"Taking Control of Our Digital Future" - Brittany Kaiser x Elon University

By: Anna Cave

What Cambridge Analytica's whistleblower wants from big data.

On Tuesday, September 28th, Brittany Kaiser came to speak at Elon University in her “Taking Control of Our Digital Future” talk as a part of the Liberal Arts Forum. You may recognize her name from The Great Hack, a Netflix documentary edited and co-written by ‘09 Elon grad, Erin Barnett. Kaiser stepped into the public eye in February 2017 when she spoke out about the activities conducted within Cambridge Analytica that preyed on vulnerable users on the internet. Kaiser took her time at Elon to discuss with the community what she has done after becoming a whistleblower and her hopes for how we can act ethically within the system of big data.

Photo by William Wood

Since separating from Cambridge Analytica, Kaiser has become something of a data rights activist who is advocating for more data protection for users. Kaiser has helped write 50 different laws aimed to assist in the protection of assets and privacy. She wants to use law and policy to fix some of the biggest issues facing us after the uptick in big data. But what exactly are these issues?

We live in a world where data is now the most valuable resource. Forget oil and gas, personal data is an asset that significantly outweighs natural resources. But instead of reaping the benefits of the massive amounts of data we produce daily, we have lost control over our digital lives. And with so much of what we’ve done in the past year taking place online due to COVID-19, it makes it even more important to demand control of our data.

Much of the issues reside in the terms of conditions of websites and social media apps. These terms are purposefully written in complicated legalese with the intention that the average user will not be able to understand them. Users will then give blind consent, allowing their data to be used and shared. The issue here is transparency as it pertains to consent. We give consent when we skip through those terms and conditions because no one realistically has the time or energy to sift through all aspects of the app. Kaiser dreams of a world where direct consent will be possible. Instead of needing a lawyer just to understand your agreements, terms and conditions will be written in bullet points at a third-grade reading level so that the average user can become a part of the decision-making process of how their data is used. 

Kaiser also explained that she hopes for accountability when it comes to forming digital trust. She hopes that we can have control of where our data goes with a way to confirm it’s going only to the agreed-upon locations. She also wants there to be an option to delete your data once you are no longer comfortable with its use. 

One of the last things Kaiser touched on was having ownership over our data. Right now it’s unclear who really owns data, but Kaiser believes it should be owned by the one who produced it. Kaiser believes that we should benefit from our data by receiving our fair share of payment from what we produce and have a choice on how it is used. In a test to understand just how valuable this data was, it was concluded that data was worth enough to buy weekly groceries. For those living in poverty, having ownership over their own data could literally be life-changing. 

Kaiser’s view is not that data collection should stop, because there are lots of positives when it comes to collecting data. Kaiser just wants to see improvement with the potential for good impact. She co-founded the Own Your Own Data Foundation with hopes of raising awareness of digital rights and promoting education on digital literacy. 

Kaiser also introduced the community to an application called BIGtoken which allows individuals to own and earn money from their data. For now, this is a great opportunity. In the future, we hope it becomes the norm. 

Members of Elon University can watch Kaiser’s lecture here with their Elon login. ​