Why you should get paid for your data

The world's most valuable tech companies profit from the personal data you generate. So why aren't you getting paid for it? In this eye-opening talk, entrepreneur and technologist Jennifer Zhu Scott makes the case for private data ownership -- which would empower you to donate, destroy or sell your data as you see fit -- and shows how this growing movement could put power (and cash) back into the hands of people.

I grew up in the late '70s in rural China

during the final years of my country's
pursuit of absolute equality

at the expense of liberty.

At that time, everybody had a job,

but everyone was struggling.

In the early '80s,
my dad was an electrician,

and my mom worked two shifts
in the local hospital.

But still, we didn't have enough food,

and our living conditions were dismal.

We were undoubtedly equal --

we were equally poor.

The state owned everything.

We owned nothing.

The story I'm going to share with you
is about my struggles

of overcoming adversity

with my resilience, grit
and sheer determination.

No, I'm just kidding,
I'm not going to do that to you.

(Laughter)

Instead, I'm going to tell you,

what I'm going to talk about today
is about a new form of collective poverty

that many of us don't recognize

and that urgently needs to be understood.

I'm sure you've noticed
that in the past 20 years,

that asset has emerged.

It's been generating wealth
at a breakneck pace.

As a tool, it has brought businesses
deep customer insights,

operational efficiency

and enormous top-line growth.

But for some,

it has also provided a device
to manipulate a democratic election

or perform surveillance
for profit or political purposes.

What is this miracle asset?

You've guessed it: it's data.

Seven out of the top 10 most valuable
companies in the world are tech companies

that either directly generate
profit from data

or are empowered by data from the core.

Multiple surveys show

that the vast majority
of business decision makers

regard data as an essential
asset for success.

We have all experienced how data
is shifting this major paradigm shift

for our personal, economic
and political lives.

Whoever owns the data owns the future.

But who's producing the data?

I assume everyone in this room
has a smartphone,

several social media accounts

and has done a Google search
or two in the past week.

We are all producing data. Yes.

It is estimated that by 2030,
10 years from now,

there will be about 125 billion
connected devices in the world.

That's an average of about
15 devices per person.

We are already producing data every day.

We'll be producing exponentially more.

Google, Facebook and Tencent's
combined revenue in 2018

was 236 billion US dollars.

Now, how many of you
have received payment from them

for the data you generate for them?

None, right?

Data has immense value
but is centrally controlled and owned.

You are all walking raw materials
for those large data companies,

but none of you are paid.

Not only that,

you're not even considered
as part of this equation for income.

So once again,

we are undoubtedly equal:

we're equally poor.

Somebody else owns everything,
and we own nothing.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

So what should we do?

There might be some clues
in how my life turned out

after that difficult start.

Things began to look up
for my family in the '80s.

The system evolved,

and people began to be allowed
to own a piece of what we created.

"People diving into the ocean,"

or "xia hai," the Chinese term,

described those who left
state-owned enterprise jobs

and started their own businesses.

Private ownership of a business

became personal ownership of cars,

properties, food, clothes and things.

The economic machine started rolling,

and people's lives began to improve.

For the first time,

to get rich was glorious.

So in the '90s, when I went
to study in Chengdu in west China,

many young individuals like myself

were well-positioned
to take advantage of the new system.

After I graduated from my university,

I cofounded my first business
and moved to Shenzhen,

the brand-new special economic zone
that used to be a fishing village.

Twenty years later,

Shenzhen has become
a global innovation powerhouse.

Private ownership was a form of liberty
we didn't have before.

It created unprecedented opportunities
for our generations,

motivating us to work
and study incredibly hard.

The result was that more than
850 million people rose out of poverty.

According to the World Bank,

China's extreme poverty rate in 1981,
when I was a little kid, was 88 percent.

By 2015, 0.7 percent.

I am a product of that success,

and I am very happy to share that today,
I have my own AI business,

and I lead a very worldly
and dynamic life,

a path that was unimaginable
when I was a kid in west China.

Of course, this prosperity
came with a trade-off,

with equality,
the environment and freedom.

And obviously I'm not here to argue
that China has it all figured out.

We haven't.

Nor that data is fully comparable
to physical assets.

It is not.

But my life experience allowed me
to see what's hiding in plain sight.

Currently, the public discourse

is so focused on the regulatory
and privacy issue

when it comes to data ownership.

But I want to ask:

What if we look at data ownership
in completely different ways?

What if data ownership is, in fact,

a personal, individual and economic issue?

What if, in the new digital economy,

we are allowed to own
a piece of what we create

and give people the liberty
of private data ownership?

The legal concept of ownership
is when you can possess,

use, gift, pass on, destroy

or trade it or sell your asset

at a price accepted by you.

What if we give that same definition
to individuals' data,

so individuals can use or destroy our data

or we trade it at our chosen price?

Now, I know some of you might say,

"I would never, ever trade my data
for any amount of money."

