A recent release from the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario on the Personal Data Ecosystem praises organizations taking initiatives to integrate the socio-economic benefits of personal information while maintaining privacy and confidentiality. The Commissioner, Dr. Cavoukian, also co-authored a paper with researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom that delineates the systems that drive the PDE, and how these systems aim to address the specific challenges that privacy protection demands. What is the Personal Data Ecosystem? The PDE is a term used to describe the network of data that exists correlating to an individual’s personal information. Anyone who exists online has a PDE, whether or not they are familiar with the term or considered the concept. The term is often used in conjunction with user-centric discussions, which seek to move away from the way data has been collected and used in the recent past. In the last 10 years or so, PDE information has largely been hoarded by private companies with the interest of marketing to individuals and to drive sales. The PDE model is one that marries two previously antimonious ideas: interconnected data from various sources within a deidentifying sphere of encryption. The idea is to give individual users control of their own data, where it goes, and how it is used while simultaneous allowing that data to be linked and connected to one’s other data online. Commissioner Cavoukian supports these initiatives and is enthusiastic about the opportunities they present to individual users as well as […]