My Data, My Money: Data Dividends and the Digital Economy

Few could have imagined the true costs of “data for a service,” driven in large part by a monopolistic economy for users’ information, as powerful internet giants and platforms have melded into our daily lives. 

The internet’s ubiquity has led to societal cracks, from users’ lower self-esteem to impacting elections, while data ownership and privacy were traded, often haphazardly, for the sake of convenience. 

As a result, a movement of scholars, professionals and activists is exploring alternative ways to remedy the imbalance in power via a data dividend – a mechanism whereby companies share profits derived from the use of personal data directly with users. 

Is the data dividend an opportunity to restructure the digital economy on more equitable terms, or merely a redesign of the current data ecosystem?

In “My Data, My Money: Data Dividends and the Digital Economy” on Nov. 18, CoinDesk privacy reporter Ben Powers invites leaders from The Data Dividend Project, The Data Union and HACKYLAWYER to explore the alternative ways to remedy the imbalance in power through a data dividend or by other avenues.

Nov. 18, 2020 | 1:30 p.m. ET

Enoch Liang, CEO, The Data Dividend Project
James Felton Keith, Founder & President, The Data Union
Ben Powers, Privacy Reporter, CoinDesk (Host)
Elizabeth Renieris, Founder & CEO of HACKYLAWYER