Are we entitled to our data? --- There is a lot of grey area around the ownership of personal data. Looking at it from the rights-based approach, advocates would argue that right to our personal data should be a human right since it is information about ourselves that is being collected by a third party and it is so intrinsic to who we are that it can't be forfeited simply by clicking 'agree' on consumer agreements.

Companies of course would say that the cost of collecting, storing and analysing that data means they should be able to claim ownership or at least control of use and that is the current practice as well. I wonder though if a person were to make a request to a company like Facebook or Google for all of the data they have collected on that individual, including analysis formed on the basis of that data, would Facebook or Google share this information? Should they be mandated to do so by law?

Source author: Pavitra Ramanujam pavitra.ramanujam@gmail.com