Who (Really) Owns Your Data? (Get Ready To Freak Out)
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 5 to 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
Who owns your data? The New York Times ran an eye-opening piece titled, When a Company Is Put Up for Sale, in Many Cases, Your Personal Data Is, Too. That’s right, when a company is sold (or goes out of business), one of the major assets is the data. Who is it sold to? How can it be used? As you can imagine, the implications are serious and vast. Are there laws in place to protect consumers? Not really. Is there anything stopping a company from buying another company’s data and selling it to whomever they like? Not really.
A new report from CBC states that more than half of Canadians currently without cable television have “cut the cord,” meaning they had a television subscription and cancelled it. Sixteen percent of Canadians don’t pay for a traditional TV service, up from 12 per cent three years ago, the report said. The CBC is calling this a big jump. It’s probably just the beginning. Once news channels, like CNN, embrace the HBO Go model (paid subscription via online), the landscape may look completely different.
App of the week: Retype – typography photo editor. This one did make it to air (we forgot!) and it’s also $3.49, but it’s cool if you want to create graphics or add to your photos.