Research Report: A Day in the Life of Data
Consumer Policy Research’s Centre (CPRC)’s latest report – A Day in the Life of Data – illustrates the bewildering volume and scope of data collected about consumers just as they go about their daily lives.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, and personal information is increasingly being collected and commodified while legislation fails to keep up.
Led by CPRC Senior Research and Policy Officer, Brigid Richmond, the report presents the personal data extracted from consumers each day, often without their full knowledge, understanding, or consent.
A Day in the Life of Data highlights how technology enables online and offline tracking of consumers with greater precision, volume and velocity than ever before. From this data companies can infer everything from personality, health status, and political affiliations, through to even our mood.
Potential harms include manipulation, discrimination and exclusion, personal security risks, and consumer mistrust, along with unique risks for children who have now grown up in a connected world.
The report outlines several policy responses and business practices critical to ensuring that innovation and markets operate in line with community values and expectations.
A Day in the Life of Data was launched on Wednesday 29 May, during CPRC’s first Consumer Policy Connect Series webinar for 2019, which featured Lauren Solomon and Brigid Richmond from CPRC, Nathan Kinch and Mat Mytka from Greater than X, and Dr Chris Culnane from the University of Melbourne’s Department of Computing and Information Systems.