruce Schneier joins Inrupt

Bruce Schneier has joined a company called Inrupt as Chief of Security Architecture that is working to bring Tim Berners-Lee's distributed data ownership model that is Solid into the mainstream - think of Inrupt basically as the Red Hat of Solid.

Business & Government Intermediate read

Leaked Reports Show EU Police Are Planning a Pan-European Network of Facial Recognition Databases

The proposal to link the EU’s facial recognition databases would likely connect them to the U.S. as well, in a massive consolidation of biometric data.

Are data more like oil or sunlight?

A great article about data economy mentioning many iniatives that are part of MyData movement like Decode and Fair data economy.

Microsoft Research: Democratizing Data

In this podcast Dr. Kossmann reflects on his life as a database researcher and tells us how Socrates, an innovative database-as-a-service architecture, is re-envisioning traditional database design.

EU Data Strategy

The European Commission unveiled its data strategy to make EU a global leader in AI & data economy. Notably, MyData was referenced as an example to give individuals the tools and means to decide at a granular level what is done with their data.
Teemu also compiled a list of key documents: EU Data Strategy PDF, AI White Paper PDF, MyData Notes on Data Strategy and AI, MyData Comments on Data Strategy and AI, MyData Blogpost

Do we really want to “sell” ourselves?

Who owns your data? It’s a popular question of late in the identity community, particularly in the wake of Cambridge Analytica, numerous high-profile Equifax-style data breaches, and the GDPR coming into full force and effect.

Common Endpoints for Personal Data Stores

I'd like to publicly announce a new initiative that was initially started at the MyData 2019 conference: Common Endpoints for Personal data Stores (CEPS). Together with @salmanff and @Dixon we created a document for Personal Data Store (PDS) providers and App developers that will allow interoperability between PDS and using Apps across different PDS.

We Sell Your Data

We Sell Your Data: You give us your data, we sell it. Make data privacy a concern of the past with our innovative new platform!

Could this plan make Facebook obsolete?

Your digital self is fragmented and wholly owned by third parties – but identity activist Kaliya Young has a plan to help us pull ourselves together, and make tech fairer for all.

The benefits of sharing personal data – what can we learn from Open Banking?

Since its launch two years ago, Open Banking requires the UK’s nine largest banks to give customers better control of their data. If people give permission, the banks are obliged to share their data with third party services.

Developers Intermediate read

Modern Mass Surveillance: Identify, Correlate, Discriminate

Communities across the United States are starting to ban facial recognition technologies. In all cases, modern mass surveillance has three broad components: identification, correlation and discrimination. Read more on Bruce Schneier’s blog on Security.

Shaping a digital future for Europe (Speech by Margrethe Vestager)

As we stand at the start of a new decade, and look ahead to that digital future, the one thing we can say for sure is that none of us – not even the greatest experts – knows exactly how technology is about to change our lives. That’s partly because the digital world is so innovative – and innovation is uncertain by its very nature. But it’s also because the digital future will be powerfully shaped by our own choices and actions.

MyData mentioned in the Guardian

Not so long ago we searched Google. Now we seem quite happy to let Google search us. Will we just accept our loss of privacy, or has the techlash already begun?

Off-Facebook Activity

Off-Facebook activity includes information that businesses and organizations share with us about your interactions with them, such as visiting their apps or websites. Paul-Olivier fought for 4 years to make Facebook implement this feature - read more here.

The Greta of Data

Turns out that as far as I know Greta Thunberg will have heard of “Own Your Data” before she has heard of “MyData” - see the tweet from Brittany Kaiser.

You Are Now Remotely Controlled

In an opinion piece Shoshana Zuboff writes about surveillance capitalists who control the science and the scientists, the secrets and the truth.

Individuals Simple read

Do you really need all this personal information, @RollingStone?

The linked Privacy Policy in the popover that greets visitors on arrival at Rolling Stone’s website is supplied by Rolling Stone’s parent (PMC) and weighs more than 10,000 words. In it the word “advertising” appears 68 times. Adjectives modifying it include “targeted,” “personalized,” “tailored,” “cookie-based,” “behavioral” and “interest-based.”

Individuals Simple read

Privacy, Data, and the Consumer: What US Thinks About Sharing Data

As GDPR becomes the norm, are marketers able to walk the tight-rope of consumer data and privacy? Acxiom and DMA study consumers’ take on data sharing.

Individuals Simple read

Nearly 90% of European websites do not respect privacy regulations

Only one in ten European websites respects the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the European privacy law, according to a study by MIT, UCL and Aarhus Universiteit.

India’s About to Hand People Data Americans Can Only Dream Of

India has more than 560 million internet users, all generating data by the terabyte. Soon they’ll have an unprecedented amount of control over their digital financial footprints, with the ability to decide what to share, with whom, and for how long.

You Should Be Freaking Out About Privacy (Video: 12:15min)

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear? Think again. - An interesting video from the New York Times explaining why we should keep personal data seriously.

