We all like a good deal. It’s particularly important now when we’re all feeling our wallets squeezed. And especially in the run up to Christmas.
But sometimes it’s hard to know whether we’re getting a bargain or being ripped-off.
Take your mobile phone. There’s a staggering 12.7 million different deals to choose from. So how do you know that you’re getting the right bundle of minutes and texts?
It can be just as bewildering for electricity or gas bills – with more than 300 different offers available. How do I truly know that I am on the best package for my home?
The Government wants to help you find a way through this maze. We set out our plans in April 2011 and today I am pleased to announce that a number of different companies have committed to working with us to achieve the midata vision.
Midata is our project with a range of businesses, consumer groups and regulators to release the data they hold about you, back to you, in a safe, electronic and portable format.
We hope individuals will be able to use this data to gain an insight into their own behaviour, make more informed choices and better decisions, to manage their affairs more efficiently, and to obtain the products and services that best meet their needs.
For example, your phone company has exact data on how you use your phone – much more than you will ever receive in a bill summary.
But if you had all the information that business held on you – you could use that data using price comparison sites or phone apps to get a deal that best fits the way you use your phone.
A survey from Billmonitor showed that the average mobile phone user overspends by £200 a year. That shows the importance of having a deal that works for you: it’s not about how many minutes you can get for £10 – it’s whether you even use £10 worth of minutes.
The businesses that are supporting us range from energy to banking and telecoms companies.
While midata is a challenging project for them, they can see the benefits to business, for example: increasing trust and improving data quality – both of which will help create more cost efficient and relevant services.
High-quality firms that can respond best to customers will drive innovation, competition and growth and in turn will win more business. A better deal for consumers and the economy means a better deal all round.
By increasing transparency and giving more power to you – the consumer – you will be better placed to get the deal you want – and that may put a bit of extra money in your back pocket. As we take the midata project forward to realise this vision, I’d be interested to hear your comments.
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You can follow the launch of midata taking place now on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23midata
If any individual cannot work any of this out for themselves, then the Education system has failed, big time. What possible benefit does the consumer get from this? Nothing! We all know the data that each of these companies holds on us, and sells on to third parties.
Three questions:
I have been unable to fathom from any of the very generalised press releases, or other blurb what this would actually do. Can you explain please?
Is this the same as, in conflict with, or separate to the Cabint Office’s Digital Identity Initiative?
Did you do a trademark search on ‘midata’ before going live?
Minister
The midata press release* says:
“Today’s [midata] announcement marks the first time globally there has been such a Government-backed initiative to empower individuals with so much control over the use of their own data.”
This statement is embarrassingly misleading. midata does nothing to give people control over the use of their own data. Only the law could do that. And you say specifically that this is a “non-regulatory approach to consumer empowerment”. People may hand over the information in their personal data inventory. What the recipient does with that information is out of their control.
In what way, please, can BIS claim that people have been empowered by midata? What new control have we been given that we do not already have?
Yours faithfully
David Moss
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* http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=421869&NewsAreaID=2
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I have read this three times and i still dont’ understand how it works and how I will be able to access and control. Just saying a person can with out telling them how is useless.
Minister
It’s getting on for a fortnight since four of us submitted the same question to you on this blog. Some of us natives are getting restless. May we look forward to a response?
Yours faithfully
David Moss
OK my understanding of this scheme is as follows
The government wants companies and organisations to sign up to a voluntary scheme which gives the consumer or user the right to “take control” of the data that company or organisation holds on them.
At least this is what the government tells us whenever we ask about it, and at face value it is a laudable aim, except that it doesn’t actually achieve this in any meaningful way, and there are a raft of other requirements which when added together create a much more insidious sum.
The scheme allows a consumer to take control of the data held about them by an organisation.
Except consumer can’t simply take this data and walk away with it with a cheery “bye” can they ?
The organisation will retain a copy, the consumer can object to portions of it on grounds of privacy or inaccuracy, but that’s about it.
The data will still be “about them” it will not be “their data”.
Another requirement is that the data be put in a standardised format, ostensibly this is to permit sharing between different organisations, and the consumer, who the data relates to, has control over which portions of this data can be shared with which other commercial organisations.
