Page 109 - ITU Journal - ICT Discoveries - Volume 1, No. 2, December 2018 - Second special issue on Data for Good
P. 109

ITU JOURNAL: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 1(2), December 2018



          initial  step  in  this  direction  is  the  notion  of  data   beyond its status as mere binary code, which can be
          portability, i.e. the right to receive personal data and   taken to motivate  sui generis laws that codify the
          to transfer it from one provider to another, which   agent’s ownership of the data she generates [36].
          has  found  its  way  into  the  EU  General  Data   The problem with this approach is, however, that
          Protection  Regulation  (GDPR).  As  Vayena  and     due  to  the  factual  differences  between  data  and
          Blasimme paraphrase, mechanisms like this seek to    objects, this would currently be a property in title
          turn data subjects into data distributors [33].      only. Additionally, since the EU so far does not have
                                                               a  comprehensive  competence  for  this  area,  such
          These  are  positive  developments  in  view  of  the   legislation would have to be limited to the national
          foregoing insights on the embeddedness of inforgs,   sphere.  Another,  maybe  more  promising  strategy
          whose privacy is essential to their integrity, but who   involves the proxy/agency model already familiar
          also demand ways to share information with others    from  dynamic  consent  in  which  proxies  or
          and  sometimes  even  donate  data  for  the  greater   representatives  make  decisions  on  behalf  of  the
          good. What could regulators and designers of ICT     data  subject  (cascading  consent)  [4,5].  The  idea
          systems  do  to  promote such  activities and  to  put   here is to employ surrogate notions for ownership
          users in a position to exercise, maintain, and modify   in the property sense. This could help to enable data
          dynamic  consent?  We  now  formulate  suggestions   subjects to (re)gain and sustain control over their
          for two domains.                                     data  even  without  the  pains  of  strenuous  and
                                                               time-consuming individual supervisory efforts.
          5.   LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS
                                                               6.    PATHWAYS FOR GOVERNANCE
          Given  that  technology  keeps  evolving  at  an
          ever-increasing pace, regulators are faced with an   Indeed,  attempting  to  make  ICT  users  data
          uphill  struggle.  This  is  demonstrated  by  the   sovereigns can appear to overburden the individual.
          intensity of the current debates about the GDPR and   Ordinary users cannot be expected to have a clear
          its ability to ensure the right to privacy under big   picture  about  the  complexities  of  ICT,  all  the
          data  conditions.  With  regard  to  data  sharing,   pathways  that  their  information  takes,  and  the
          another  problematic  aspect  has  to  be  addressed:   sophisticated algorithmic analyses and adjustments
          contrary  to  popular  belief  and  some  misleading   that  are  based  on  the  tracks  they  leave  in  the
          semantics,  under  the  current  regulatory  regime   infosphere. We simply might be asking for too much
          there is no ownership of data. The legal concepts of   if we demand each ICT user to be data sovereign,
          ownership  and  property  are  restricted  to  objects   threaten   to   overestimate   the   amount   of
          and  real  estate,  and  the  specific  provisions  of   responsibility that should be ascribed to individuals
          intellectual  property  (IP)  law  do  not  cover  mere   for their own data integrity, and open the door to
          data [34]. This does not mean, however, that there   holding  them  partially  responsible  for  privacy
          is no need for clear rules regarding who has control   breaches and unconstrained information flows.
          over data access and data use and who can profit
          from them. Quite the contrary is true. If we keep in   The  worry  can  be  addressed  by  highlighting  that
          mind that under the law as it stands, the consent    while data sovereignty is a feature that is eventually
          model  serves  as  a  substitute  for  more  advanced   realized in the individual ICT user, the factors that
          usage  rights,  it  becomes  obvious  that  the      enable  data  sovereignty  extend  beyond  the
          development  of complex and dynamic consent          particular  data  sovereign.  They  are  tied  to  a
          mechanisms  already  goes  a  long  way  to  reduce   multitude  of  agents  and  levels.  Governance
          friction. And yet even more innovative solutions are   mechanisms  that  strive  to  realize  the  normative
          both  imaginable  and  desirable.  In  order  to     ideal  of  data  sovereignty  thus  need  to  be
          safeguard   the   data   subjects’   sovereignty,    multidimensional [4,5].
          supplementary  legal  mechanisms  are  needed  to
          ensure  that  personal  rights  as  well  as  rights  to   Individuals themselves are entitled to be provided
          freedom  can  be  enacted,  remain  respected,  and   with  education  that  enhances  their  literacy  with
          become legally enforceable if necessary. One of the   regard to data infrastructures [37]. They cannot be
          strategies  discussed  by  legal  experts  is  the   sovereigns  if  they  proceed  under  ignorance  of
          introduction  of  genuine  data  ownership  in  the   central features and abilities of the technology they
          property  sense  [35].  Data  is  behavior-generated   are using. Critical reasoning and power of judgment
          and thus encompasses a cultural ontological status   are  key  to  evaluate  the  consequences,  risks,  and





                                             © International Telecommunication Union, 2018                    87
   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114