Fresh Cambridge Analytica leak ‘shows global manipulation is out of control’

An explosive leak of tens of thousands of documents from the defunct data firm Cambridge Analytica is set to expose the inner workings of the company. More than 100,000 documents relating to work in 68 countries that will lay bare the global infrastructure of an operation used to manipulate voters on “an industrial scale” are set to be released over the next months.

Cloud extraction technology: the secret tech that lets government agencies collect masses of data from your apps

Mobile phones remain the most frequently used and most important digital source for law enforcement investigations. Yet it is not just what is physically stored on the phone that law enforcement are after, but what can be accessed from it, primarily data stored in the Cloud.

Inconvenient Truth for Tech: A New Agenda for Tech (Video: 43:53min)

Learn how the extractive attention economy is tearing apart our shared social fabric and causing human downgrading. Find out how to build humane technology.

California’s new privacy law, explained

The California Consumer Privacy Act gives Californians some control over their data, but only if they know how to take advantage of it.

Science Conferences Are Stuck in the Dark Ages

Exhausting, expensive, and exclusive, these conferences needs to be modernized. The future of science depends on it.

In 10 years from now...

How does your ideal digital future look like? Explore four scenarios on different data governance models and how this might shape our future.

Finland is winning the war on fake news. Other nations want the blueprint

Russia's neighbor has developed a plan for countering misinformation. Can it be exported to the rest of the world?

The data game is like the dating game

The new regulations can help restore trust among a suspicious public when it comes to organisations and the use of their personal data. MyLife Digital’s co-founder J Cromack explains how.

A free online introduction to artificial intelligence for non-experts

The Elements of AI is a series of free online courses created by Reaktor and the University of Helsinki. We want to encourage as broad a group of people as possible to learn what AI is, what can (and can’t) be done with AI, and how to start creating AI methods. The courses combine theory with practical exercises and can be completed at your own pace.

Data portability and services incubator (DAPSI)

DAPSI goal is to make significantly easier for citizens to have any data which is stored with one service provider transmitted directly to another provider, addressing the challenge of personal data portability on the internet as foreseen under the GDPR.

Are INGOs ready to give up power?

“Southern organisations need to find ways to take power, rather than wait for it to be ’shifted’ to them.” Some important thoughts about international NGOs like us and shifting the power to the South.

FOSS: Open Advice

Here is an interesting resource (from 2011) about open software and community for all that build related solutions/communities.

What do we mean by data empowerment?

People must be made aware of their rights, able to exercise them, and able to claim redress if their rights are violated.

Commerce in Data and the Dynamically Limited Alienability Rule

Commerce in some data is, and should be, limited by the law because some data embody values and interests (in particular, human dignity) that may be detrimentally affected by trade. In this article, drawing on the Roman law principles regarding res extra commercium, we investigate the example of personal data as regulated under the EU Charter and the GDPR. We observe that transactions in personal data are not forbidden but subject to what we call a dynamically limited alienability rule. This rule is based on two dynamic variables: the nature of data and the legal basis for commercially trading such data (at primary or secondary level).

Silicon Valley Is Listening to Your Most Intimate Moments

This is a great piece of reporting on what we've all known all along with voice activated devices. This time calling the contractors involved in listening to conversations.

2020 Democrats on who controls your data — and who’s at fault when it’s mishandled

Your quick rundown to US politics and data rights: Presidential candidates agree that americans should have more control over their data than they do now.

Project Exograph

In Japan you can get € 1.800 per month if you give access to all your data 24/7. It is an experiment and lasts only one month, started November 25t. The only mention for requirements is that you stay in the house 8+ hours per day.

Perpetual Debt in the Silicon Savannah

Cautionary tale around the language of empowerment: Kenya's poor were among the first to benefit from digital lending apps; now they call it slavery.

Finland’s first MyData operator

In the cover of biggest Finnish newspaper today Vastuu group announces that they are MyData operator.

Fighting for digital equity, in Canada and beyond

Equitable access to the internet is a communication right. As the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) points out, not only is the internet a pathway to information, communication, and economic opportunity, it is increasingly necessary to access basic commercial and public services. As more of the world becomes digital, those unable to connect will inevitably be left behind.

What’s a Digital Bill of Rights Without Enforcement?

Google and Facebook are backers of the Contract for the Web, which lists privacy as a core principle. But the companies continue to slurp up user data.

Leadership Election Results

Congratulations to @apoikola @Paul-Olivier Dehaye @Katryna Dow @Kristina (IBO) @John W. @madprime @Charlie - AfroLeadership @JulianRanger @Sarah for being elected to MyData Global Board.
Congratulations to @Chris @Ignasi Alcalde @Mehdi Medjaoui @Jsinipuro as new Steering Group members.

VCs Align Around New Beliefs

Investment Tools to Reinforce a Better Data Economy That Puts People First. Read also “Venture Capital not just for maximum financial returns” by @j12t.

Version 2 of the Personal Data Internet (Video: 7:08min)

A video introducing V2 of the Personal Data Internet, aka MyData - by Julan Ranger from Digi.me.

Data Sovereignty, Privacy and Are You Being Misled? A checklist.

