Your Personal Data: Wither Privacy? Take Stephen Baker’s Poll

Every time I encounter ‘personal data’ and ‘privacy’ in the same sentence I experience a tinge of dread. No doubt because ‘personal data’ and ‘privacy’ are usually accompanied by ‘compromised’ and ‘breached’. I conjure images of lavish lifestyles being financed, unwittingly by me, all because I partook of a quotidian e-commerce exchange or went to the ATM.

But is the veneer of privacy all just a chimera? Has it always been? Maybe what I assumed was ‘private data’ wasn’t? And, just maybe, the new economy calls for new standards of privacy?

Every time I encounter ‘personal data’ and ‘privacy’ in the same sentence I experience a tinge of dread. No doubt because ‘personal data’ and ‘privacy’ are usually accompanied by ‘compromised’ and ‘breached’. I conjure images of lavish lifestyles being financed, unwittingly by me, all because I partook of a quotidian e-commerce exchange or went to the ATM.

But is the veneer of privacy all just a chimera? Has it always been? Maybe what I assumed was ‘private data’ wasn’t? And, just maybe, the new economy calls for new standards of privacy?

What do you think? SmartData Collective and Stephen Baker invite you to take our poll. The module is in the right hand column.

Rest assured your data is in knowledgeable hands. Stephen (@stevebaker) has written prolifically about the data economy and the new vanguard of privacy in his book and blog, The Numerati, and a cover story for BusinessWeek. Fast forward to this week, to the poll for SDC on data security. No doubt, your insights will be featured by Stephen in a future post/poll. Stay tuned.