But that, let me remind you,
is exactly what you're doing now,

except you're giving
your data away for free.

Plus, privacy is a very personal
and nuanced issue.

You might have the privilege
to prioritize your privacy over money,

but for millions of small
business owners in China

who can't get bank loans easily,

using their data to gain rapid loan
approval from AI-powered lenders

can answer their more pressing needs.

What's private to you

is different from
what's private to others.

What's private to you now

is different from what was private
when you were in college.

Or, at least, I hope so.

(Laughter)

We are always,
although often subconsciously,

making such trade-offs

based on our diverse personal beliefs
and life priorities.

That is why data ownership
would be incomplete

without a pricing power.

By assigning pricing power to individuals,

we gain a tool to reflect
our personal and nuanced preferences.

So, for example, you could choose
to donate your data for free

if a contribution
to a particular medical research

is very meaningful for you.

Or, if we had the tools
to set our behavior data

at a price of, say,
100,000 US dollars,

I doubt any political group
would be able to target

or manipulate your vote.

You control. You decide.

Now, I know this sounds
probably implausible,

but trends are already pointing to

a growing and very powerful
individual data ownership movement.

First, start-ups
are already creating tools

to allow us to take back some control.

A new browser called Brave

empowers users with "Brave Shields" --
they literally call it that --

by aggressively blocking
data-grabbing ads and trackers,

and avoid leaking data
like other browsers.

In return, users can take back
some bargaining and pricing power.

When users opt in to accept ads,

Brave rewards users
with "basic attention tokens"

that can redeem content
behind paywalls from publishers.

And I've been using Brave
for a few months.

It has already blocked
more than 200,000 ads and trackers

and saved hours of my time.

Now, I know some of you
interact with your browser

more than with your partners, so --

(Laughter)

you should at least find one that doesn't
waste your time and is not creepy.

(Laughter)

Do you think Google is indispensable?

Think again.

A search engine is indispensable.

Google just has the monopoly --

for now.

A search engine called DuckDuckGo
doesn't store your personal information

or follow you around with ads

or track your personal browsing history.

Instead, it gives all users
the same search results

instead of based on
your personal browsing records.

In London, a company called digi.me

offers an app you can download
on your smartphone

that helps to import and consolidate
your data generated by you

from your Fitbit, Spotify,

social media accounts ...

And you can choose
where to store your data,

and digi.me will help you
to make your data work for you

by providing insights that used
to be exclusively accessible

by large data companies.

In DC, a new initiative
called UBDI, U-B-D-I,

Universal Basic Data Income,

helps people to make money

by sharing anonymous insights
through their data

for companies that can use them
for market research.

And whenever a company purchases a study,

users get paid in cash and UBDI points
to track their contribution,

potentially as much
as 1,000 US dollars per year

per their estimation.

UBDI could be a very feasible path
for universal basic income

in the AI economy.

Further, individual awareness
of privacy and data ownership

is growing fast

as we all become aware of this monster
we have unleashed in our pocket.

I'm a mother of two preteen girls,

and trust me,

the single biggest source of stress
and anxiety as a parent,

for me, is my children's
relationship with technology.

This is a three-page agreement
my husband and I make them sign

before they receive
their first [mobile phone].

(Laughter)

We want to help them to become

digital citizens,

but only if we can make them
become smart and responsible ones.

I help them to understand
what kind of data should never be shared.

So if you Google me,

in fact -- actually, sorry --
if you DuckDuckGo me,

you will find maybe a lot
about me and my work,

but you may find no information
about my daughters.

When they grow up,

if they want to put themselves out there,
it's their choice, not mine,

despite that I insist
they're the most beautiful,

smartest and most extraordinary
kids in the world, of course.

And I know many people
are having similar conversations

and making similar decisions,

which gives me hope

that a truly smart data-rich future
will be here soon.

But I want to highlight
the Clause 6 of this agreement.

It says, "I will never, ever search
for any information online

if I would be embarrassed
if seen by Grandma Dawnie."

(Laughter)

Try it. It's really effective.

(Laughter)

Throughout history,

there has always been a trade-off
between liberty and equality

in the pursuit of prosperity.

The world has constantly been going
through the circle of wealth accumulation

to wealth redistribution.

As the tension between
the haves and have-nots

is breaking so many countries,

it is in everyone's interest,

including the large data companies,

to prevent this new form of inequality.

Of course, individual data ownership
is not the perfect nor the complete answer

to this profoundly complex question

of what makes a good digital society.

But according to McKinsey,

AI will add 13 trillion US dollars
of economic output in the next 10 years.

Data generated by individuals
will no doubt contribute

to this enormous growth.

Shouldn't we at least consider
an economic model

that empowers the people?

And if private ownership helped
to lift more than 850 million people

out of poverty,

it is our duty

and we owe it to future generations

to create a more inclusive AI economy

that will empower the people
in addition to businesses.

Thank you.

(Applause)