#johnchavens

John C. Havens, Founder of the H(app)athon Project

The Six Top Things To Stop Saying About Personal Data, Part 5 5) It's not a moral issue

Founder of The H(app)athon Project, John C. Havens continues his six-part series for PD16 discussing why the distribution and selling of our personal information without our consent by data brokers can spread erroneous data about our lives.  Beyond the moral objections many people raise towards data brokers, it has been proven with research from the World Privacy Forum that many lists sold by brokers contains information that is simply incorrect about our lives.  So advertisers reaching out to us may think we live in a different state than where we actually live, or that we’re not the gender we actually are. By letting individuals have access to their personal data, and even the potential to correct it, any/all data about a person will serve all the parties who wish to use that data better.

John C. Havens, Founder of The H(app)athon Project

The Six Top Things To Stop Saying About Personal Data, Part 4 4) Terms and Conditions

Founder of The H(app)athon Project, John C. Havens continues his six-part series for PD16 discussing the opaque and convoluted nature of Terms and Conditions statements created by most organizations today.  These T&C’s are often what Doc Searls, Founder of VRM and author of The Intention Economy, calls “contracts of adhesion.”  This means the T&C’s are not designed to create trust with customers, but to protect the organization in question and (in general) allow them to do whatever they’d like with y/our personal data now and into the future.

John C. Havens, Founder of The H(app)athon Project

The Six Top Things To Stop Saying About Personal Data 3) Personal Data is like any other technology – it just takes getting used to.

Founder of The H(app)athon Project, John C. Havens continues his six-part series for PD16 discussing what issues we don’t need to discuss any longer regarding Personal Data.  In this segment, John describes the fact that just because people are used to giving away their personal data for free doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.  Complacency around behavior where people give away their rights means we need to wake up to how important and valuable our personal data is, versus fall into the trap of thinking, ‘that’s just the way it is – I’m the product, and my personal data is the fee for using these services I like.’  That’s not the case, and we need to start fighting for the rights around our identity that our rightfully ours before they’re taken away for good.

John C. Havens, Founder of The H(app)athon Project

The Six Top Things To Stop Saying About Personal Data

2) Your preferences are not the same as your rights

Founder of The H(app)athon Project, John C. Havens continues his six-part series for PD16 discussing how your preferences around managing your data are not the same as knowing what rights you deserve as a citizen (in real life and digitally) around that data.  For instance, it’s a right (or should be) to be able to see what data brokers or various health providers have about you.  How are you supposed to manage your personal health care or that of loved ones without even having access to all your medical information?