Again a laudable aim, with the minor drawback that organisations spent a fortune amassing this data, and will not wish to share it without some return on their investment.
Further they would have to spend yet more money standardising this data into a suitable format, requiring even more ROI as an incentive.
At best it might create a market for “personalised data assets” , which translates to “the movement and financial life histories of the consumer”, but this is unlikely given the consumer can veto data transfers they do not approve of.
However lets look forward to a time when there are many organisations who have signed up, and examine what we have actually achieved.
Well there will be a small commercial market for a consumers personal information between commercial organisations all trading data with the consent or veto of the consumer, it won’t be of great use to the companies and of even less use to the consumer.
So who would derive the greatest benefit from this state of affairs. ?
Who would derive the greatest benefit from standardising multiple databases containing the financial and movement history every of UK citizen, all linked together by consumer name and address, in a single interchangeable format ?
A single interchangeable format that effectively creates a huge distributed database of the minutiae of the daily lives of every citizen residing in the UK ?
This is effectively the same database we didn’t want with the ID card scheme.
So at what point would the government come forward with the proposal to allow access to this huge database of standardised information by organisations with RIPA powers, without the consumers knowledge or power of veto ?
I put it to you that the midata scheme has very little to do with empowering the consumer and everything to do with creating the database state we were supposed to have consigned to history with the Protection of Freedoms Bill and the repeal of the Identity Cards Act
There is no way, this scheme can help the consumer find the best mobile deal of pick the best energy tariff by providing them with copies of the reams of data held about them and to claim this is the primary aim of the scheme is disingenuous at best.
The majority of consumers will be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data nor understand what most of it means, much less be able to use this to make sensible choices in future.
The government however would be presented with a wealth of data extending over the entire financial life of the individual, equivalent to the ID card scheme database, effectively for free, as the majority of the costs will have been pushed into the private sector and soaked up by price increases rather than being an expensive government lead project funded by taxation.
And all it would require would be a small change to existing RIPA legislation.
What government could resist the temptation of being gifted with almost complete information on virtually every one of its subjects, when all it has to do is make a small amendment to the wording of an existing act of parliament.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, I would be very interested to hear the precise details of why this will never happen.
What midata is really about: Digital IDs will be provided by private sector organisations. In exchange, they’ll get access to government data on the individuals holding the IDs. Who could possibly object to Sky knowing if you have a TV licence, or Experian knowing your tax details?
We apologise for the delay in getting back to you all. Midata is an exciting project and we hope the following explanation helps you to understand the initiative better and puts your fears at rest.
Firstly, we would like to point out that this is not a way of creating a large UK citizen database. It is the opposite. It is about getting companies that hold data on you to release it back to you in a standard, portable and re-usable format.
This could mean having a breakdown of your energy usage over the year, or an account of how you use your mobile phone. Once you have this data, you can use it to judge whether or not you are on the best deal/tariff for your needs , and if you wish, you can take the data to another supplier and see if they can give you a better deal.
This is part of the Government’s consumer empowerment strategy and is separate but related to the Cabinet Office’s Digital Identity Initiative which may help the individual substantiate their right to access individual data. [DN: Is that correct?]
We take data protection very seriously and this has been at the forefront of our proposals at every step of the way. We are working closely with companies and consumer representatives to identify and address potential risks and to ensure these risks are avoided in the practical implementation of midata projects. Under midata the customer has control of their data and they choose how it is shared with other companies.
Things are still work in progress but we are excited by the companies that have already signed up and are exploring with them the best ways to deliver this project. We also hope to announce in the new year other organisations that will be working with us to further assist consumers in getting the best deal .
Thank you for this response.
Energy companies and phone companies already provide us users with statements and breakdowns. From that point of view, midata offers nothing new.
The innovative claim is that midata puts the user in control of his or her data. How? That question remains unanswered and it would be appreciated if, over a month after the claim was initially made, BIS could substantiate it.
From what you are saying, each company in a sector will have a standard format of information that you can request that will help you to decide if you want to go elsewhere or pick a better price plan. In addition, this information will be share to other companies in the sector to make offers to you.
1) Why would companies agree to this?
2) Why would companies pay for this?
3) Are they going to ask you before they share your private information?
4) Will they send this information to you only on request?
