Who Owns Your Personal Data?

Most of us think the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which came into force in 2018, gave us control over what happens to our own information but this is not necessarily true.

How many times have you just accepted the terms and conditions when using an online site or service? You might be horrified if you bothered to read the tiny print, spread over lots of pages, laying out how you have given up much of your supposed control over your personal information.

Perhaps you think giving over your information in return for free access to information, or use of a free application, are worth the intrusion but we believe it is time to look at the bigger picture.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) depends for its success on analysing huge volumes of data and it follows that those with most data stand the greatest chance of developing the best AI systems. Now you could theorise that AI is a way of improving mankind, for example, through better health care, reducing the need for humans to do repetitive tasks and so on. However, if we assume AI will end up being controlled by the holders of the most data then there is a potentially different scenario.

Should we assume the holders of the most data, Facebook, Google, Apple etc. have the best interests of mankind at heart? What if one, or two, governments decide to ring fence the data from the rest of the world – is this in our best interest?

Of course we could say all data should be in the public domain so levelling up the playing field but this begs the question about who compensates those who collected it in the first place – often in return for providing a free service or application whilst manipulating your GDPR rights?

Here at The Takeover Expert we don’t pretend to have all the answers but we do want all of you to have a good think before casually handing over what could, one day, turn out to be the world’s most precious resource – your personal information.

For more information on our take on data, particularly where GDPR is concerned, then please call us on 07967 123201 or email andrew@thetakeoverexpert.com.