One important thing to note is that security/privacy issues are not just about personal data, but also culturally sensitive data, commercially sensitive data or intelligence sensitive data. It’s also important to note that while I mention some indigenous issues in this article this is not intended to be a criticism or to be patronising to any indigenous groups: all of the issues raised are widespread among many other types of organisations and to individuals of any background.

Datacoup is shutting down operations

This week emails were sent out: “Datacoup is shutting down operations and will be decommissioning all of our servers. Any data you previously added to the platform was never sold. If you received payments in the past, they were coming from the Datacoup treasury account.”

MyData Webinar #2: Design

The #2 MyData Webinar about Design is now available at https://mydata.org/webinars/ and in our YouTube channel.

Are politicians actually delivering? (Infographic)

Digi.me was running a Twitter chat on the history of health record access using the hashtag #HealthRecordAccess. The infographic shows statements from UK politicians in the last 30 years.

Medical Data Exchange

The first open healthcare protocol for the secure and private exchange of medical data.

MyData Africa Conference 2020

The MyData Africa Conference will be organized during the International Open Data Conference in Nairobi 18-20 November 2020.

Annoying Channel Notifications

If you are annoyed on Slack about too many notifications you are not alone! This thread discussed if it is necessary to establish guidelines to use @channel/@here. For immediate relieve @Sille described a way to turn off all notifications and @Viivi explained how to mute only @channel/@here.

Athens General Meeting (Video: 3:44 hours)

If you missed the AGM but would like to hear / see the presentations and discussions about motions put up at the GM, you can view the meeting in this video.

Personal data innovation: sharing power to build trust

Welcome to the new series of blogs created in collaboration with Digi.me. In the #MyDataTalks series we will be exploring the guiding beliefs and motivations of some of the people in the MyData movement. In the very first post you can read about @Alex Bowyer’s research on personal data and the (im)balance of power.

Google’s ‘Project Nightingale’ Gathers Personal Health Data on Millions of Americans

Google is teaming with one of the country’s largest health-care systems on an ambitious project named “Project Nightingale” to collect and crunch detailed health information of millions of Americans across 21 states.

Business & Government Simple read

Greece: The new data protection law raises concerns

The much awaited new Greek data protection law has been criticised for the lack of conformity of its provisions with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

UK Parliament: The Right to Privacy (Article 8) and the Digital Revolution inquiry

The UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights published in the Third Report of Session 2019 'The Right to Privacy (Article 8) and the Digital Revolution'

New Privacy Bill In The U.S. Will Now Jail CEOs Who Lie About User Data

US Senator Ron Wyden has come out with a radical new privacy bill that will prevent tech giants from selling and misusing data by holding them accountable.

MyData Global Community Blog

Read the new MyData community blog post about life after the MyData2019 conference. Find out about all the actions happening during the last part of this year and get even a sneak peek into 2020!

MyData Webinar #1: Data Governance (Video: 1h13min)

The very first MyData Webinar took place on October 25th, 2019 and covered A New Governance and Me2B Alliance, that both touch upon the topic of building a trustworthy personal data ecosystem.

Generative identity — beyond self-sovereignty

Three ways to think about digital identity to help move the conversation forward in line with the AKASHA Foundation's purpose: Naively, Expertly, Generatively.

ConsumerReports rejects Data Ownership

“Privacy is an inalienable human right that cannot be traded away, even if a monetary value of a consumer’s data could be assessed.” - via @hackylawyER

Pilot project launch by Sumitomo Corporation

Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office in, Tokyo) has launched a pilot project for “iscream,” a consumer-use personal data management/utilization tool. The project involves commercializing the new proposal selected from among applications for the 0→1 Challenge 2018 intrapreneurship program.

Creating a better data economy

Some movement in the venture capital world: Omidyar Network investment partner Magdi Amin about last week’s meeting in Seattle of VCs interested in investing in startups that treat personal data right.

Human Rights-Based Approach to Data

This report aims to provide general guidance and elements of a common understanding on a Human Rights-Based Approach to Data (HRBAD), with a focus on issues of data collection and disaggregation.

Federated Learning

Federated learning means that I can learn and that I can share that learning with others. When it comes to data about me, the elephants in the room are the data brokers. They are the entities, mostly hidden from us as subjects, that set the value and profit strictly from brokering data about me to what I would call the principals. Principals are the entities that I actually want to do business with, airlines, auto manufacturers, publishers, pharmaceutical companies, Lyft drivers,...

Addiction and technology: Understanding the links

Are addictive features inside digital products causing a public health problem? Is the attention economy’s model threatening our democracies and individuals’ freedom of choice? How can we measure, map and analyze the consequences of the attention economy on our society? To answer these questions, MyData Geneva hosted an event about “Problematic Internet Use”.

Support Centre for Data Sharing

The Support Centre for Data Sharing (SCDS) initiative focuses specifically on researching, documenting, and reporting about the data sharing practices, EU legal frameworks, and access and distribution technology that are relevant to organisations, and that imply novel models, and legal or technological challenges.

