Governments must help citizens to wrench data back from companies owning it, writes Halfdan Lynge
18 May 2020 - 16:38Covid-19 has demonstrated how data can provide new sources of evidence for public policy-making. Internet search histories are being used to detect unknown outbreaks and in many countries governments are using cellphone location data to track population movements and contain the spread of the virus.
Finally, data has “externalities”. The use of data by one person affects the costs and benefits of others. We tend to focus on the negative externalities of data, as when private firms harvest our data and sell to third parties without our knowledge or consent. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal is a case in point. We forget that data also has positive externalities. When different data sets are combined, new knowledge is produced and new value is created.
The concentration of data in the hands of private companies slows down innovation and growth. When a few dozen companies have access to the most valuable data only a few dozen companies can contribute to inventing new things. A recent report by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development suggests that if data were more widely shared many countries could enjoy gains worth 1%-2.5% of GDP.
So what needs to be done? First, we must acknowledge that market forces alone will not solve the problem. Too much data is already concentrated in the hands of the private sector, and government intervention is needed if we are to benefit — collectively — from the data revolution.
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