Willing Buyer, Willing Seller: Personal Data Trade as a Service

TL;DR

This paper explores a future data market where users control their personal data and can sell it through transparent, third-party services, emphasizing user autonomy and fair compensation.

Contribution

It introduces a conceptual framework for personal data trade as a service, highlighting design considerations for user-controlled data marketplaces.

Findings

Proposes a model for data trade as a service.

Highlights user control and transparency in data transactions.

Suggests mechanisms for fair compensation and decision-making.

Abstract

There is an increased sensitivity by people about how companies collect information about them, and how this information is packaged, used and sold. This perceived lack of control is highlighted by the helplessness of users of various platforms in managing or halting what data is collected from/about them. In a future where users have wrested control of their data and have the autonomy to decide what information is collected, how it is used and most importantly, how much it is worth, a new market emerges. This design fiction considers possible steps prescient companies would take to meet these demands, such as providing third-party subscription platforms offering personal data trade as a service. These services would provide a means for transparent transactions that preserve an owner's control over their data; allowing them to individually make decisions about what data they avail for sale, and the amount of compensation they would accept in trade.