Motivation of Tech Platforms

Tech platforms are where public life is increasingly constructed, and their motivations are far from neutral.

How AI and Data Could Personalize Higher Education

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming and improving the ways that industries like healthcare, banking, energy, and retail operate. However, there is one industry in particular that offers incredible potential for the application of AI technologies: education. The opportunities — and challenges — that the introduction of artificial intelligence could bring to higher education are significant.

Slovak Republic works with digi.me to lead the way in citizen centricity

Citizen centricity, which enables people living in a country to easily opt in to government and third party services by owning and controlling their own digital footprint, is taking off around the world.

Moving Beyond User-centered Design (PDF)

Jodi Forlizzi from the Carnegie Mellon University writes 'If I could wave a magic wand, I would use it to make the HCI community move beyond user-centered design to a notion of stakeholder-centered design.'

A Human-Centric Digital Manifesto for Europe

The digital revolution is radically changing every aspect of human life in the 21st century and it’s essential that regulators address the challenges this transformation brings. The new European Commission should look beyond digital single market issues, and focus on creating new rights-based policies and regulations based on freedom, democracy, equality, and rule of law to ensure that existing offline rights are protected online.

Europe’s top court says active consent is needed for tracking cookies

Europe’s top court has ruled that pre-checked consent boxes for dropping cookies are not legally valid. Consent must be obtained prior to storing or accessing non-essential cookies, such as tracking cookies for targeted advertising. Consent cannot be implied or assumed.

Reflections on MyData 2019 Conference

Empowering the individual through human-centric data governance in a world loaded with power-asymmetry: reflections on the MyData 2019 conference.

Data Ownership in the US Elections

Andrew Yang (2020 US Presidential Candidate from the Democrats): Our data is ours - or it should be. At this point our data is more valuable than oil. If anyone benefits from our data it should be us. I would make data a property right that each of us shares.

Call for Papers: Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference

The CPDP2020 Call for Papers is addressed to all researchers who wish to present their papers at the next Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference. CPDP is an annual three-day conference devoted to privacy and data protection. The 13th edition of CPDP will be held on 22-24 January 2020 in Brussels. Whilst a number of speakers are specifically invited by the conference, several slots remain open to application through an annual call for papers.

Vake launches a MyData Accelerator

The Finnish State Development Company Vake launches the MyData Accelerator during autumn 2019 in collaboration with the Technology Industries of Finland. We invite companies, public organisations and others to join the Accelerator – everyone who has enthusiasm and true interest in developing a MyData service or data resources as well as user validation at the end of the accelerator period. Our goal is to accelerate the development of the whole Finnish MyData ecosystem by means of peer and expert sparring.

You Don’t Want Facebook Involved With Your Health Care

Big tech companies want to share data about you with your doctors.

Silicon Valley is terrified of California’s privacy law. Good.

Silicon Valley is terrified. In a little over three months, California will see the widest-sweeping state-wide changes to its privacy law in years. California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) kicks in on January 1 and rolls out sweeping new privacy benefits to the state’s 40 million residents — and every tech company in Silicon Valley.

How I train Facebook to work for me

A data scientist way to control social media instead of been controlled.

Community Blog: Trust-based data-sharing models

Trust must be integrated into all aspects of business, data sharing included. A data economy based on trust is an essential part of socially responsible activities.

Communication Tools for the Conference

A wiki page that summarizes various communication informations for the MyData2019 conference.

Identity 2019 conference: Indigenous Data Sovereignty (Video: 41:20min)

The talk by Dr Tahu Kukutai is really good. Be sure to read about the Treaty of Waitangi first.
This Video will help to convey to outsiders what the Maori people understand to be giving up exactly when going online, what it is they care to preserve in this transaction (mana), how and why they want to reclaim it (taonga), and how much importance they place in using their own words in formulating this agenda (and why).

Election software used by Boris Johnson and Donald Trump caught in Facebook privacy row

Remember last week when I profiled NationBuilder, the election software used by both Boris Johnson and Donald Trump? Well, it turns out NationBuilder has been buying voters' data from a company accused by Facebook of vioolating its users' privacy.

The Tech Pledge

Take the Tech Pledge and join the movement: Make tech a force for good. Created by 150 people in technology during this years Techfestival.

UK Gov request for user data from government website sparks alarm

Privacy campaigners question urgency of move and motives of PM and Dominic Cummings

'Digital' becomes a top priority for the EU Commission

Today, President-elect of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, revealed the list of nominated commissioners who will constitute the new College of Commissioners of the European Union for the next five years. The least we can say is that she has set the bar very high when it comes to regulating the digital economy. None less than three commissioners have been tasked with overseeing the digital economy within the European Union: Margrethe Vestager (digital watchdog), Didier Reynders (data protection commissioner), and Sylvie Goulard (promoter of the Digital Single Market)

Finland’s Top Industry Strives to be the Global Leader in Utilizing Data

The Intelligent Industry Ecosystem of top Finnish companies pursues growth through better utilization of data and AI, leading to tens of thousands of new jobs. Nokia, Konecranes, Cargotec, Tieto and SSAB, among others, launched today the new InDEx Programme, financed by Business Finland and the companies themselves.

