feeling of sheer maddening frustration
over a piece of technology not
remembering me
we had our Super Nintendo for a few
years before doomsday and it was a
Saturday like any other when I decided
to spend a few hours glued to the TV
play my new favorite game Super Mario
RPG I blow out the cartridge let me go
to 90s kid would pop in the system and
flipped it on to my horror my individual
savedata Phi was my name
my star count my progress percentage was
gone it was wiped clean and I could no
longer time travel to the point where I
left off in the mind of 12-year old
Jamie both my file and my soul who are
empty after spending hours in turmoil
debating who to blame obviously landing
at my little brother and making him wait
on me as my own personal Butler for a
while I resolved to take a deep breath
and begin anew
I never fully trust my data to a machine
again playing video games growing up was
the only way I knew how to feel like a
superhero and this experience was the
foundation of my understanding of how
technology and data management can make
our lives easier and more efficient and
make me feel like I have superpowers the
equivalent today imagine turning on
Netflix having no idea of what you’ve
watched where you were in that last
episode and offering nil tailored
recommendations for TV dramas featuring
a strong female lead or what if Amazon
suffered amnesia didn’t know what you
would just purchase what you were
browsing on your phone and all of those
gremlins figurines that I that you took
time to painstakingly add to your wish
list be little frustrating right
personalization it’s only the beginning
of our expectations though over time
you’ve learned to master new technology
innovation as your base understanding of
interfaces grows so for example
you’ve learned to tap an app to open it
you learn to swipe commands on your
tablet and you’ve learned to use your
voice to control Siri or Alexa as
technology seamlessly shape our
surroundings while simultaneously
remembering our preferences and
behaviors we begin to feel entitled not
only to personalization but also to
these hyper relevant experiences and
we’ve begun to feel a hell of a lot
smarter too I mean how could we not feel
more intelligent we have access to
pretty much any information we need on
demand at any time in a way we’re seeing
ourselves transform before our very eyes
into superhuman versions of who we once
knew armed with our technological
sidekicks that support our Bionic brains
we’ve developed our own version of x-ray
vision using augmented reality and our
mobile phones we have heightened hearing
with the ability to translate languages
in near real-time using any herbal
devices we are faster than a locomotive
with the ability to summon pretty much
anything on demand from food to
transportation and we are getting one
step closer to self-healing using
wearable devices to monitor our own
biometrics do you feel your power you
should because technology has grown to
shape our lives in new and exciting ways
we would not even have dreamed of even a
decade ago but at what cost
what are we paying to continually get
stronger to increase our super powers
because all these super powers do come
at a price and that price is paid in
data every day corporations have myriad
opportunities to collect and act on
consumer data and we expect them to do
so with consent integrity and respect
for our privacy research from the
Harvard Business Review shows the
consumers rarely know how their data is
being collected used sold and shared and
the Pew Internet reports that we have
even less comfort with our data being
sold among companies without our express
consent
yet as we start to develop a taste for
these super
powers we start to make a few
compromises other studies show that
people are willing to trade their data
if it is an exchange for tangible value
so things like improve security cost
reductions promotions or you guessed it
personalized content and experiences so
this contrast brings a really important
question to the forefront of our
discussion today and that is what do you
value more stronger superpowers or
greater control of your data because the
truth of matter is it is simply easier
and more convenient to plead a little
ignorant when it comes to our data use
if in turn were rewarded with some
pretty impressive superpowers I call the
current home were in the data swindle
where we are trading our data for
superpowers that we think are a fair
exchange but really we just don’t know
the true value of our data yet and the
data swindle is our near future home to
as we continue to give up even more data
in exchange for even better and more
impressive superpowers brought about by
artificial intelligence computer vision
and machine learning but the data
swindle it isn’t our only potential
future state because like any good
superheros journey there are a lot of
potential permutations and outcomes we
can encounter along the way when we’re
so willing to give up our data so freely
what is to stop someone from taking
advantage theoretically corporations
could continue to collect the same
amount and type of data from you while
simultaneously scaling back your
superpowers or they could offer you a
really primo feature but only if you pay
the price in this dystopian future known
as the data wasteland you can expect
your limits to be tested and to feel
cheated over and over again thankfully
it is other periods of such great strife
and episodes of black mirror that change
is born and viva la revolucion in the
next phase we find ourselves in a data
uprising when we say enough is enough we
will no longer
fraid so much of our personal data in
exchange for week or unimpressive
superpowers in the data Revolution phase
change will be brought on first by the
few and then by the many because it will
be incredibly hard for you to say no for
you to cut those digital behaviors that
have become your lifestyle for you to
close those accounts that really don’t
give you anything in return for your
data and most importantly for you to
seek out new companies and new
interactions where you are in control it
is out of the data Revolution phase that
we recognize we have had the power all
along and the market will listen
bringing us to our fourth and final
utopian phase that I call the data
marketplace we’re not only are we
beginning to rebuild our superpowers for
these new interactions but we are also
paid for our data for what it’s actually
worth by advertisers product developers
corporate innovation teams and more this
is made possible by new startups new
companies new business models and
honestly just new data ethics standards
that rise from the ashes in response to
are we taking control of what is ours
sounds pretty good right I told you
there were a lot of potential future
outcomes we could find ourself in some
obviously better than others but none
are without their challenges along the
way but fear not fellow super humans
because there are things you can do
today to prepare for the journey ahead
and to regain a little bit of the
control you might be feeling like you’ve
already lost right now the first thing
you can do is revisit your value system
now this means asking yourself not only
what do I value most but also how do
data-driven interactions positively
contribute to or detract from what I
value what I’m trying to achieve also
ask yourself what superpowers if any are
you willing to give up in order to
regain some of that control secondly we
need to become better stewards of our
data good data stewards understand what
information is being collected
about them where when why how to what
extent they know what the going rate is
for their data and how much they are
actually paying for all of those free
services social networks and apps being
the data steward it takes a lot of time
you’re going to have to go back and
reread all those user and privacy
agreements that we all just blindly sign
off on and you might even have to cut
that proverbial cord if a service and
account and app if their data standards
do not align with your value system and
finally just as when my trusty Super
Nintendo betrayed me honestly it could
have been my little brother the jury’s
still out but the damage was done but
just as when that happened take a deep
breath and repeat because you will have
literally hundreds of opportunities
every single day to get this right if
you’re feeling nervous right now
you you really will because taking
responsibility for our data is a
never-ending process will undergo
regardless of the future state we find
ourselves in and it’s only once we
recognize that our true power lies in
controlling our data through thoughtful
stewardship that our superhuman strength will know no bounds thank you