informed consent

The sound of chickens coming home to roost

The sound of chickens coming home to roost

The issue of privacy, or more generally and accurately the issue of who owns what data, and the rights and obligations associated with the use of that data have clearly shot up the public agenda. A term that a few years ago would have been associated with what you could and couldn’t do or say in your own home is now the topic of daily discussion in the context of Google, Facebook, the NSA and GCHQ... »

Adam Tanner on the selling of personal data

Adam Tanner on the selling of personal data

An interesting article by Adam Tanner on the Forbes website in which he traces where one particular piece of junk mail came from. Tanner is a fellow at Harvard University’s Department of Government and is writing a book on the business of personal data. He’s looking for answers to questions such as who are the people and firms gathering such information? What details are they putting together, how... »

Personal data, privacy and the internet – A big picture perspective

Personal data, privacy and the internet – A big picture perspective

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... »