The Algorithmic Colonization of Africa

Startups are importing and imposing AI systems founded on individualistic and capitalist drives. “Mining” people for data is reminiscent of the colonizer attitude that declares humans as raw material.

Information gerrymandering in social networks skews collective decision-making

An analysis shows that information flow between individuals in a social network can be ‘gerrymandered’ to skew perceptions of how others in the community will vote — which can alter the outcomes of elections.

Privacy matters because it empowers us all

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

Facebook: Charting a Way Forward on Privacy and Data Portability

We’re publishing a white paper that sets forth five questions about data portability and privacy that we hope will help advance a global conversation.

Business & Government Advanced read

Advertising: Real-Time Bidding vs. General Data Protection Regulation

As soon as 2020, the media industry could find itself with its main monetization channel shut down, yet few seem to be working on an alternative. The seeming inaction of most media owners, despite continuing and specific warnings from regulators, is dangerous and hard to comprehend.

SITRA: Open call for startups

Hey #Startups! Do you have a business idea with strong mission and values? @SitraFund's #IHAN project brings startups and #investors together at #MyData2019.

Video: Meeting Snowden

The discussions in this documentary are as relevant (if not more) as The Great Hack.

For Ride-Hailing Drivers, Data Is Power

Uber drivers in Europe and the U.S. are fighting for access to their personal data. Whoever wins the lawsuit could get to reframe the terms of the gig economy.

Individuals Simple read

European Data Protection Supervisor passed away

The EU's independent data protection authority informed: It is with the deepest regret that we announce the loss of Giovanni Buttarelli, the European Data Protection Supervisor. Giovanni passed away surrounded by his family in Italy, last night, 20 August 2019.

MyData Gold Partner: Sitra

We wish to express our ever growing gratitude in here also to our long time supporter and partner the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. Without them the road toward realizing the MyData vision would be much harder.

No MyData2020 conference in Helsinki

As you might have already heard, there will be no Helsinki conference in 2020. Instead, MyData is going global with (at least) three regional events - one in Asia (Japan), one in Europe (Germany) and one in Africa (Kenya).

Datafication and social science research in Aotearoa

An awesome piece of research on Indigenous Data by Dr Tahu Kukutai and Donna Cormack.

AI Needs Your Data—and You Should Get Paid for It

A new approach to training artificial intelligence algorithms involves paying people to submit medical data, and storing it in a blockchain-protected system.

Tech Killed Privacy: Can Policy Save it?

Governments need to start treating people like citizens, not consumers, and enact laws that protect citizens’ rights to privacy over a business’ right to profits.

Apple joins Google, Facebook, and Twitter in data-sharing project

The Data Transfer Project wants to make it easy to move data between services but be sure to read comments from Paul-Olivier Dehaye and Lasse Rouhiainen on the data-sharing project as well!

A MyData Eco-system View

I was thinking about the many different components required to create a data eco-system that genuinely enables individuals and came up with the diagram described on my blog.

The YouTubers Union Is Not Messing Around

The move is one of the most significant organized labor actions taken by creators on the platform, and puts some actual union power behind what has thus far been a nascent and disorganized movement.

Keynote presenter: Audrey Tang (Digital Minister of Taiwan)

Keynote presenter at the MyData2019: Audrey Tang, the Digital Minister of Taiwan is a free software programmer who has been described as one of the 'ten greats of Taiwanese computing personalities'.

Data agency at stake: MyData activism and alternative frames of equal participation

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.

Keynote presenter: Alexander Stubb (former Prime Minister of Finland)

Keynote presenter at the MyData2019: Alexander Stubb is the former Prime Minister of Finland and currently the Vice President of the European Investment Bank.

Information Bank: Ryosuke Shibasaki at TEDxTokyo

Found this TEDxTokyo talk from 2012 where Prof. Ryosuke Shibasaki pitches an information bank (same exact idea as a MyData operator).

Our Data Future

Privacy International discusses data futures, and encourages people to join their local MyData hub.

Clouded data: Privacy and the promiseof encryption

Interesting paper highlighting the different reconfiguration of the notion of privacy taking place under various technical schemes: blockchain, multiparty computation, fully homomorphic encryption, differential privacy

Stop Surveillance Humanitarianism

Requiring biometric data, like iris and facial scans, sets a dangerous precedent for vital aid.

Looking Beyond Privacy: The Importance of Economic Rights to Our Data

Some interesting thoughts about the role of the US and China vs. other 'stronger developing countries' in respect to the use and ownership of data from an Indian point of view.

Business & Government Intermediate read

Tech companies organize two efforts to support personal data management

...and both are called Open GDPR. Though unrelated, the initiatives reflect some of the ways the ad and marketing industry is organizing itself around its personal data responsibilities.

