You may not know it yet, but you need Data Justice.

by Ashby Hayes

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is estimated to be worth $1 trillion. Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth is around $100 billion.

How do these companies make so much money with something they give us for free? What are they selling?

Us. They sell us.

They sell predictions of our actions. Incredible accurate and AI driving predictions of what we will do. Our likes, our views, and our follows feed this prediction engine. Our location, our purchase history, and our demographics it all feeds the invisible non-human intelligence that manipulates us. To think. To want. To spend money…and more. It’s big BIG business.

In 2019, online advertising revenue was said to be around $124 billion. The year prior, “Big Data” was valued at $169 billion. Our data is more valuable than we think it is. Billions, even trillions, are being made on your data, content and activity every day.

Despite that, the U.S. government is unable to guarantee people $15-per-hour minimum wage. And outside of the U.S., almost 700 million people live in extreme poverty. Because companies like Amazon don’t even pay federal taxes.

It’s time to give the power (and profit) of data back to the people who created it with Data Justice.

We create our data. We should own it. Data Justice can help us get paid for living our lives. 

In January 2021 the state of Illinois told Facebook to pay 1.6 million users $300 each for illegally collecting their biometric data. In February 2021 TikTok was ordered to pay 92 Million dollars for stealing user data. Stories like these are popping up everywhere. They are the vanguard of Data Justice.

What is Data Justice?

Data Justice is a movement focused on giving people ownership of their data, and teaching them about Data Rights. It was started by thought leaders, technologists, politicians, and advocates who recognized that data is the currency of our future. 

“Data is the new coin of the realm in many industries. In many settings, our data is being sold and resold for large sums without our knowledge. Our data is immensely valuable – we should be able to share in the economic value generated, which could be even higher with our buy-in.”

Andrew Yang, Politician

Data Justice is about freedom

It’s about deciding who gets to use your data and when. It’s about owning your photos, your ideas, and your browser history. It’s about getting paid when companies use your life to make money.

Data Justice is about trust.

Every day we unknowingly give away the power and profitability of our data by clicking ‘Accept’ on a long and unreadable ‘Terms and Conditions’ form. 

We don’t often realize it, but we are giving away our right to decide what we see from advertisers. We are giving away our right to decide how our personal information is being used. 

Our trust has been broken time and again by bad actors who pay Facebook and other platforms for the opportunity to lie to us, to mislead us, and to manipulate our view of reality. 

“The biggest problem is that Facebook and Google are these giant feedback loops that give people what they want to hear. And when you use them in a world where your biases are being constantly confirmed, you become susceptible to fake news, propaganda, demagoguery.”

Franklin Foer, Author, “A World Without Mind, the Existential Threat of Big Tech” 

Data Justice is about control.

We are at the mercy of the algorithms and AI that decides what we see, what we read, and what we buy – even what we believe. Our attention is precious and finite: in a world as fast-moving as ours, we need to have a choice of what we give our attention to.  

“The ultimate freedom is a free mind, and we need technology that’s on our team to help us live, feel, think and act freely. 

How do you ethically steer the thoughts and actions of two billion people’s minds every day?” Tristan Harris, Fmr Google Employee, Social Dilemma, Co-Founder Center for Humane Technology

Why do we need Data Justice?

If you were a painter who creating a masterpiece upon a canvas that the local canvas maker loaned you, who should own the painting? You or the canvas maker?

Every day we paint the reality of our lives on a canvas of digital devices, platforms, and systems. And every day the digital canvas makers sell our rich tapestries for so much gold. 

We need Data Justice to give us rights and ownership of our data. Today, the vast majority of technical innovation is making the rich richer and the poor poorer by comparison, expanding the societal wealth gap. If we give people ownership of their data, however, we can create a world where people earn a living, simply by living.

We need Data Justice to ensure our freedom, to promote equity, and to rebuild trust and rebuild our sense of being a part of a single human community. 

Who will benefit from Data Justice?

Everyone with a cell phone. Everyone with a computer. Everyone who uses the internet. 

96% of Americans own a cell phone. Every time you surf the internet, send email, or take photos and post them online, your data is being tracked, used, and stored. New laws being passed all over the world are giving people explicit ownership of their data. It’s time to use those laws to take back the power of our data with Data Justice. You deserve the right to manage, delete, and opt-out of data usage. You deserve to get paid for data that companies are profiting from. 

You can read more about the Data Bill of Rights. 

Each of us will individually benefit from Data Justice, with more knowledge of and control over our personal data. We will also benefit collectively as a society: as people actively engage in understanding and managing how their own data is used, the power and ubiquity of data will become clearer to them. They will better understand how data drives influence in our societies, and thus better educate themselves on the sources of the information they receive and the motivations of those sources. 

“The only difference between being uninformed and misinformed is that one is your choice and the other is theirs.”

Frank Sonnenberg, Listen to Your Conscience: That’s Why You Have One

Will anyone be hurt by Data Justice?

Companies currently making billions of dollars from your data will be forced to ask permission to use your data. They will have to explain what data they are using and what it’s being used for. Data Justice will be annoying for these companies, and it may drastically change the way they do business. They will try to tell us that they don’t make billions from our data…but we know they do. They will try to tell us that we can always opt-out…but it’s not easy and it’s not clear and it’s not fair that the default is to have your data exploited.

Data Justice will hurt companies that don’t really care about fairness, equity, and the greater good. Data Justice will hurt the companies that don’t care about us. But should we really care about them? Facebook has never really cared about you as in individual or your rights. You are the product not the customer.  

What can I do?

Get involved with the Data Justice movement by watching recent documentaries, following thought leaders and Data Justice Warriors, and actively managing your data. We have growing list of resources on our Get Involved page.

It’s time for #Data Justice.