Opinion Show me my data

The collection and dissemination of this information raises a host of privacy issues. Protecting our privacy is important,but there’s a broader issue: It doesn’t include the right to access data about ourselves. Not only should our data be secure; it should also be available for us to use for our own purposes. After all,it is our data.

Here is a guiding principle: If a business collects data on consumers electronically,it should provide them with a version of that data that is easy to download and export to another web site. Think of it this way: you have lent the company your data,and you’d like a copy for your own use.

This month in Britain,the government announced an initiative along these lines called “mydata.” (I was an adviser on this project.) Although British law already requires companies to provide consumers with usage information,this programme is aimed at providing the data in a computer-friendly way. To see how such a policy might improve the way markets work,consider how you might shop for a new cellphone service plan. To pick the best plan,you need to be able to estimate how much you use services like texting,social media,music streaming and sending photos. You may not know the answer or be able to express it in megabytes,but your service provider can. Under my proposed rule,your cellphone provider would give you access to a file that includes all the information it has collected on you since you owned the phone,as well as the current fees for each kind of service you use.

If personal data is accompanied by detailed pricing information,consumers will be more aware of how they really use products and how much fees really cost them. And transparent pricing will give honest,high-quality providers a leg up on competitors who rely on obfuscation.

The potential applications are endless. Supermarkets,for example,have already learned that they can attract many customers by offering discounts to “members”. This allows the stores to know what they buy and to target coupons based on their purchases. Shoppers can opt out — but only at the cost of losing the discounts.

So let’s level the playing field. Why not give you,the consumer,something in return for participating? Require that the supermarket make your purchase history available to you. Before you know it,a smart entrepreneur is likely to devise an app that will direct you to cheap and healthy alternatives that can slim your tummy and fatten your wallet.

The ability of businesses to monitor our behaviour is already a fact of life,and it isn’t going away. Of course we must protect our privacy rights. But if we’re smart,we’ll also use the data that is being collected to improve our own lives.

I hope that companies follow the lead of their British counterparts and cooperate in a “mydata” programme. If they don’t,we should require companies to tell you what they already know about you. To paraphrase Moses,let’s ask them to “let my data go.”