Government launches personal data sharing initiative with major businesses

http://ow.ly/7rWsu

An article on the out-law.com website of Pinsent Masons

This article discusses a new data sharing program initiated by the EU, and involving the participation of many major private sector businesses.

The article states, "The Department for Business, Skills and Innovation (BIS) said that 19 major brands, including Google, Royal Bank of Scotland, British Gas and Visa, had all signed up to the voluntary 'midata' scheme. The scheme will "give consumers increasing access to their personal data in a portable, electronic format" under "an agreed, common approach" to data sharing, BIS said."

The article further states, "Under the scheme consumers will eventually be able to access and manage their personal data in order to gain the best deals from businesses, including energy suppliers and mobile phone companies, BIS said.

"Midata will allow consumers to access their data in a safe and secure way and make better decisions reflecting their personal wants and needs," BIS said."

The article goes on to provide information about the specifics of the proposal, and also states, "Organisations involved in the scheme should be guided by certain 'consumer data' principles when making personal data available to individuals, BIS said. The principles include making the data available in "an open standard format" that is "reusable" and "machine-readable" in as standard form as is possible across sectors and ensuring that consumers can "access, retrieve and store their data securely"."