Ownership Society - Case Study Example

Final AE Introduction: In the article “Treating money as free speech”, Bowie Nolan, 2007, brings out an interesting idea of “ownership society”, wherein he suggests that in such an American society every American would have a copyright or trademark for their personal information and profile, the money value of which could be kept low. To use such individual intellectual property for commercial purposes and benefits, a commercial enterprise would have to receive permission from the individual first and make the suitable compensation. Failure to do would tantamount to trespass, illegal appropriation, or copyright violation. This copyright system of the “ownership society” would enable any individuals to keep track of the use of the individual’s personal data in terms of the identity of the user, when it is used, and the purpose for which it has been used. (1). This is a thought provoking idea that needs evaluation to enable an understanding of the suitability and acceptability to the American society as a whole. Evaluation of the Idea of “Ownership Society”: The rampant access and misuse of the personal information of an individual for commercial benefits has become an issue for societies around the world and in the United States of America too. The pervasiveness of the Internet has made access to personal information much easier than it was before, which has led to the commercial exploitation possibilities of accessing personal information of individuals and making it available for other business enterprises for their pursuit of commercial benefits. There is growing feeling among the members of the society that this exploitation is a trespass of the rights that they enjoy as individuals and guaranteed by the Constitution of America. (2). The concept of ownership society is a means of addressing this trespass of an individual’s dignity, and is closer to the essence of the basic beliefs of what constitutes the American society. Amongst this essence is the required respect for the dignity of the individual, which means control over ones life and the information one holds to be central to the individual and that is the personal and private information of the individual, which only the individual has the right to decide to pass on to others or not and if it has an economic value, then derive the due economic value for the information. (3). It is a well known and accepted fact that was first pit forward by Aristotle that an individual takes best care of what is owned by the individual. Observing the world around us and the difference in the care an individual provides for that which is owned by the individual and that which is not makes this point very clear. Personal information is the basic thing that any individual owns, all others are really subsequent. An extension of this logic brings into focus that common entities are provided the least care in society. This means that the essence of an individual in personal information getting to be a common piece of information that commercial enterprises can exploit means that it would be given the least amount of care. Hence personal information cannot be made common and in an ownership society as put forward, personal property is no longer a common piece of information afforded the least care, but becomes the private property of the individual and thus receives the best care possible. (4). Is the issue of misuse of personal information so rampant that makes the concept of ownership society relevant in the modern United States of America? The answer is yes, as in the first place a vast majority of Americans citizens are concern over misuse of personal information in modern American society. The percentage of very concerned individuals is sixty-four percent, while those somewhat concerned is at twenty-five percent. In addition a majority of Americans do not believe that the authorities are making a decent effort to protect personal information and would like to have their private information offered greater protection. It is only when there are public benefits like increased safety, crime prevention, or protection of children that most of the individuals in America are willing to make a few compromises on the issue of access and use of personal information. (5). This means that most individuals are against the commercial exploitation of their personal information, and this is what the concept of ownership society aims to check by empowering individuals with control over their personal information and the right to make the decision to make the information available for commercial uses. There are two difficulties that in ensuring control over the personal information that is bought and sold in the commercial world. The first is the requirement that some commercial organizations put forward in that they require access to some personal information to provide better value to their customers and the means to bring about the required individual control over personal information. (6). The initial requirement is to bring about a change in the intellectual property law. These changes would provide for specifically legal ownership rights of individuals clarifying the credit, financial, employment and medical information of individuals that is currently being collected, bought and sold by commercial organizations. Individuals would be duly recognized as owners of information pertaining to their personal, legal, and financial relationships. This ownership would provide the necessary means for individuals to control access to and commercial exploitation of their personal information. Having defined the ownership issue legally, it would then be possible to put in place the systems and procedures required to support management for access to this information for commercial enterprises to access it. Any commercial enterprise that uses the personal information would pay the individual for the willingness of the individual to release personal information for the commercial intentions of the commercial enterprise. The level of access would be defined and decided by the individual and the extent of payment would be based on the level of access provided to the commercial enterprise. There may be individuals that do not wish to participate in such an arrangement, and it would remain their right to do so. Access to personal information would thus be restricted to certain government, national security and public health uses with the required safeguards to protect the privacy. In this manner it would be possible on one hand to ensure that personal information remains in the care of the individual and based on an individual’s willingness access to personal information is available to commercial enterprises. (7). Conclusion: The concept of ownership society in the case of privacy of personal information is not only interesting but also feasible. It offers a practical solution for the growing concern of commercial exploitation of persoanl information in the United States of America, as it addrsses the individual requirements and also the provides a window of means for commercial enterprises for access to personal onformation based on the willingness of the individual. Works Cited 1. Bowie, Nolan. “Treating money as free speech”. boston.com. 2007. 19 July 2007. . 2. Scholtz, Paul. “Economics of Personal Information Exchange”. first Monday. 2007. 19 July 2007. . 3. “Ownership Society”. CATO INSTITUTE. 19 July 2007. . 4. Boaz, David. “Defining an Ownership Society”.CATO INSTITUTE. 2003. 19 July 2007. 5. “Public Attitudes Towards Uses of Criminal History Information”. PRIVACY, TECHNOLOGY, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION. 19 July 2007. . 6. McDonald, Dennis. “Proposed: A Choice-Based Approach to Controlling the Commercial Exploitation of Personal Data”. 2005. 19 July 2007. . 7. McDonald, Dennis. “Identity Theft and Licensing of Personal Information. 2005. 19 July 2007.http://ddmcd.squarespace.com/managing-technology/2005/3/4/identity-theft-and-the-licensing-of-personal-information.html Read More