The New York Times writes today about how could personal data become the new online currency.

The main idea is that personal data have become so valuable for marketing companies – to say the least, that its potential value is already exploited by a few start-ups. “A number of start-ups allow people to take control — and perhaps profit from — the digital trails that they leave on the Internet”, writes NYT.

I think that handled carefully, with prudence, this idea could be the new big thing in online marketing.

Also have in mind that such innovations would impact cloud computing and data portability. The EU data protection reform presupposes the existence of a right to data portability in favor of the data subject (See Article 18 of the proposed Regulation).

First of all, this would mean that a right to data portability will propagate soon in other jurisdictions. Second of all, it means that the data subject gains more control on the set of data directly connected to he or she, being able to keep all of it in one place, as long as he or she knows he or she will be able to move the set of data whenever he or she finds a better service provider, or a better suited one for his or her needs. All of these indicates that value could be added to the set of one’s available personal data. So this is a trend to be observed in the future.

Note: Photo source – http://www.moneymakingsuccesssite.com