Māori Data Sovereignty Network

Our data, our sovereignty, our future. This vision drove the establishment of Te Mana Raraunga as the Māori Data Sovereignty Network. We advocate for Māori rights and interests in data to be protected as the world moves into an increasingly open data environment.

Watch 'The Great Hack' Trailer

They took your data. Then they took control. The Great Hack uncovers the dark world of data exploitation through the compelling personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal. In select theaters and on Netflix July 24.

Can You Put a Price on Your Personal Data?

A US senator wants to oblige big tech to declare to users how much they make with personal data.

Data Portability Sandbox Reports

This document is the final report on Data Mobility: the data portability growth opportunity for the UK economy, carried out for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) by Ctrl-Shift.

It's not that we've failed to rein in Facebook and Google. We've not even tried!

This is an incredible article by Shoshana Zuboff, the Harvard Professor that wrote 'The Age of Surveillance Capitalism'. I strongly recommend you to read it as what she says also is related to what's being done in MyData. What she says is very much the essence of what we have to tackle.

'Osaka Track' framework for free cross-border data flow

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday at the G20 summit formally declared the launch of the 'Osaka Track', an overarching framework promoting cross-border data flow with enhanced protections.

Paper about 'Return on Data'

Consumers routinely supply personal data to technology companies in exchange for services. Yet, the relationship between the utility (U) consumers gain and the data (D) they supply - 'return on data' (ROD) - remains largely unexplored.

Why paying people for their data is a bad idea

Paying people for 'data is a bad idea. Not only would it lure the cash-poor into selling their privacy, but it also plays into the hands of those who seek to...avoid a collective response to the increasing power asymmetries in the digital data economy'.

MyData in official documents of Japanese government

MyData declaration and MyData Global were introduced as an approach to personal data utilization in other countries, and it is also mentioned that MyData Japan is working to spread it in Japan.

Launch of the Global Citizen Foundation

A foundation similar to MyData with the goal to develop digital competencies within our society, define the values that we all want to see, and work towards a digital sovereignty.

Humanitarian aid in the digital age

I testified yesterday at the UN on 'Humanitarian aid in the digital age'. I was anxious at coming with MyData principles (framed usually for more advanced economies) and trying to apply them to the humanitarian context. Nevertheless the discussion was extremely encouraging, and there was definitely response and even demand for the idea of a bridge on those issues.

Smart data: putting consumers in control of their data and enabling innovation

We are seeking views on proposals to allow the creation of innovative data-driven services, for the benefit of consumers.

Business & Government Intermediate read

Update report into adtech and real time bidding

An interesting development shared by the UK Information Commissioner.

UN gives ultimatum to Yemen rebels over reports of aid theft

MyData-like dynamics playing out in high stakes context of famine and humanitarian aid.

Blinding Identity Taxonomy

The UK Parliament's Human Rights Committee on protecting the privacy of personally identifiable information.

The New Wilderness

The need to regulate online privacy is a truth so universally acknowledged that even Facebook and Google have joined the chorus of voices crying for change.

Interview with Rob van Kranenburg

Rob van Kranenburg is the founder of the Internet of Things Council and he confirmed to come to the MyData2019 conference.

IGF2020 will be in Poland

The Internet Governance Forum next year will be in Poland.

Solid chat and comments

A screenshot from a chat of Solid people and talks to reach out form the MyData community.

MyData in Finland's Government Agenda

The official english translation of the Finland's Government Agenda with several mentions of MyData has been published.

The Ethics of Personal Data: Human Rights, Agency Costs, Protection Rackets, and Privacy Wrongs

A gaping ethical dilemma at the very heart of the data protection ecosystem practically guarantees widespread privacy wrongs.

MyData Business Challenge

Develop a business concept for leading MyData company connecting data-based services with user permissions.

Knowing What Google Knows About You Is Just Not Enough...

Sofia from Numbers team (http://numbersprotocol.io) shared an article by CEO @Tammy Yang. And @Goeran Waogstroem added an article from the NY Times about 'A Brief History of How Your Privacy Was Stolen'.

Empty Uber cabs driving pollution and congestion

Uber drivers get their data to analyse it and show the impact of the business model on congestion (with help from PersonalData.IO).

Adversarial Interoperability: Reviving an Elegant Weapon From a More Civilized Age to Slay Today's Monopolies

Today, Apple is one of the largest, most profitable companies on Earth, but in the early 2000s, the company was fighting for its life. Microsoft's Windows operating system was ascendant, and Microsoft leveraged its dominance to ensure that every Windows user relied on its Microsoft Office suite.

New Data Economy Rainmakers: Where's My Money?

Europe has the potential to become the leader of the new data economy - live stream and recording from the event is available.

The Clever Cryptography Behind Apple's 'Find My' Feature

An impressive encryption system, only possible through Apple's nontrivial market share in hardware.

Who has more data on you than Facebook, Google or Amazon?

Who is this party that knows more about you and collects more of your data?

MyData 2019 conference prgoramme launch & the Hub Finland Kickoff on 10th June 2019

Tune in to the Twitter livestream (@mydataorg) of the MyData 2019 programme launch and if you are in Helsinki join us in person for the celebration.

