Noteworthy Information

[Advanced] Exploring legal mechanisms for data stewardship

The Ada Lovelace Institute published a report exploring 3 legal mechanisms that could help facilitate responsible data use and management: Data Trusts, Data Cooperatives, and Corporate & Contractual Mechanisms.

Individuals Advanced read

Data trusts in Germany and under the GDPR

In this report Anouk Ruhaak describes alternative approaches to data governance, specifically data trusts.

“Data Trusts” Could Be the Key to Better AI

One of the challenges in developing AI applications is obtaining the vast amount of data that’s required. Making matters worse, regulations and privacy issues pose obstacles to firms’ sharing their data. A possible solution is for firms to form a “data trust.” that serves as a fiduciary for the data providers and governs their data’s proper use. Willis Towers Watson recently piloted a data trust together with several of its clients. This article shared what they learned about how to create such a trust.

Trust over IP Foundation launched a task force to tackle passive Identifiers

Data capture requires the provision of immutable fields in order to capture and store collected data. Immutable capture items are identified by passive identifiers.

Data Trusts and the EU Data Strategy

The EU’s draft data strategy set out its aim to promote a European data economy, while protecting individual rights and embedding ethical considerations in data governance. Data trusts offer a tool for bridging the gap between aspirations to share data and concerns about individual rights.
And Viivi shared an article with the US view on the EU funding personal data spaces as a trust: The EU is launching a market for personal data. Here’s what that means for privacy.

Choosing a data sharing structure — Data trusts

This post explores how we might map the suitability of different data sharing structures to different types of data use.

Data Commons & Data Trust

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.


Questions Asked

Developers Intermediate read

Exploring collective governance approaches to personal data exchange platforms

Call for participation in research: Participatory data infrastructures such as data platforms could facilitate the collective management, interpretation and use of data aggregates. But what platforms exist to implement such practices? Are you a designer exploring collective governance mechanisms for data use? We would love to hear from you!

[Advanced] Funding call: moving data trusts from theory to practice

The Data Trusts Initiative is an interdisciplinary programme that pursues research at the interface of technology, policy and the law to better understand the role data trusts can play in addressing the challenges of data governance in the 21st century. As part of its work, the Initiative – which is supported by a donation from the Patrick J McGovern Foundation – is offering research grants for projects that can help bridge the gap between discussions about the potential of data trusts and their practical application.