How to take back control of your personal data?

$125 billion is the level the Big Data market was expected to reach in 20151. Stored in massive databases, internet users’ online behaviors and personal data represent a genuine financial windfall for web companies. Until recently, a broad consensus had been established between companies and users: the latter handed over their personal information in exchange for free services.

Yet for some time now we have been witnessing a growing awareness among internet users, who are trying to reclaim their data. Here is an overview of the issue, the legal framework, and the new services: the payment of individuals by companies pioneering the personal-data sector, such as Datacoup in the United States or YesProfile in France.

The digital footprint of internet users

The digital footprint is the collection of elements that every internet user leaves behind after browsing the internet. Through a mobile phone, a tablet, or a computer, by entering a prize draw, using a loyalty card, or more simply when making a purchase, data is produced. It provides information about the internet user’s profile, their age, gender, tastes, the type of purchase made, and their connection habits. Each digital “trace” then becomes a genuine product that sparks the interest of many companies.

The weight of Big Data on the global market

Personal data collected in real time and then analyzed is called Big Data or mass data. It makes it possible to build up standard profiles, refine marketing strategies, and create new markets. While nearly 15 million text messages, 300,000 tweets, or 200 million emails are sent every minute across the world according to Gilles Babinet’s book, it is fairly easy to imagine the dizzying potential that Big Data represents. However, all of this data requires time to analyze and suitable means of management. Gauging the scale of the task, the American web giants, starting with Facebook, Google, and Yahoo, were among the first to get organized. They developed various technologies relying in particular on powerful databases, servers, and highly complex storage systems such as MongoDB, MapReduce, and Memtables.

That is why, under the guise of offering their services, such as creating a Facebook profile, a Twitter account, or games like Candy Crush, a freemium model that exploits Facebook data, these companies reuse all the data collected for commercial purposes. This information is so valuable that it attracts the greed of certain hackers. The Orange group thus admitted to having suffered a breach of its databases in 20142. Indeed, the French phone carrier suffered a theft of personal data concerning no fewer than 800,000 of its customers in February 2014. And this case is far from isolated.

The Big Data business: http://www.usine-digitale.fr/article/infographie-big-data-un-marche-a-100-milliards-de-dollars.N254184

Personal data brokers: the American example

In the United States, thousands of personal data brokers resell highly intimate information about millions of Americans every day. This is notably the case for Acxiom, the data expert, which claims no fewer than 1,500 pieces of information relating to nearly 200 million individuals. This data is varied. It relates in particular to religion, income, occupation, political affiliation, family history, but also alcoholism, illnesses, or even sexual orientation. The company Statlistics, based in Connecticut, offers databases segmenting gay and lesbian people, or people suffering, for example, from bipolar disorders. The profile of web users keeps getting more refined.

Origins of the data: http://www.orange-business.com/fr/blogs/usages-dentreprise/open-data/infographie-le-cheminement-des-donnees-personnelles

The CNIL’s position on the matter

Faced with such practices and as part of its missions, the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) is beginning to note certain overreaches. In its 2014 activity report, the commission clearly took a stance, alerting public officials about the intelligence bill and the checks on the files over which it would like to exercise oversight. Regarding this last request, the political authorities recently responded in the negative. The CNIL is speaking out against a backdrop of a sharp increase in private complaints.

Indeed, in 2014, out of the 11,000 requests it received, 39% were related to online reputation. As part of the protection of personal data, the CNIL ordered Google, in January 2014, to pay a 150,0003 euro fine. And although this penalty may seem symbolic, it is part of a long-term fight, proving to internet users that David can take on Goliath. Also worth noting is the Senate’s recent stance4, which is in line with this idea and runs counter to the government’s opinion. The debates suggest many twists and turns and heated exchanges to come.

From the digital footprint to controlling one’s own profile

In this context of a near economic bubble, companies are equipping and organizing themselves, and internet users are becoming increasingly aware of the value of the data they cheerfully hand over during their wanderings across the web. According to a study published in September 2014 by Havas Media Group France on the French relationship with the production of personal data, internet users are increasingly measuring the value of the information linked to their profile. Some of them even express the wish to reclaim it. Based on a sample of 1,000 people surveyed, the study indicates that:

• 45.2% of the French people surveyed would accept the tracking of their digital data in exchange for money.
• 30% believe that their personal data should be compensated at least €500 per year.
• 93% say they are aware that their data is being captured.
• 84% of them are worried.
• 46.7% of respondents think that this state of affairs can represent an advantage.

This last figure very clearly indicates that nearly one person in two wishes to profit from their personal data. It thus sends rather positive signals to the companies already positioning themselves in this niche.

Tracking personal data on the internet: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/fr/news-room/content/20130121STO05426/html/Journ%C3%A9e-europ%C3%A9enne-de-la-protection-des-donn%C3%A9es-des-espions-sur-la-Toile

Companies specializing in monetizing your personal data

Thus, after a period of intensive and boundless use of personal information, lawmakers are beginning to take a position in favor of internet users, and companies are offering services to users who want to regain control of their data. These young companies indeed offer different types of services that move toward a form of data reappropriation. In particular, they invite their customers to become actors in their “personal estate” by collecting a share of the benefits linked to sharing their personal data.

That is how, in the United States, Datacoup, a marketplace for personal data, developed a business model that relies on the one hand on paying internet users up to 10 dollars per month, and on the other on selling that data to analytics companies. This way, each party comes out ahead. And while this model does not run counter to the monetization of information, it has the merit of regulating the market, framing it, and offering something in return to the owners of said information. It also has the advantage of creating a form of visibility in a market often described as opaque.

This model is also part of a new era that values mastering and controlling data upstream. On the French side, the company YesProfil, founded in 2011, offers internet users the possibility of renting out their data. Its founder, Christian-François Viala, indeed devised a formula that allows web users to “control and protect their personal data and monetize it directly with brands”5. Like its American competitor, the idea here is to put the user back at the center of the personal data market by offering them tools suited to managing it. The French company is booming and hopes to reach 150,000 users by spring 2015.

The French are becoming increasingly aware that a market for personal data exists, along with the abuses that can come with it. Faced with this situation, 90% of them are calling for regulation to govern this fast-growing market.

Sources:

(1) http://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2014/12/11/6-predictions-for-the-125-billion-big-data-analytics-market-in-2015/

(2) http://bit.ly/1cN88PA

(3) http://pro.clubic.com/entreprises/google/actualite-611304-cnil-inflige-amende-150-000-google.html

(4) http://www.nextinpact.com/news/93851-le-senat-vote-regulation-google-malgre-opposition-gouvernement.htm

(5) https://www.frenchweb.fr/la-start-up-du-jour-yes-profile-propose-aux-internautes-de-louer-leurs-donnees-personnelles/177521