Data needs accountability: Here’s how it could happen

Fake news, “alternative facts” and filter bubbles – the data we consume and what we read and experience online shapes the way we view the world and the everyday decisions we make, big and small.

Leading Cities, a non-profit organization working for cohesion in smart cities, is advocating for more accountability around the veracity and integrity of data that appears online.

Renato De Castro, Ambassador for TM Forum’s Smart City Forum, recently talked to Professor Joaquin Rodriguez of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Leading Cities Co-ordinator, Barcelona about this idea.

He explains, “Through Leading Cities and in collaboration with other institutions we have been developing an idea about a public bank of data or a data broker. The idea is to imitate the idea of public banks. One of the biggest issues we are facing is about the quality of data. We have been working in order to guarantee fair access, quality and real data.”

The idea is to create a public agency that makes people and businesses — companies, city administration, universities, etc. — accountable for the information and data they put online.

Rodriguez says, “Then the real challenge is…the idea of who protects us from our protector? This is a huge topic — when you create this kind of agency or public data bank you are giving the public administration huge power….Our idea is to create an independent institution through a public-private partnership with a totally independent board of directors.” He likens it to the way the BBC is run.

The idea draws in some ways on an existing initiative in Barcelona – the Anti Rumours project, which has been running since 2010. The campaign was designed by the City of Barcelona with the goal of combatting negative and unfounded rumors that have an adverse effect. The team works to identify negative and false rumors in the city and then share rigorous data and information to disprove them.