My proposed revision of this goal is:
Goal: Make the explosion in data safer, more valuable and more managable for individuals
This would be followed by some subpoints, along the lines of those below. They need some work, but I want to post the general idea for reaction before I spend more time on the subpoints.
- products offer people realistic options for managing data created by or about them
- people EXPECT access to their data, ability to combine it, move it, manage it as theirs
The change is because I don’t feel we have a solid enough consensus on the original proposal. This was: provide leadership in
- helping people exercise better ownership and control over their data
- making anonymous, aggregate “usage data” more of a public resource
The idea of making any data available to anyone has generated concern. Some of this I think is due to a lack of concrete examples, or to a misperception that this would involve Mozilla software tracking people’s behaviors, or to a concern that it’s hard to anonymize data. But some of the concern is a basic discomfort with the currently invisible generation and processing of so much data, or the idea of a public “data commons,” or a concern about what’s happening “to” me through my software.
The data explosion is only just beginning, and it’s powerful. New forms of data can help us understand new things and solve new problems we can’t even see the shape of yet. But there’s a risk that each one of us will end up at the mercy of others who control the data. This risk affects our privacy, the degrees of choice and innovation available, and the degree of centralization of our online lives.
We should have a goal that reflects both the potential benefits and the risks of the data explosion.