Personal data has considerable value and people are starting to recognise it. That’s because wherever they go and whatever they do it seems that there are people asking them for that data. From multiple questions when we make even the simplest of requests, to the cookies that are loaded onto our browsers as we surf the net, to the repeated requests to provide feedback and complete surveys, every ... »
In my previous blog post I talked about the Internet creating lots of new situations, and that psychologically, we have to know what rules operate in any given situation in order to be able to behave appropriately in that situation. The problem we’re now faced with when using the Internet is that so many new situations have been created so fast that we’re struggling, individually and collectively,... »
Social psychologists have a neat equation that summarises the drivers that shape our behaviour: B = P x S where B=behaviour, P=person and S=situation What’s implied by this is that what we do and how we do it is partly driven by the kind of person we are: extroverted or introverted, generous or mean, nervous or confident and so on. That’s the individual psychology bit. But another large part is dr... »
Stage the First: As we go about our daily lives we generate personal data: what we read, buy, people we talk with and things we do can be, and are tracked by companies whose basic business plans depend on their ability to stalk us. The first stage in regaining control of our personal data is to eliminate or at least to reduce as far as possible the data we produce (and give away) as we go about ou... »
Although it seems like it’s been around forever and life would be unimaginable without it, the Internet is young. From the first inkling of the idea (possibly in 1962, when J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in August 1962 wrote a series of memos outlining a “Galactic Network”) and its commercial and general public “birth” about 20 years ago, its growth and impact since then has been massive. An... »
A recent article in the UK’s FT, Companies scramble for consumer data, June 12th 2013, shared some intriguing but puzzling insights into the market for personal information. Perhaps the strangest was a proposition which seemed to suggest a complete inversion of normal market economics. The reporter, Emily Steel, started her article by observing that: “Corporate competition to accumulate informat... »
Since Edward Snowdon, the US whistle-blower, first leaked details of the NSA’s PRISM and related programs on June 7th, two clear themes have emerged within the ensuing debate. The first is the notion of exchange and the need for this exchange to be equitable. President Obama and others have sought to justify the PRISM program in terms of the exchange of privacy in return for (increased) security,... »
