Control over own data for Dutch citizens
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An analysis of the possibilities and limitations of giving Dutch citizens control over their personal data
Filing a tax return? Apply for benefits? Need a visa? More and more interactions between citizens and the government are driven by the collection, processing and sharing of large amounts of digital data.
In this digitization of public services, algorithmic technologies and digital data are increasingly playing a guiding role. Increasingly, it is not clear to citizens what data is being processed about them, who is doing it and for what purpose. This can lead to people feeling that they are losing control over their data.
Commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Waag Futurelab project Grip op Eigen Gegevens investigated which digital tools are available to citizens to gain more control over the use of their personal data by government services. Examples of tools include overview pages of processed personal data, web forms, authentication apps and data vaults and locks - services that allow you to manage the use of your data yourself. An example of a data lock is the app Ockto, where one grants permission to retrieve personal data from government sources and pass it on to mortgage lenders or other financial service providers.
Waag Futurelab explored the ways in which the available tools offer citizens different forms of control and conducted interviews with the developers of these tools. In the study, we analyzed a total of 109 tools, looking at the user interfaces and what AVG rights one can exercise based on the functions available within the tools. We also spoke with seven different stakeholders for three specific cases of tools about how the tools are used and what barriers they experience in implementing and further developing these services.
Authors: Danny Lämmerhirt & Julia Jansen.
This publication is taken from the Waag Futurelab website.
English translation of this webtext by ediorial board openresearch.
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Icon image: Beeld: Markus Spiske via Unsplash