MyData as an Actor-NetworkOSKARI LAPPALAINENUNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

About me

Bachelor of Social Sciences I studied sociology, science & Technology studies, and information

technology I discovered the MyData concept through voluntary work Actor Network Theory as a kind of a holistic worldview Not directly linked to any research Part of my doctoral work if I decide to do it Interested in hearing feedback & ideas

Setting the context: personal data economy

As the amount data produced by humans grows… …so will the economic potential of personal data

World Economic Forum: potential to have a great impact on the global economy

The Boston Consulting Group: will be worth 1000 billion euros in the EU by 2020

Problems with the personal data economy

A cluster of interlinked problems Personal data economy is not very transparent Business model: offer ”free” service in exchange for personal

information (Facebook & many other apps) Personal information is sold behind the users’ back for profit Obscure terms of service, people don’t know where their data goes to Enables profiling which can be used for microtargeted advertising Information stays in it’s own silos owned by organizations ”Surveilance capitalism” (Zuboff 2015)

The present state of the personal information economy

What is MyData?

MyData can be seen both as an ideal of a technology and as a social movement advancing this ideal

MyData aims to address the issues with personal data economy by putting the individual in control of his or her own data

So instead of organizations having data on users the users have their own data which they can lend or sell forward in exchange for services

Highly portable and combinable data would also allow for completely novel services

MyData as a social phenomenon

MyData is in a process of translation

MyData is in a process of formation– in ANT lingo it is in process of translation

Idea born around 2012, Finland, France, Estonia hotbeds of activity Callon: Translation is a process where an actor enrolls allies to tackle

some kind of a problem In this case the problem is solving the issues with personal data

economy through an individual-centric model of personal data management

I will now present you with a Finland-centric overview of the actor-network that is involved in MyData

The rough view

MyData activism holds the network together

Acts as a force that has enrolled the network and which draws together elements from the private and public sector

MyData activists often have a dual role, work in IT industry or public sector Some however are more purely 3rd sector operators MyData activism has been more like network building than traditional

activism – lobbying and advocacy work however have also been needed MyData Allianssi as a finnish alliance of private and public sector actors

with an interest in developing MyData Open Knowledge Finland particularily active

MyData as an ideal of a technology

MyData aims to change the obligatory passage point of personal

data economy MyData aims to put the individual user into the center of the personal data

economy The alternative: corporation or state dominated model The MyData Operator model MyData Operators offer data accounts to customers, customers own the data

and lease/sell data through these operators Has an anti-monopolistic element built in, the objective is a broad open network

of service provides instead of a global monopoly Connection to open information technology ideals Presently at pilot stage (at best), some startups in Europe, more public sector

driven in Finland

The network of operators

Some closing thoughts

A very new phenomenon – impossible to say to what extent it will succeed or what impact it will have

This makes it a very fruitful target for ANT research! Perhaps best seen as a part of a larger context of personal data

economy and open data advocacy Can also be seen in the context of diverging information economies –

the corporation dominated US model, the totalitarian chinese model…MyData as the european model?

Presents the question of whether other kinds of ”activist technologies” exist – blockchain as a potential other example

Further reading

If you want to read a more in-depth analysis, you can check out my article at sosiologi.fi (only in finnish)

mydata.fi, the MyData Allianssi page Poikola, Antti, Kuikkaniemi, Kai, ja Honko, Harri. 2015. “MyData – A

Nordic Model for human-centered personal data management and processing.” Ministry of Transport and Communications. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-243-455-5