I recently attended Westminster eForum policy conference, The future of data protection regulation in the UK, 25th February 2020, to hear about the future safeguarding of personal data for individuals living in the UK.  Following on from a seminar in May last year discussing the National Data Strategy, the issues surrounding the harvesting and monetisation of personal data are as yet unresolved, it is a work in progress.   Read our blog Building Trust in Data: The National Data Strategy for more.

There is much debate about the benefits of harvesting personal data to improve our quality of life, from health care to public services.  Although many are still happy to exchange their personal data for access to a free internet or social media platforms, people seem to question more when being asked to share their personal data for science or local government related improvements.

At the very core of this issue is public trust.  As highlighted by Steve Wood, Information Commissioner's Office:

"The public [have] a world-weary view of how their data is being harvested and exploited."

Data protection is about people and protecting the rights of the individual in the digital ecosystem.  To build public trust in how personal data is being used, the benefits of sharing data must be transparent, practical and tangible.  Certainly, high profile scandals exposing the abuse of personal data have created a hostile environment, with public trust being the ultimate casualty.

The introduction of the GDPR in May 2018 called time on the unethical practices of harvesting data being carried out 'behind the scenes' by digital corporations for huge financial gain.  The knowledge gap between industry and consumers meant that the general public had no idea about the extent of the exploitation. The lack of transparency about the processes involved is enough to make anyone feel concerned about agreeing to their non-anonymised data being shared.  Large pharmaceutical corporations in the US are eager to put our data to good use, but this then calls into question the market price of the treatments they produce and whether that data is subsequently sold on for even further profit. As highlighted by Professor Douwe Korff, London Metropolitan University, if our data is going to be used in this way, we should have input into aspects of the development of the drugs, such as market value.

As it currently stands, consumers can't yet be confident that third party organisations will use their data ethically and within the law.  Important questions for the regulators include:

• How to determine what amount of data is required for a particular purpose?
• Who deserves to profit from the use of personal data?

Without robust regulation, the digital economy in the UK will run the risk of not being able to fully benefit from innovation, especially with new technologies such as AI. 

"We will only be able to unlock the potential of AI if we get data protection right."

Steve Wood, Executive Director, Regulatory Strategy, Information Commissioner's Office

Patricia Christias, Head of Legal, Microsoft UK, emphasised that diverging from the strong data protection rules in Europe could be very counterproductive.  The importance of public trust means that lighter compliance and privacy rules will only serve to further damage an already fractured relationship along with the economy.  Lowering standard could see consumers moving to other platforms based in the EU, where the standards of privacy and security meet their expectations. 

"Everyone should benefit from technology without losing control over their data."

Patricia Christias, Head of Legal, Microsoft UK

Post Contributor:

Caitriona Fitzsimons Digital Reporter