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Stefan Endriss

CEMS - Community of European Management Schools and International Companies

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Is personal data the currency of the future?

Knowing as much as possible about the customer is valuable to all kinds of companies, starting with FMCG over health and insurance to targeted advertising sevices. In the future the price we pay for a product or service might depend on how much information we are willing to share with the company. How much information are we willing to share? How do you protect key data? And how do we put a price tag on our personal data?

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  • Jason Hinchliffe

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    Aug 10 2011: I can't see how. In terms of a purchasing consumer goods, I can't imagine a situation in which your personal informations could change the pricing, simply by your willingness to share it. A consumer good costs work to produce, and therefore needs to be purchased using work (either through using my labour, or spending money, which a a representation of my labour).

    Unless the seller were to build in an "information margin" they would then discount in the case of a willing purchaser, it would be a net loss for them. A single individual's personal information is by and large, uselss. The fact that YOU enjoy peanut butter with roastier flavour, or always look at clothing websites right after you read the recap of the last "Bachelorette" episode is irrelevant. The fact that you and one million other people share the same behaviour is valuable.

    So I think it's important to remember that data only matter in bulk, and actually paying individuals for it is ridiculous, as the premium for a single person's data is so low, no one would ever willingly sell it for that. So we don't put a price tag on our data, we utilize our governments and our democratic rights to dictate what type of information we are WILLING to share, what type of information is clearly just public domain for the observant, and what constitutes a violation of our privacy.

    In essence, it's a wonderful illustration of our democratic right. It is our responsibility in these issues to bring them to light, make noise and be involved in protecting ourselves from abuses and only votre for those who are willing to carry out our will.
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    Drew Bixby

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    Aug 10 2011: Yes, but not in the sense you might be thinking. It already is a currency (in a limited sense of the word) in that it is used to pay for what we consider "free" services, such as Facebook, Google search, grocery card discounts, etc. The funny thing to me is that people really expect these to be free in all aspects and are shocked to hear their information is used for marketing, yet they continue to use the products and populate the fields. If you don't want people to have your birthdate, don't enter that data or don't use the system.

    • Stefan Endriss

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      Aug 10 2011: I definately agree with you that it is funny people do not realize they are paying for "free" services with their data. But I'm not too sure people still have a real choice anymore. Probably you could keep out of facebook, which is already a hard thing to do as for example universities coordinate part of their (extracurricular) activities via facebook and you don't want to miss on that information. Another example is that if you want to have a credit card (which you need for essential services like bookings and reservations) you have to agree to a certain amount of data sharing (when did you buy what were).

  • Yanis Azze

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    Aug 8 2011: The current problem with personal datas/informations valuation is that there is none. Hence the crazy over-valuation the main social networks have seen recently, which will probably lead towards the next Internet bubble.

    Truth is personal information doesn't have any price and won't unless we change our economical system so that it's based on the valuation of intangible goods or services.

    Or one could implement businesses in which the amount of value, quality and exposition of the informations you share is exchangeable with goods (or perks in the case of Klout that is attempting something similar)

    For now, there is no way to protect your data as soon as it's posted on the Internet, all the networks share everything (Did you know that Facebook keeps your intimate informations like messages or comments from third-party companies, but not from major investors like private/federal agencies?), and I'm sure datamining companies will start using Hacking to get the most out of the information available on the Internet without having to pay for its access.

    The main threat is really that, no...for the moment personal data is no currency and if an Internet Bubble occurs, all the main players will have to settle back on this crazy valuation they have drained from this situation.

    • Stefan Endriss

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      Aug 10 2011: what would you consider a solution? Probably a digital watermark that allows you to track where your information was passed on to? That would also allow you to delete data, even from third party sites if it was yours originally? Despite the technical feasibility, there would be hardly a lobby for that as a lot of companies are profiting from the current free access.
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    Scott Armstrong 50+

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    Aug 6 2011: Yes. Who already has a stake in yours?

    • Stefan Endriss

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      Aug 7 2011: Probably too many to name them all...banks, insurance companies, facebook of course...and pretty much every company that you have ever recieved a newsletter from. But how should we deal with it in the future? Should we try to somehow spin the wheel back, make companies delete our data again and protect it in the future? Or should we rather accept recent developments and try to capitalize on our data? What role should governments play? Are they powerful enough in this space to play any role?
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        Jay Thomas-Burrows

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        Aug 9 2011: I just gave a whole bunch of it to TED so I could leave this comment.
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