News of a new Microsoft on personal data control is making the rounds on the internet.
There are few details about the project in question, but the idea of addressing data collection by third parties raises hope for users.
Microsoft Research is testing Project Bali, which seeks to give users some kind of control over their online data. Their idea involves giving the user a bank of personal data.
What does “bank” mean in this context? It means the data collected about you. Martin Brinkmann, founder of Ghacks, said: “All data that belongs to a user should belong to them according to the description of Project Bali.”.
Trying to understand this project, you might have the idea that it will make your access to a huge amount of data much easier.
Kan shared the story behind the project: “People often have no idea what data websites and businesses have about them, nor do they have an easy way to find out.”.
BetaNews described a privacy-focused tool as a “new dashboard that could allow users to manage the data the company collects about them.” Mark Wycislik-Wilson said it “promises not only to give users the ability to manage and control the data collected about them, but also the ability to monetize it.”.
Martin Brinkmann, approached the topic with information he has been able to gather so far for this project. “According to his description, it is based on a privacy concept called Inverse Privacy … Inverse Privacy refers to personal information that is private to an individual, but outside of that individual’s control.”
TechRadar's Anthony Spadafora similarly explained Inverse Privacy. He said that some examples of organizations that are creating Inverse Privacy include healthcare providers, police, and employers.
Kelly Sheridan at Dark Reading summarized the few things that are known about Project Bali.
Some of those you interact with, such as employers, municipalities, or doctors, have “legitimate reasons for collecting your information (receipts, prescriptions, etc.). Over time, technology has allowed them to record and store this information better than you do. As a result, more of your data has become Inverse Privacy, but it is difficult for them to access.”
Sheridan also wrote that “inversely private” information can allow institutions to serve you better, but having access to that information, especially if presented in a convenient format “would be very helpful.”.
Dark Reading stated that “The idea behind Project Bali is to reduce the amount of inversely private data and give users more control over their information.”.
Luke Jones at WinBuzzer also reported: “The solution would allow individual users to aggregate their personal data from websites and services into a single location. The project’s goal is clearly to act as a single area for data from multiple services.”
Kan pointed to the paper on which Bali was based, in which the authors proposed creating an ecosystem “that would allow consumers to see the data a particular company had on them. “The ideal case,” Kan said, “is that the project would also allow you to correct, cancel, or delete your personal information from a business or website.
Brinkmann said his opinion on Project Bali: “Whether Microsoft’s project will become more than a research project remains up for debate. There is certainly a demand from users for control over their data. The ability to see, edit, and delete the data that companies have on users will certainly be appreciated by many.”
It is still uncertain whether the project will become part of the company's ecosystem. All we have to do is wait.
