Changing data, changing society?

Will Brexit impact how banks use data? How will EU privacy laws complicate B2B data sharing? Can data sharing improve transport? What could a world with AI look like?

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Changing data, changing society? The Royal Society and the British Academy have jointly released a report urging the UK government to set up a public body to oversee data use. The report acknowledges the increase in data collection and analytic techniques, and the benefits this will bring to society. 💯 But, crucially, the report also points out that "a set of high-level principles" are required to form a data governance structure and therefore "ensure trustworthiness" in the use of data.

-- The report concludes that there needs to be a new and independent body "to steward the landscape as a whole". ✅ This body should be:

Deeply connected to diverse communities.
Expert across and beyond disciplines.
Tightly coupled to decision processes.
Durable and visible.
Nationally focused but globally relevant.

How will Brexit impact how banks use data? 🤔 INTRIGUING article by David Richards, CEO and Co-Founder of WANdisco, exploring data portability, in the context of the ever-growing issue of cross-border data handling. 🌎 Richards points out that:

Moving data is a serious undertaking for any sizeable organisation. For a bank, it’s particularly daunting. How would they do this without downtime, without interrupting data access? And what if the new target territory has tougher data privacy laws, placing additional restrictions on where data is allowed to go and what it can be used for?

-- Richards provides an excellent snapshot view of the current global marketplace. Highly recommend giving it a read. 🙌

Will EU privacy laws complicate B2B data sharing? 🔮 Tom Spring discusses the implications of increased EU data regulations on companies from the US. Through quoting Clare Sullivan, Georgetown University professor at the Law Center, Spring explains that "most countries around the world [except the US] base their data protection and privacy laws on the current EU directive" -- as all companies that want to trade within the EU, must comply with it's privacy standards. 😎

-- As such, alongside Trump's modification to the US-EU Privacy Shield, it will be much harder for US companies to do digital business in the EU once GDPR comes into action next year. ⚔

Can data sharing improve transport? 🚌 Simon White, of Transport Systems Catapult (TSC), highlights the opportunity for the UK to be "at the forefront of innovative mobility solutions" if the government "encourages better data sharing in the transport sector". 👏

-- White queries why organisations aren't sharing data and references a topical study conducted by TSC. 📚 Interestingly, the study highlighted the following core reasons why organisations lack the incentives needed to share:

The fear that shared data could lead to breaches in privacy, security and safety.
The belief that the costs of sharing data outweigh the benefits.
The focus by organisations on their own mode of transport, limiting opportunities and awareness to make data available beyond their segment.
A shortage of data literacy skills in the sector.

KEY TAKEAWAY - a culture change is needed around the belief that the cost of sharing data outweighs the benefits (particularly for medical data).

Miscellaneous

😬 The European Commission fined Google €2.42B for abusing dominance -- read Google's side of the story here. ⚖

🤖 What could a world with AI look like? Nice summary on CogX17.

💸 Meet Penny: An AI that predicts a neighbourhood's wealth from space.

💪 Why you don't need a fancy education to start a data analytics career.

🎶 The secret lives of playlists -- insight into the world of Spotify.

🎨 Los Angeles-based artist, Matthias Dorfelt, created "Block Bills" to provide a “map” to the "inner workings of the Bitcoin system":