“DATA”, RUNS a common refrain, “is the new oil.” Like the sticky black stuff that comes out of the ground, all those 1s and 0s are of little use until they are processed into something more valuable. That something is you.
Seven of the world’s ten most valuable companies by market capitalisation are technology firms. Excluding Apple, which makes money by selling pricey gadgets, and Microsoft, which charges businesses for its software and services, all are built on a foundation of tying data to human beings. Google and Facebook want to find out as much as it is possible to know about their users’ interests, activities, friends and family. Amazon has a detailed history of consumer behaviour. Tencent and Alibaba are the digital wallets for hundreds of millions of Chinese; both know enough about consumers to provide widely used credit scores.
Where tech companies have blazed a trail, others have followed. Consumer brands in every industry collect data on their customers to improve design and advertise products and services. Governments have looked at these firms and instituted their own systems to gather information on their citizens. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, cites Facebook as an inspiration. That is apparent in the ever-expanding reach of Aadhaar, an ID system for India’s 1.3bn residents that is required for nearly every government service imaginable.
That data are valuable is increasingly well-understood by individuals, too, not least because personal information is so often hacked, leaked or stolen. India’s database has been shown to be vulnerable to scammers and state abuse. Facebook has spent most of 2018 dealing with the reputational damage of multiple breaches, most notably via Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm. The list of other companies that have suffered some sort of data breach in 2018 alone reads like a roll call of household names: Google, Marriott, Delta, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Best Buy, Sears, Saks 5th Avenue, even Panera Bread. Such events have caused a tectonic shift in the public understanding of data collection. People have started to take notice of all the data they are giving away.
Yet few have changed their online behaviour, boycotted snooping tech firms or exercised what few digital rights they possess. Partly this is because managing your own data is time-consuming and complex, even for those who understand how to do it. But it is also because of a misunderstanding of what is at stake. “Data” is an abstract concept, technical and intangible. Far more solid is the idea of identity (see Essay). It is only when “data” is understood to mean “people” that individuals will demand accountability from those who seek to know them.
Such accountability stretches far beyond an obligation to secure someone’s credit-card details. In the information age, data are used to decide what sort of access people have to services. Uber ratings determine who gets a taxi; Airbnb reviews decide what sort of property you can stay in; dating-app algorithms choose your potential life partners. Firms use location data and payment history to sell you products. Your online searches may establish the price you pay for things. Those with a good Zhima credit score, administered by an Alibaba subsidiary, enjoy discounts and waived deposits. Those without receive few offers.
When they are used by states, such techniques pose a still greater threat. Algorithms that are able to recognise patterns in data can pinpoint dissidents or even those with unconventional opinions. In 2012 Facebook experimented with using data to manipulate emotions. In 2016 Russia used data to influence the American presidential election. The question is not whether someone is doing something wrong. It is whether others can do wrong to them.
We, the data
The fossils of past actions fuel future economic and social outcomes. Privacy rules, data-protection regulation and new laws surrounding the use of algorithms are crucial in protecting the rights of individuals. But the first step towards ensuring the fairness of the new information age is to understand that it is not data that are valuable. It is you.
