Andrew Yang proposes that your digital data be considered personal property

Authored by fastcompany.com and submitted by -AMARYANA-

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang may not be at the top of the race when it comes to polling (Politico currently has him ranked as the 7th most-popular Democratic contender), but his policies, including support for universal basic income, have made him popular among a subset of young, liberal-leaning, tech-savvy voters. Yang’s latest proposal, too, is sure to strike a chord with them.

The presidential candidate published his latest policy proposal today: to treat data as a property right. Announcing the proposal on his website, Yang lamented how our data is collected, used, and abused by companies, often with little awareness or consent from us. “This needs to stop,” Yang says. “Data generated by each individual needs to be owned by them, with certain rights conveyed that will allow them to know how it’s used and protect it.”

The right to be informed as to what data will be collected, and how it will be used

The right to opt out of data collection or sharing

The right to be told if a website has data on you, and what that data is

The right to be forgotten; to have all data related to you deleted upon request

The right to be informed if ownership of your data changes hands

The right to be informed of any data breaches including your information in a timely manner

The right to download all data in a standardized format to port to another platform

The fourth point is notable because it seems to suggest Yang wants the same “right to be forgotten” laws that Europe currently offers. That’s something tech giants like Google have litigated vigorously. And you can be sure that many tech giants would lobby just as vigorously against some of his other “data as property” proposals.

Still, it’s refreshing to see a candidate so clearly outline his digital data policies. Whether that will help push him higher in the polls remains to be seen.

Reinfeldx on October 1st, 2019 at 15:36 UTC »

I propose that email be treated like physical mail. If it’s a felony to intercept and read letters in my mailbox, why in the hell is it okay to intercept and read my emails?

EDIT: I was referring to government agencies. They intercept and read emails, texts, sexts, and more without a warrant. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data

trace_jax on October 1st, 2019 at 13:54 UTC »

Funny enough, you know who might actually go for this idea? Neil Gorsuch. My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but I believe last year, he wrote a concurrence in which he attacked the idea that you have no expectation of privacy in your digital data when you give it to Google. The majority felt that by giving your data to Google (or some other provider), you knew Google could proceed to sell the data.

Gorsuch rejected this idea. He analogized it to lending something to your neighbor. Just because you gave something to the neighbor doesn't mean you expect that now everyone can access it. Accordingly, he would find a broader right to privacy than the majority.

Not that this makes up for Gorsuch's ideology, but at least there's support for Yang's smart idea

2hi4me2cu on October 1st, 2019 at 13:37 UTC »

This is something that absolutely has to happen in today's ever increasing digital world. Companies are making billions from our data and digital footprints, it's time we got a slice of that and a say in how it's used.