Data Ownership is an important topic in the digital economy that heavily relies on constant data flows from users to thrive. Regulators try to determine data rights in this fast-paced environment but laws remain ambiguous, as datafication knows no borders and is an inherently supranational development.
Some say data ownership doesn’t exist, it is a figment of imagination and practically impossible to implement. Still, users “hand over” and become data that many businesses seem to perceive either as commodities or resources that are vital to their success.
We raised the critical questions of “Who Owns Your Data?” with experts from business, law, regulation, and research in a mini conference organised together with the Swedish Embassy in Den Haag in 2019.
Several of our guests also wrote short pieces that explore the guiding question of the debate as well as other related issues such as the “privacy paradox” or what data-driven design can actually achieve for us.