Bill of 7 rights to biodata proposed to safeguard biometrics

Seven biodata human rights have been suggested by bright minds in private and public endeavors in the hope that the rising age of biometrics is both respectful of people and profitable for entrepreneurs.

Cultural consulting firm sparks & honey LLC. created a panel of subject-matter experts and insiders at the World Economic Forum to “set the foundation for a biodata bill of rights.”

Sparks & honey published a report derived from panel discussions, looking at what they call precision consumption. In this case, precision relates to deeply personalized solutions.

In the report, the firm’s consultants look at precision consumption in a specific context: the “opportunities, challenges and long-term implications of digital biology for consumers, business leaders and our society at large.”

The panel’s bill of rights was summarized in technology and design magazine Fast Company.

The stated aim of the thought experiment is to prevent governments and capitalists from unfairly taking freedoms or profiting from individuals’ biometric personality. But unlike dogmatic libertarian proposals, this bill of rights acknowledges the societal and personal good biometric data can create.

It does not, for example, absolutely forbid the use of biodata by someone other than its owner. It states that people have the right to understand how the information is collected, used and shared.

The seven rights set out by the panel are:

1. Define protected data

This provision would solidify the types of data that need protection. A fuzzy definition means shaky protection and lax enforcement.

2. Consumer data ownership

Consumers are the owners of their own biometric data. This does not mean the data cannot be shared, borrowed, leased or even sold. Some business leaders balk at this idea and fight to overturn it while battling for the sanctity of their own intellectual property.

3. Guaranteed anonymity

Anyone contributing their own biodata for any reason including verification and product personalization gets anonymity unless anonymity is waived explicitly in documentation that they sign for their contribution.

4. Data portability

Consumers keep their biodata close to them and take it with them wherever they go, personally or within safe and neutral databases, regardless of the partners they may engage with that require access.

5. Consent

Consumers are entitled to full, dynamic consent specific to the use case that is seeking biodata use. No use case being the same, consent will be validated on an ongoing basis, as well.

6. Recourse

People can seek legal recourse for compensation when data is hacked, biodata rights are compromised or any other action breaches consumer rights.

7. Access to synthetic switches

Because consumers have the right to prevent their biodata from theft, they have the following right to access and use synthetic switches that detect data-collection signals and create a response.

Article Topics

best practices  |  biometric data  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  data sharing  |  ethics  |  World Economic Forum