MyData Japan 2019 conference is on the news again.

You have to use Google Translate to read the text.

Apple launches Sign in with Apple button

Apple announced a new Sign in with Apple button as part of its iOS 13 announcements and is marketing this as a privacy-secure sign-in option.

A Tale of Two Strings: An Information Economics Thought Experiment

It was the best of times for data scientists, it was the worst of times for data subjects.


Questions Asked

European Commission launches consultation to seek views on Digital Services Act package

The consultation seeks to gather views, evidence and data from people, businesses, online platforms, academics, civil society and all interested parties to help us shaping the future rulebook for digital services. The consultation, open until 8 September, covers issues such as safety online, freedom of expression, fairness and a level-playing field in the digital economy.

Shaping Europe’s digital future

The EC would like to hear your views on its European strategy for data. The results of this survey will feed into possible Commission initiatives on access to and re-use of data in the coming months. The aim of the European strategy for data is to create a single European data space – a genuine single market for data, open to data from across the world. Anyone considering contributing to the consultation?

MyData Wikipedia Page

There is no MyData entry on the English Wikipedia so far becahuse it’s been tricky to get past the [Notability requirement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability. Since MyData is now referenced in the EU Data Strategy this should be easier. Are there any wikipedia experts/enthusiasts around who’d like to look into this?

Who should present at the MyData Regional Conferences?

Let us know your wish list of people you’d like to see presenting in one of the four MyData regional conferences taking place this year! As you might have heard already, MyData is going truly global to also meet the regional experience from Asia, Africa, Latin-America and Europe! https://mydata.org/regional-conferences-2020/

How to transform terms and conditions into something readable?

Is there any service provider that can transform terms and conditions into something readable for someone who is not a lawyer, or someone who knows about laws. My idea is that if I am going to sign terms and conditions or a privacy policy I would pay happily a service that can translate this into bullet points before I agree.
Various people already provided answers and suggested tools to achieve this.

Share insights that pave the path for MyData

It occurred to me that many are asking for news/insights about government & policy programs that pave the path for MyData. Please share interesting work from your countries and gather these inputs and discussions in the channel #policy!

Personal Data Organization Landscape

Personal data is becoming a thing in 2020. Not just startups, but also not-for-profit organiations have been popping up everywhere. It’s hard not to get lost and this is a first attempt to map the landscape. Would love your feedback and ideas!

Call for proposals: UN World Data Forum

The UN World Data Forum 2020 (UNWDF 2020) will bring together data leaders from diverse stakeholder groups to exchange ideas, showcase innovations, identify solutions, discuss future strategies, and provide mutual learning opportunities on a wide variety of topics. Submit your session proposals for the #UNDataForum 2020 by 31 January 2020.

Project manger for MyData Europe 2020 event

Changing the world is a tough, but fun job. That’s why we need more people like you on our team! We are looking for Project Manager for #MyData Europe 2020! Send your CV and motivation letter to mydataeurope2020@mydata.org. More Info: https://mydata.org/pm-mydataeurope2020/

Standards for MyData Data Models

Who knows best about the status of standards for MyData data model(s) and about any existing open standards? Inputs so far are about Data Types from @harrihoo, the Kantara initiative from @Lal Chandran, and the JLINC Lab from @Iain.

Comments for “User Account as a Service”

I'm planning to write an updated version of this Medium post, so I would appreciate any questions, comments, suggestions or any other views from the community.

Open Invention Network

Viivi had an interesting chat with a person from the Open Invention Network who hopes that MyData Global would engage with them. They have a mechanism in place for becoming a “friend organisation”, which is an idea we’ve been kicking around at MyData Global as well. Question to open source folks here: what do you make of the initiative?

Is there a formal connection between MyData and Contract-for-the-Web?

Sir Tim was much in the news over the weekend, and it prompts me to ask if there's any formal connection between MyData and his contractfortheweb.org? @Iain mentioned that not all organizations are happy to endorse the contract and @Henrik Biering referred to an earlier discussion on Slack.

Newer version of MyData-SDK?

Is there a newer version of the reference implementation of MyData Architecture Framework 2.0?

Explainable AI related projects?

Just talked to the key persons from Fujitsu's team today. They are involved with implementing Explainable AI. Wondering if there are any MyData experts doing Explainable AI related projects?

PhD research about the MyData Community

I am currently conducting a vanilla PhD research about the MyData community based on the interview material at the University of Helsinki and I wonder if I could gain access to some of the existing data the community has already produced?

Is there a MyData End-Users Forum?

Is there a channel or other place outside of slack that is targeted for discussions between and with actual MyData end-users (for the sake of clarity of my question I’m using this terminology now).

Statistics on Data Trade

Anyone has statistic on the followings regarding your local market?
- scale of data trade
- transactions of data trade

Contact for Personal Data Management Technologies

Who is the best person to talk to about personal data management technologies (solutions that allow the keeping, searching inputing and outputing of personal data of end users)?