5) What would the procedure be for getting this information and how different is this from a request under the data protection act?
Thank you for your continue interest in midata. I will attempt to provide more substantive answers but this is a developing programme – the announcement on 3rd November was really the beginning.
The aim is that companies provide the data in an electronic reusable form, so that it can be manipulated, that is something you cannot readily do with a pdf or paper statement. Once data becomes readily available applications and services are likely to develop to interrogate it and help people get the best of the existing deals they have (e.g. night time tariffs or data limits) or find better ones more suited to them.
midata is a phased programme. Once people are clear about the data that is held on them, midata will allow them to check and correct it and provide a more powerful consent mechanism so that it is only shared with their knowledge and agreement. Ultimately consumers could keep their own data and decide who to share it with.
To answer the direct questions form Scop
1) Its a voluntary programme but some of the reasons businesses are agreeing to it are that they believe it helps them build a relationship with their customers and in particular increasing trust. It may also improve the accuracy of the data they hold and thereby save money and data storage costs, particularly if they can save on sending out paper statements.
2) They will pay for it if they believe it is in their interests (see above). For many they have information in an electronic format and then have to further process it to get a pdf version. It may therefore be possible to readily generate from existing processes.
3) midata is developing a model where companies will need to gain active consent from the customer before sharing their data with other organisations.
4) Yes.
5) We are working with the companies involved to try and come up with as common a format and procedure as possible. There is a parallel with subject access requests under the data protection act but midata requests are more targeted and likely to be easier and quicker for business to respond to. The ICO are involved in the project to help us get the balance right and stay aware of likely future data protection developments.
Craig Belsham
Consumer Empowerment Strategy Team, BIS
Thank you for answering the questions. The situation is much clearer. Can I add a few more question/ comments, which I hope will help?
1) Should it be made mandatory for certain sectors i.e. energy businesses, mobile companies?
2) For the companies involved a summary page is created to have this information, which can then be posted/emailed to the customer on request or automatically. I believe automatically, as this will fit the objectives of the midata as customer cannot make choices or know that they are being over charged unless they know what is going on.
3) Instead of all the protocols for other companies to get the information, is it not preferable for the customer to get the information and then distribute it to whomever they want too for a better deal?
As as been said this is a laudable concept but is crippled from the start by having the appearance at least of being driven by the government. The UK public is deeply suspicious of having large centralised databases anywhere and the track record of these databases is not exactly the best.
The approach is the usual big government one. ‘We’ll come up with an idea and everyone will comply’. With what looks to be the usual response from the market.
The current approach appears to have alienated the very people who could drive this forward.
How about a trying new approach?
Government enacts a law that states that if a company, any company keeps any data on it’s systems then the person that that data pertains to has the right to free access to that data in the same format and through the same mechanisms that they are stored in. This really amounts to little more than a tweak of the freedom of information act. It would mean that as an individual I would be allowed access to my supermarkets checkout invoices electronically, the power and water company bills and all the other, individual line-by-line breakdowns of the information being stored.
The market would then be open for the mass of entrepreneurial resource in the country to develop applications to empower the consumer to leverage the data to the consumers advantage. More innovation, more jobs and some real benefit to the consumer.
As a consumer I could pick who has access to my data, I could share it with a pool of like minded consumers, I could even form a co-operative to buy electricity, gas or even petrol in bulk. Who knows what innovations might come out of it.
Brilliant initiative.
And it should be a key part of the DPA for all public companies.
As per my comment here….
http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/disruptive-business-models/comment-34400/comment-page-1/#comment-34400
I am a graduate looking into the Governments new MiData initiative. I think the concept is profoundly interesting, the revolution of how we share and store data is an inevitable part of the way technology has galvanised over the last decade. While there are many benefits of an enterprise like MiData and the democratisation of personal information, I have been thinking a lot about the possible threats, not only to the individual but also to trusted industries that rely on individuals sharing their opinions and data (Marketing, Market and Social Research). If the MiData initiative fails, or is misused by companies, it could potentially damage the reputation of industries that rely on consumer data and opinions. Do you think these industries will also need a revolution if they are to successfully cope with the changes? Or will Market Research companies become altogether obsolete, as individuals decide to keep control their information? Any thoughts about this would be very valuable.