Me, Myself, and I (Them)
By +SocialGood Connector Adnane Addioui, as part of +SocialGood’s coverage of the International Government Communication Forum
In a previous post, I mentioned the growing development of the “Data Citizen” and the need to adopt relevant approaches to increase communication and engagement.
During the forum, I heard one of the speakers saying that “governments should be the custodians of our identities.” I found this statement interesting and disturbing at many levels.
First, in an era where freedom is more and more sacred and is becoming a religion of itself, it has become very important to us as “Data Citizens” to keep our data safe and thus keep our identities safe, we have seen recently what this means: with the fake news and the Cambridge Analytica tales. Thus the question is, why and how should I trust anyone with my data (there was a Facebook meme about someone being angry when he heard that his data was being manipulated for political reasons, then going back to sleep disappointed when he discovered that his data was “worthless”)?
It is like handing all your “secrets” to someone with the keys to use them — this is scary especially when we know that intentions are not always positive and that there are huge scandals going on about this. So what to do? Should we trust our governments with our interests? Who else again? A Corporate driven solely by profit would hardly sand out for you as an “insignificant” person.
The interesting part of this question, is well.. asking it! Who should be your custodian? And should there be any? Here the blockchain buzz is interesting as it is selling itself by a series of “anonymous” networks of “data storage” where instead of having a single regulation, it is the masses that actually regulate it and thus no one at the end (well that’s the sexy pitch about blockchain).
How can we build a more trust-worthy system that would enable us, the “Data Citizens’ to thrive in a very confusing world where interests collide.
I don’t have an answer, still trying to figure it out myself.
