Altruism in commerce is less common than the proverbial rocking horse–based fertilizer. The commercial online economy is a highly competitive one. The information, interactions and enticements on offer are there primarily to persuade you to part with as much information as possible, intentionally or otherwise. This information can be reused to further refine targeting of information or services, to increase the appeal of otherwise uninteresting offers or perhaps the emotional timeliness of a product or service.

Recent coverage of the app-related activities of Facebook, and to a lesser extent Google, has been damning. These internet giants have made no secret over the years of their desire to collect as much data as possible about each and every one of us, and to use that data for commercial advantage. Just this week a German court has issued an order to stop Facebook from combining data collected across its various platforms and services.

While Facebook et al undoubtedly broke Apple's App Store rules through the misuse of enterprise certificates to distribute these data-collection apps, deliberately circumventing Apple’s safeguards, this story is worthy of deeper consideration.

In the case of the “Facebook Research” app all participants were volunteers, anyone underage had parental consent forms signed and all participants were financially rewarded for their participation on a monthly basis. In effect, Facebook allowed individuals to realize an ongoing income from their own personal data, rather than giving it away in return for access to online enticements, which has become the norm in the online economy. Of course, there is a separate conversation to be had about how truly “informed” the consent was and whether participants really grasped the level of access they were granting. Conversely there is also much legitimate digging to be done into how much unauthorized data Facebook hoovered up through these practices (the other participants in a WhatsApp group chat for example?). While there may have been issues with the format of the consent forms, the distribution mechanism and much more, I can’t help feeling that the media coverage is at risk of killing off something that could eventually be an effective global mechanism for more granular privacy and for income.

An entire data brokerage industry has already sprung from the nutrient-rich soil of our digital footprints. Our data is catalogued and combined with the traces we leave behind in the physical world, correlated and mined to reach conclusions far beyond those we might perhaps be comfortable with publicizing, and then sold as a commodity or a subscription-based service to any interested party. It is an industry based on our ignorance and our nonchalance.

We have legal definitions for a data controller, a data processor and a data subject. An oddity which lands each of us in the bizarre situation where we are subjects of our own data rather being able to assert any notion of ownership over it, even GDPR does not explicitly give an answer on personal data ownership. With data ownership comes the right to grant or deny access to that data and to be responsible for its accuracy and integrity. Imagine the income potential if this became the norm, rather than the exception. Imagine how liberating it would be for individuals to be able to reassert ownership over their own personal data and to license it in whichever way they chose, rather than “paying” with it and sacrificing control.

We already juggle multiple online identities, each with different usage and consumption profiles (personal, shopping, financial, gaming, social, governmental, professional and more) and there are many industries that would pay for access to that behavioral data, particularly if there were no other way to access it.

Imagine a data brokerage platform that enables you to license out access to your personal data, request by request. One that enables it to be tied to more ephemeral concepts such as the “persona” you inhabited at the time, creating a much more nuanced data landscape for advertisers and service providers to mine. An identity management service that monetizes your data on your behalf every single time that a discrete data point is processed rather than captured, one that monitors your online personae, data and reputation and alerts you to suspicious or anomalous content or data use, flagging in advance data you may not want to share, could be a vital future industry.

Personal information is a digital good that commands a financial premium and right now it is others who realize those gains. It’s time we advocated for real ownership of our own data.