| Description |
A comprehensive model of personal data provides citizens across the globe with protections to breaches of personal data and facilitates the sharing of valuable data. Personal data are valuable to those who create it and those who use it. Creating a universal model for personal data enables that value to change hands equitably and to hinder or prevent its misuse. The fruits of historical attempts to protect personal data amount only to generalized principles, limited legal frameworks, and recommendations, all lacking separate and distinct definitions of components of a universal model. The lack of distinct definitions hinders proper respect of personal data and equitable compensation to end-users. To create this model one must begin with concise definitions of privacy, data, and data stewardship. Drawing upon industry ownership definitions, identity management movements, and current legislative initiatives this paper seeks to describe characteristics of the universal model and offers definitions of three possible components of the universal model. After considering the insights one can gain from various ownership perspectives we consider the advantages and disadvantages of two key identity verification services, OpenID and Facebook Connect. The concepts of end user centricity and the insights gained from the ownership perspectives aid in evaluating the appropriateness and value of the attributes of these two services. Following this discussion we consider the significance of the Obama Administration's report on privacy in the digital age. Though the bill puts forth a carefully constructed set of rights it does not name any technical specifications from which to build components of a model. Yet, its recommendations for FTC enforcement authority and a multi-stakeholder consensus building process are well founded. |
