Focus on Consumer – Turning fear into excitement, delight about Personal Data

From IIW

Session Topic: Focus on Consumer Personal Data: Turning Fear into Excitement and Delight

Tuesday 1F

Convener: Peter Stepman

Notes-taker(s): Augustin Bralley

Tags for the session - technology discussed/ideas considered:

technology discussed/ideas considered: data types, risks, benefits, models, education, adoption, legislation, further sessions chosen

Discussion notes, key understandings, outstanding questions, observations, and, if appropriate to this discussion: action items, next steps:

People don’t think about how to use technology/data better

When we present options, people say, why should I trust you?


Volunteer Data - info you supply

Observed Data - Passive data you create, your digital dust

Inferred Data - merging the two

This categorization comes from the world economic report


Actively collected and Passively collected, top level differentiation


People are in denial?


There’s a spectrum of awareness of what’s going on with your data:

don’t understand -> understand there is an ecosystem -> know full extent of ecosystem

Most people are in the middle-> searches are tailored to my data


Then there’s the spectrum of care->don’t care

Why is it hurting you?


Harvard Law school -> with the absence of harm, we’re not going to get anywhere

The mechanisms of harm are not clear


Or incredible benefit. If we convince consumers before the harms hit...


Marketers say: you benefit from letting us have your data.


In general, businesses are not doing a very good job of letting people know what’s happening with the data. Worried that it would scare people.


Unless there is a legal infrastructure, businesses won’t do it.


Or show companies that they could make more money with a VRM approach


The legislative stuff won’t happen till 2017 at the earliest, what do we do until then?


Health records company

Strategy: free to certain people, nearly free to doctors; benefit: records transferred right away, cheaper. And by the way, this app is super secure.

Oh, and by the way, why not use this system for other stuff too?


Let’s look at history:


Benefit and Harm: goes beyond monetary... what about the corrosion of trust, when people actually realize what’s being tracked.

Target pregnant girl example: Target responds to creepy factor by filling with untargeted products

Control: whether or not you choose to share data

Does privacy matter anymore? New generations don’t seem to care.

Freshmen and sophmore in highschool can no longer “start fresh”

We are not far into the “explosion of data as an asset”

What about the amazing opportunities that we’ve never had before?

Problem with “data as an asset” is that in fact the use value so far exceeds the sale value, that we ignore the use value.

With our healthcare data, etc. there’s so much use value.

“Data is the new oil,” is even worse.

There is enormous “value” in the data we have, use or otherwise.


Blue Kai profile, who’s looked at it?

There’s really nothing scary there, it may be wrong, that data is about you... its value to you is low, value to advertisers much higher.

It’s the wrong data.


What this leads to is microsegmentation: “Market of one”

What about the echo chamber effect


Use case: Progressive sensor that you install in your car. Time of day you’re driving, how often you brake, how far you drive. Direct correlation between personal behavior and value.

That’s personal info, not personal identifiable information. Different value for both types.

Identity is the New Currency - Identifiable data.


The consumers data is being monetized by people in the middle (Blue Kai), not advertisers or consumers.

Works because people believe that marketing is effective.

Flip it-> if the consumers own the data and call the shots: show how this will be more valuable.


How can we leverage scale and the aggregate -> the co-op model?


Metaphor: Driving can be dangerous, benefits are obvious.

People know the risks, but they want the benefits.

But the risks are hidden.

Consumers don’t really want to be educated.

We can only win with better benefits: convenience, e.g.


Education: how do you educate a moving target?

It’s much more difficult to convince businesses than consumers

How to convince businesses to give up their data without regulation?


More sessions needed:

VRM Developer Roundup - Doc Searls

Business Models for Personal Data

Personal Data Types and Ownership - Kim Little

Personal Data Can Be Fun and Useful (benefits) - Peter Stepman

Personal Data Can Be Dangerous

Education - Alex Levin