data

are people ready for a world built on data trading?

one square is 1.000.000 GB of data generated by people everyday

source | internet live stats

TOPIC

In this era of hyper connectivity, the web and the internet connected devices are becoming an important part of many people’s lives: online users are now 4.051.091.650, 40% of the entire population, and they produce everyday 5.464.281.600 GB of data. As a result of the increase of online population and connected technologies in daily life, an unprecedented amount of personal data is being generated, collected, analysed and monetized; potentially, the benefits could be limitless for everyone. In this world of big data, companies are able to create entirely new business models, based on people’s information. By analyzing the current situation, it seems that companies could be ready to give services to users in exchange for their data, but what about society itself? Let’s explore this huge controversial topic by starting with explaining the relationship among the three main actors in this field: people, companies and governments.

Who are the actors involved?

people companies governments “Data, personalization, chatbots, VR: artificial intelligence is one of the factors that will have a huge impact on marketing and business in the future” “More than 3.7 billion humans use the internet (that’s a growth rate of 7.5 percent over 2016)” “More than one billion new internet users are expected, growing from three billion in 2015 to 5.1 billion by 2020.” “By implementing a big data platform, governments can access vast amounts of relevant information important to their daily functions. The positive effect it can have is nearly endless.” “According to the Observatory, the areas in which investments of the businesses and companies are growing the most are the intelligent elaboration of data with AI and algorithms, chatbots and recommendations to users for profiling” source | engage source | the guardian source | il sole 24 ore source | datafloq source | forbes

How is the revenue generated from big data worldwide?

years USD billions prevision 122 130 149 166 186 208 233 260 2017 2016 2015 50 100 150 200 250 300 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

source | statista

DATA PRIVACY

People put online such big quantity of data and for this reason they want some kind of protection for their information. How is privacy over data regulated in the world? The Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications, also known as the ePrivacy Regulation, is a proposal by the EU Commission designed to strengthen the protection of citizens’ private lives, and creates new opportunities for business. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) came into effect on the 25th of May 2018, replacing the previous minimum standards. In the map below there is an overview of the legislations taken by governments all over the world: click on it to find out more.

heavy/robust moderate/limited draft/no law no data Argentina, China/HK, Japan, Venezuela Australia/NZ, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greenland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA ROBUST | HEAVY | Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Ghana, Greece, Israele, Lesotho, Mexico, Middle East, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, U.A.E, Ucraine, Uruguay Bolivia, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Cote d’ivoire, French Guyana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan, Mali, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Rep. of the Congo, Togo, Vietnam, Yemen MODERATE | LIMITED | Brazil, Ecuador, Iraq, Jordan, Tanzania, Uganda Afghanistan, Algeria, Botswana, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guyana, Laos, Lybia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Sudan, Thailand, Uzbekistan DRAFT | NO LAW | Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, C.A.R, Cam, Congo, Dem Rep of the Uganda, Eritrea, Georgia, Gibuti, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan NO DATA |

sources | dlapiper + unctad

DATA TRADING

Look at the between the value given by people to an asset and the willingness to trade personal data for it. companies social travel willingness to trade value work health care security finance government 0 100 40% 85% 37% 72% 31% 53% 54% 85% 41% 74% 45% 74%

source | ipsos

The benefits of trading data in exchange for services for consumers, companies and governments could be interesting and growing: companies and governments would be able to deliver better customized services; on the other hand, people could receive personalized assets in order to save time and resources. Despite of this obvious benefit, the chart above shows that even though people give an high value to these services delivered by governments and companies, they do not seem to be ready to trade their own data for them; as a matter of facts there is a gap between these two values. To going deeper with the analysis, the chart below shows the perception of 15 different countries about three main values: the willingness to trade personal data, the trust that they have in their own government and how much confident they are in sharing data online. Also in this case, percentages show that users in general are not so ready to trade data to have better and personalize services.

How is the situation in the world?

Germany 23% 39% 12% Germany 23% 39% 12% Australia/NZ 28% 46% 15% Australia/NZ 28% 46% 15% France 29% 31% 15% France 29% 31% 15% Canada 28% 45% 17% Canada 28% 45% 17% UK 29% 41% 18% UK 29% 41% 18% USA 24% 37% 21% USA 24% 37% 21% Netherlands 31% 54% 23% Netherlands 31% 54% 23% Brazil 31% 39% 26% Brazil 31% 39% 26% Italy 24% 40% 29% Italy 24% 40% 29% China/HK 16% 39% 29% China/HK 16% 39% 29% Middle East * 32% 57% 32% Middle East * 32% 57% 32% Japan 35% 17% 33% Japan 35% 17% 33% Russia 22% 36% 38% Russia 22% 36% 38% Mexico 21% 44% 43% Mexico 21% 44% 43% India 18% 64% 48% India 18% 64% 48% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 willingness to trade confidence in sharing data trust in government * United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia & Qatar

source | emc

If I received free content or services for my online presence and derived data, I would be more comfortable with my online activity being tracked said an interviewed during a focus group about Privacy and Information Sharing. This means that maybe, if people could obtain customized and personalized services trading their data, they would be more willing to give their information. Many companies today are offering personalized content to consumers, such as social media sites, music streaming, free e-mail services and so on. But despite this, people are still somewhat reluctant in giving their data and they put on the same level trading data and paying for the services, as shown in the following chart. But why should people pay for a service if they can get it for free by just giving data? There is no certain answer to this question; what is known for sure, as the second graph shows, is that the 78,1% of the interviewed thinks that companies benefit the most from personal data exchange and this could be one of the reasons why people prefer to pay instead of giving personal data.

“For each of the following, would you prefer to share personal data in exchange or to pay for the service?”

tv music messaging e-mail social news 26% 35% 26% 28% 38% 24% 45% 26% 28% 20% 27% 25% share pay no answer

“Who do you think currently benefits the most from personal data exchange?”

12,9% 78,1% 9% no answer companies me

source | gdma

There is a strong relationship among the three main players involved in this new world based on data trading: people give personal data in exchange for services both by governments (such as health care or access to finance information) and by companies (better travel plans, better social connectivities and so on). After giving information to governments and companies, people don’t want them to share it to third parts, as other companies or the other governments. On the other hand though, when people are asked who should have in their opinion the ultimate responsability on their data, they give a very interesting answer: of course the highest percentage is the consumer itself, but 35,3% of them answered that a combination of the three actors would be better. This might open to a new point of view that could possibly change the current perception on data trading.

“Would you be happy for a government or business to share your personal data with other government or businesses to make services better?”

me other companies other governments 5% 8%

“Who should have in your opinion the ultimate responsability on your personal data?”

me companies governments a combination of the three no answer 38,3% 14,7% 5,3% 35,3% 6,4%

source | gdma

WHAT'S NEXT?

In a world lived more and more online rather than offline, algorithms are the real protagonists of the digital revolution that we’re living and of the changing of people’s and companies’ modus operandi. This new data society is based on the interaction between the three main actors: people, companies and governments. The data analysis shows that users recognize the value of the services given by companies and governments but at the same time they show low willing to trade their data to have those services in return. Despite this distrust feeling, data shows a growing rate on investments on this field: is then possible to imagine a future in which the three actors will benefit at the same level of data trading? And if yes, will data become the new money?

will people, companies and governments be able to work together to build a new society model based on the exchange of data?