Paper by Wolfgang Kerber and Jonas Severin Frank: “The Internet of Things raises a number of so far unsolved legal and regulatory questions. Particularly important are the issues of privacy, data ownership, and data access. One particularly interesting example are connected cars with their huge amount of produced data. Also based upon the recent discussion about data ownership and data access in the context of the EU Communication “Building a European data economy” this paper has two objectives: (1) It intends to provide a General economic theoretical framework for the analysis of data governance regimes for data in Internet... (More >)
Nobody reads privacy policies – here’s how to fix that
Florian Schaub at the Conversation: “…The key to turning privacy notices into something useful for consumers is to rethink their purpose. A company’s policy might show compliance with the regulations the firm is bound to follow, but remains impenetrable to a regular reader. The starting point for developing consumer-friendly privacy notices is to make them relevant to the user’s activity, understandable and actionable. As part of the Usable Privacy Policy Project, my colleagues and I developed a way to make privacy notices more effective. The first principle is to break up the documents into smaller chunks and deliver them... (More >)
Selected Readings on Blockchain and Identity
By Hannah Pierce and Stefaan Verhulst The Living Library’s Selected Readings series seeks to build a knowledge base on innovative approaches for improving the effectiveness and legitimacy of governance. This curated and annotated collection of recommended works on the topic of blockchain and identity was originally published in 2017. The potential of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies to create positive social change has inspired enthusiasm, broad experimentation, and some skepticism. In this edition of the Selected Readings series, we explore and curate the literature on blockchain and how it impacts identity as a means to access services and... (More >)
A Better Way to Trace Scattered Refugees
Tina Rosenberg in The New York Times: “…No one knew where his family had gone. Then an African refugee in Ottawa told him about Refunite. He went on its website and opened an account. He gave his name, phone number and place of origin, and listed family members he was searching for. Three-quarters of a century ago, while World War II still raged, the Allies created the International Tracing Service to help the millions who had fled their homes. Its central name index grew to 50 million cards, with information on 17.5 million individuals. The index still exists —... (More >)
Are countries with a poor democratic record more likely to mandate an Aadhaar-like ID?
Rohan Venkataramakrishnan at the Centre for Communication Governance: “Can a country’s democratic record indicate whether it is likely to mandate a national biometric identity? Research by scholars at the National Law University, Delhi suggests there may be some correlation, at least to indicate that robust democracies have been more cautious about adopting biometric identity systems. The Supreme Court’s decision last month upholding a fundamental Right to Privacy for all Indians has put a renewed focus on Aadhaar, India’s 12-digit biometric identity programme that has been criticised for not only violating privacy but also lacking sufficient data protection safeguards. Challenges... (More >)
Cape Town as a Smart and Safe City: Implications for Governance and Data Privacy
Nora Ni Loideain at the Journal of International Data Privacy Law: “Promises abound that ‘smart city’ technologies could play a major role in developing safer, more sustainable, and equitable cities, creating paragons of democracy. However, there are concerns that governance led by ‘Big Data’ processes marks the beginning of a trend of encroachment on the individual’s liberty and privacy, even if such technologies are employed legitimately for the public’s safety and security. There are many ways in which personal data processing for law enforcement and public safety purposes may pose a threat to the privacy and data protection rights... (More >)
Privacy and Outrage
Paper by Jordan M. Blanke: “Technology has dramatically altered virtually every aspect of our life in recent years. While technology has always driven change, it seems that these changes are occurring more rapidly and more extensively than ever before. Society and its laws will evolve; but it is not always an easy process. Privacy has changed dramatically in our data-driven world – and continues to change daily. It has always been difficult to define exactly what privacy is, and therefore, it is even more difficult to propose what it should become. As the meaning of privacy often varies from... (More >)
Reclaiming personal data for the common good
Theo Bass at Nesta: “…The argument of our new report for DECODE is that more of the social value of personal data can be discovered by tools and platforms that give people the power to decide how their data is used. We need to flip the current model on its head, giving people back full control and respecting our data protection and fundamental rights framework. The report describes how this might pave the way for a fairer distribution of the value generated by data, while opening up new use-cases that are valuable to government, society and individuals themselves. In... (More >)
Free Speech in the Algorithmic Society: Big Data, Private Governance, and New School Speech Regulation
Paper by Jack Balkin: “We have now moved from the early days of the Internet to the Algorithmic Society. The Algorithmic Society features the use of algorithms, artificial intelligence agents, and Big Data to govern populations. It also features digital infrastructure companies, large multi-national social media platforms, and search engines that sit between traditional nation states and ordinary individuals, and serve as special-purpose governors of speech. The Algorithmic Society presents two central problems for freedom of expression. First, Big Data allows new forms of manipulation and control, which private companies will attempt to legitimate and insulate from regulation by... (More >)
The Promise of Evidence-Based Policymaking
Final Report by the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking: “…There are many barriers to the efective use of government data to generate evidence. Better access to these data holds the potential for substantial gains for society. The Commission’s recommendations recognize that the country’s laws and practices are not currently optimized to support the use of data for evidence building, nor in a manner that best protects privacy. To correct these problems, the Commission makes the following recommendations: Establish a National Secure Data Service to facilitate access to data for evidence building while ensuring privacy and transparency in how those data... (More >)
