Data collection, extraction, aggregation, predictive profiling on the commercial web is rampant exploitation of individual personal data in the current era of surveillance capitalism. Large corporations that collect and monetise personal information, rather than data subjects, are the main benefactors of this approach.
Imagine and create a system for individual and collective data stores for collective benefit -- individuals and communities should be able to meaningfully benefit from sharing information about themselves in ways that they can understand and control. The challenge is to develop a system to empower individuals to have greater control and autonomy about what they decide to give away, what is done with it, associated benefits (monetary or otherwise). The value of data, and the governance of the system, should be shared by cooperative members.
The objective is to re-balance the asymmetric and extractive relationship between data subjects and large corporations to achieve distributive data justice with new business models underpinned by ethical commitments (such as social justice, ecological and social sustainability).
Example
- I am an energy consumer and I want to be able to pool and share information about my energy consumption while retaining control of the way it us used to get a better deal on my energy rates and invest the difference in solar initiatives.
- I am an internet user who wants to gain control and benefit from my browsing data and make more ethically informed decisions about the ways it is used rather than advertising being targeted at me and people like me.
Potential resources
- Data commons cooperatives: https://datacommons.coop/
- Data pools and co-ops for not-for-profits: https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2013/09/data-pools-and-co-ops-for-nfps/
- Dealing with big data through data cooperatives: https://www.intelligenthq.com/social-business-2/dealing-with-big-data-through-data-cooperatives-in-the-sharing-economy/
- Farmer driven data cooperatives: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/farmer-driven-data-cooperative-gisc-and-leading-agricultural-data-insights-company-main-street-data-team-up-with-ibm-to-help-growers-maximize-return-on-investment-in-yield-300604039.html