My data is my data

There are more and more arguments over data access and data sharing. Who is right and who is wrong? As far as I’m concerned, my data is my data but now JP Morgan Chase is selling it to Plaid – for access, not for keeps, an important difference – and Europe has told America’s big techs to get lost. What’s going on?

Well, let’s start with the basics. In Open Banking or any other form, my data can be accessed by a third party, such as Plaid, if I give permission. What’s different now is that JP Morgan Chase are charging Plain for that access, even with my permission.

Alongside this, Europe has a new financial data sharing initiative. and yet they’ve stopped US big techs having access to the initiative. Why? Because, if US big techs have access then they could have too much control over our data.

In both cases, what we are seeing is a war over data. Our data, you data, my data. There is war for access and you are probably already losing it because you just clicked “approve” when the settings for the website came up asking if you accept its cookies.

We happily surf here, there and everywhere without consideration, and yet we are now in a position where, every time we make a purchase online, that data could be shared with a Plaid, Stripe, Adyen or whoever. Think about that. Only a few years ago, the idea that your account information would be shared with third parties was ridiculous. Your bank account is your bank account. No one knows its numbers or details. Now, everyone does.

Sure, it’s not quite as simple as that but, being contrarian, we are moving to a world where sensitive data is being shared, sometimes without our knowledge but with our consent … because we hit “accept” or “approve”. Oh, just out of interest, did you read my website’s terms and conditions?