Papers
Articulating the challenges of a complex space.
White Paper v2.0
Our most comprehensive moral and practical argument to date for the creation of a public datatrust that provides public access to today's growing store of sensitive personal information. We set out to answer the major questions and open issues that challenge the viability of the datatrust idea. (Spring 2011) Read the paper >>
How to read a privacy policy
We're taking you on a guided tour of that inscrutable document, the online privacy policy, and explain what issues you should keep in mind. We walk through the privacy policies of companies like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Amazon, as of June 2009, and explain what they’re promising and what they’re not. (July 2009) Read the paper >>
"Licensing" Personal Information
As a first step in advancing a legal model where individuals control how their information is shared, we've conducted a thought experiment to try and imagine the ways in which licenses for personal information might work or not work. (July 2009) Read the paper >>
Why Do We Need Common Data?
The free flow of information has always been a central principle of democracy. Yet we as a society are not truly scrutinizing whether all this data is being collected in a manner consistent with our democratic principles. Information is quickly becoming the most valuable resource in our modern economy, but even as scandals arise and fears of privacy invasion grow, we are not asking ourselves the truly difficult questions: Who has access to my personal information? What is it being used for? Is it being used for me or against me? (May 2008) Read the paper >>
The Datatrust Privacy Guarantee: Protecting the Datatrust from Compelled Disclosure
We seek to create a new kind of institution, a datatrust, where organizations can safely release personal data without compromising individual privacy. Like any organization or business that stores a lot of personal information, we know that law enforcement officials may end up very interested in the data that we have. We need to understand how existing laws and proposed reforms might apply to us, and to be thoughtful and creative about what it means to protect privacy rights today. Read the paper >>
Why A Non-Profit?
CDP's decision to incorporate as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization was a carefully considered decision. We at CDP are committed to changing public perception and understanding of privacy issues and how they impact our ability to share information. We believe that these issues are ones that have broad implications for our society, and we seek solutions that will benefit all of us, and not specific clients. Read the paper >>
Data & Non-Profits: Hurdles and Requirements **Update Links
Our goal is to interview 25 non-profits in the year 2009 to better understand their data needs. What data do they collect? What data do they wish they collected? How do they maintain it? use it? access it? and share it? Read an early summary on our blog. If you know of an organization we should be talking to, let us know!