We Need To Talk About Data Arbitrage: A Position On Data Trusts

Based on personal experience, I can tell you that the best way to rile up a privacy/data protection lawyer is to talk about the best ways to use and trade personal data as a commodity. To be fair, our (top-notch, award-winning, industry-leading) Privacy, Security and Information team do exactly what they are meant to do, which is to ensure that clients follow privacy law and what that law takes as its higher, near-inviolable purpose: the right of individuals to keep their private information just that – private.

Just because our laws promote this ideal doesn't make the use of personal data evil, yet the focus on protecting personal data as a higher moral imperative leads most people to talk about using personal data (even when permitted by law) in hushed tones.