Many hours of my time are used being intrigued by the colossal challenge of attempting to control data in the modern day. A seemingly impossible task in the centralised society we operate and interact in as beings, both digitally and physically. The world of data is a vast expanse, hence why it is crucial that ethics surrounding are established and acknowledged in every organization and across the internet. Gone are the days where the only forms of recording data were on pen and paper. At the time even that basic form of technology and storage of information could have seemed overwhelming, there was more bulk, just as much room for error in a human sense, but still less dangerous than the modern day. Our issue lays with the fact that we do not feel the bulk of the information any longer (even though we are dealing with infinite amounts more of it) as it exists in the cloud. This lack of feeling has lead us as a species on a rather unpredictable and chaotic path concerning our data ethics.

Increasingly as the years go past, organizations being exposed for corruption of data, misuse of personal data, selling on customer data for profit (personal data which was taken without explicit consent at times). The issue is that as people we are not simply trying to figure out how to store data safely anymore, we are now processing, visualising, drawing conclusions and in most cases benefitting highly from the personal data of other people. These added factors may seem obvious in the modern day. The fast pace of the Google chrome browser you are likely to be using to read this doesn't cross the mind of the average internet user, as it meets their needs, why would they care about the robbery taking place right in front of them?

If the user could see the journey of their personal data on a daily basis I am sure they would be shocked. There are resources and tools the user can make good use of to protect themselves and their data which is rightfully theirs, however, there is a large gap in the digital understanding (across all ages) required simply to maintain a safe and somewhat prosperous virtual existence.

I will not delve too deeply into all the conceptual variables associated with ethical access, quality and insights of data in this post, as I plan to continue posting about my thoughts concerning them. I aim to contribute to the spread of digital understanding for all and to push for the decentralisation of as many parts of digital society as possible.

Watch this space.