Privacy as Commodity
The only time I'm tempted to use the expression "The future is now" is when I see a story about a "new" trend or development or prediction, such as today's Technology Review blog piece on the idea of a marketplace for personal information. See "A Stock Exchange for Your Personal Data" by Jessica Leber, posted May 1 at Technology Review's Computing blog.
Citing the work of Bernardo Huberman at HP Labs' Social Computing Research Group, Leber declares, "Here's a job title made for the information age: personal data broker."
I'm happy to declare, in turn, that the future is now. This future job title was forecast by scenario planner and consultant Brian Mulconrey in the September-October 2005 issue of THE FUTURIST. His scenario for a personal information manager--the CEO of the aptly named (but fictitious) "I-Own-Me Networks"--would emerge by October 2012.
And so it has.
Mulconrey's article correctly identified the high value we would have for data privacy, but rather than commoditizing it and selling it off, the future clients of I-Own-Me (he imagined) would be seeking professional data guardians to protect them against unauthorized users. He correctly foresaw the driving forces moving us toward his scenario, such as the desire for control over one's data coupled with the lack of time, resources, and expertise to actually wield that control.
Rather than selling access to one's data on the open market--clearly a brilliant stroke for an increasingly privacy-indifferent culture--Mulconrey saw more philanthropical benefits of personal data management: advancing medical research, fighting terrorism, and the like.
I give Mulconrey an A for foreseeing a great career opportunity ("personal information manager"), but a C for overlooking wealth-creation opportunities through the commoditization of personal data.
Browse back issues of THE FUTURIST here:
http://www.wfs.org/backissues
Scroll down to the September-October 2005 issue for the link to order a print copy. I think you'll see a lot of "future is now" stories there!
Cynthia G. Wagner is editor of THE FUTURIST magazine.
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Comments
Seismic Revenue Shifts in the $85 Billion Digital Ad Industry
Thank you Cynthia!
In the article I projected that the personal information management industry may have grown to $25B in revenues by now – that certainly hasn’t happened….yet; but I think the key value proposition offered in the 2005 “I-Own-Me Scenario” is still out there…
“Why do you need us? For one thing, you will be able to control access that others have to your limited attention “bandwidth.” For example, instead of letting you be bombarded with spam or junk mail, we’ll screen and organize sales appeals and product information channels that we maintain and monitor for you. By hiring us as gatekeepers, you’ll be sure that only those firms and individuals you approve of are given access to your personal information. This protects your privacy, and it allows firms to tailor their offerings to your needs and interests.”
If you ask “where would that $25B come from” it will come directly out of disintermediating the revenues of the $85B web advertising industry (e.g., Google, Facebook, etc.). The most important leg of this scenario has yet to play out.
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