Policy-Carrying Data: A Step Towards Transparent Data Sharing

Abstract

The emerging research and application domains of the Internet-of-Things and Big Data, together with socio-technical phenomena such as social networking, as well as mobile phones (equipped with sensors, GPS, etc.) make us -companies, research centres, people in general -all (sometimes unwittingly, possibly unwillingly) producers and consumers of data. A sensitive issue for data providers concerns control over access, sharing, dissemination and use of data. By control, we mean placing limitations on who can access the data, when data can be accessed, how data can be accessed, and so on. We propose means to capture the expression of controls over data and to associate that indivisibly with the data via what we call "policy-carrying data" (PCD). The PCD establishes permissions for what the consumer may do to the data, but also -in a novel addition for such policies -establish what the consumer can/must do subsequently with the data. We formalise PCD and illustrate how it can meet potential stakeholder requirements.

Big Data and Individual Privacy in the Age of the Internet of Things

“…Other data privacy researchers propose that policy-carrying data is an effective solution for incorporating user control into the development of data-protection policies. Padgeta and Vasconcelosb (2015) acknowledge that the "who", "when", and "how" concerns of data access must be captured in policies to protect data privacy. They propose that a way to capture the wording and manner of access controls over data, and the ability to link that with clarity with the data through what they term "policy-carrying data" (PCD).…”

“…Further requests from the same party would be rejected with a suitable justification." (Padgeta & Vasconcelosb, 2015) There are several qualities of this PCD that address privacy policy challenges presented above. One quality is the specificity of the data use and control.…”