Minimum Standard for a MyData Operator

I’m interested in the MyData Operator concept. Particularly interested in the minimum viable protocol that would be required to make person switching from one operator to another seamless. In cases where the person wants to be their own operator, will there be open source code that implements the minimum standards to support that?

Global Initiative to Standardize Fairness in the Trade of Data

'A collaboration to develop a standards framework governing the fair trade of human and personal data' - Anyone familiar with this?

MyData Open Source Projects

What are the most known/active open source software projects and/or communities actively developing MyData based solutions?

MyData and Competition

Friends, would you care to point to what you think are the most relevant documents roughly on the topic of “MyData and competition”? (This question lead to a very interesting discussion with a lot of pointers to further information.)

Job Operning at noyb.eu

Our partner noyb.eu has a job opening. This is a unique opportunity if you are searching for an impactful position and a great team to work with.

Challenge from Carole Cadwalladr (Video: 1:10min)

@carolecadwalla from the Guardian wants to find out what acutally happend inside Facebook during Brexit and US elections. And how can we make the underlying data public?

MyData vs Self-sovereign identity

What is the difference or similarity of MyData vs Self-sovereign identity? This was asked during a talk of Lasse about MyData in AI and Big Data conference at Oxford.

MyData for non-personal data?

Another question from the AI and Big Data conference at Oxford: Could MyData be used in non-personal data for example the digital footprint of consumers?

Business & Government Intermediate read

Looking for case studies of data governance models

OpenNorth is currently leading a research project that is undertaking research on behalf of the City of Toronto, in the context of its increasing use of data and 'smart city' technologies in service delivery as well as outside proposals for future projects, including the Quayside project of Waterfront Toronto, working with Sidewalk Labs. We would appreciate your help in finding useful and informative case studies of data governance models from around the world.

Share consent with another company?

Does anyone know whether if there's an easy way to share consent, or rather show that the user provided consent, to another company in a safe and reliable way? There are already a few answers in the Slack discussion.

Wanted: Policy Advisor!

EDRi's Brussels office is looking for a Policy Advisor to support the Policy Team on issues such as platform regulation, cross-border access to data, privacy, data retention, Artificial Intelligence (AI), copyright and data protection.

MyData view towards Web 3.0

What is MyData global view towards Web 3.0? This term (sometimes called 'the intelligent web') has some history challenges of misuse in vague ways in past due to not really having place to belong and marketing/biz side trying to establish it to mean different things.

Blogpost to give companies MyData guidance

A while back @Lasse Rouhiainen asked: 'What are the first steps when a company wants to use MyData? I would like to recommend MyData to one of my client, but not sure where to start?' I thought in simplicity this is a great question, and we might write a blogpost on this, in the spirit of “I believe in MyData - so what, what do I do now?”

Spread the Message

Are you coming to #MyData2019 conference? Let's spread the message and let's be proud of this awesome event MyData Community is putting together!

How to recommend MyData to a company?

What are the first steps when a company wants to use MyData? I would like to recommend MyData to one of my client, but not sure where to start?

Does somebody know what Sir Tim Berners-Lee thinks of MyData?

Solid (Social Linked Data) is a web decentralization project led by Tim Berners-Lee.

Gaming apps and data processing compliance, particularly in app ads

Does anyone have experience of gaming apps and DP compliance, particularly in app ads? (Other than the obvious, start with a privacy first approach etc.) What are the checklist items they need to be aware of getting right?

Are we open, transparent and participatory enough?

Teemu Ropponen wrote that he recently got some criticism from the membership about MyData Global not being transparent enough. Because transparency is one of the MyData key principles and many of the staff have some background in the open knowledge movement, this feedback stings and needs to be taken seriously. Read more about participation, planning, leading, and finance on Slack!

Which personal data sources would be most useful to get easily portable?

Here's a try for quick crowdsourcing the above question. The aim is to crate a top-20 list.

Please share MyData2019 message on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

This year we have thrilling possibilities to reach influence on political level because The MyData 2019 conference is officially an associated event of Finland's EU Presidency!

Interpreting figure in MyData WhitePaper

There are some questions that I have regarding money flow between stakeholders.

Which governments or associations are committed to use MyData?

Finnish government has mention it will use MyData, but wanted to know if any other governments or big associations are committed to use MyData?

Newsletter Topics

Have you or your organisation done something remarkable that the MyData Global community should know about?

MyData Global at RightsCon

A punch of people from MyData Global will be at RightsCon in Tunis, Tunisia next week and Teemu asked to retweet RightsCon-related tweets!

Can someone help me understand GoodID?

...and how it relates to some of the things people in the MyData community are doing?

QR codes for MyData.org or personalized to your own URI

...printed on laptop sticker or embroidered onto TShirt/badge.

Do you have a knowledge about any big conferences, festivals etc relevant for us happening in March 2020?

The spring community meeting is planned for March 2020 in Amsterdam and we want to find the best dates possible and avoid the situation where a big event happening at the same time.

If there were 7 weeks time [...] who should one try to meet with MyData agenda?

Focus on learning and building meaningful relationships, not in selling or money raising.