Who will control Big Data, the currency of the digital age?

Steven Hill, Lena Ulbricht, Malte Spitz, Annette Mühlberg Facebook
and Google use their “engagement algorithms” to suck up our data
and turn it over to advertisers, purveyors of fake news and
“psychographic messaging,” fed by Russian bots and digital
operatives trolling for Brexit and Donald Trump's election. A
battle is looming over who will control this sea of Big Data and
artificial intelligence (AI)-- the public interest or
Internet-based platform companies? French president Emmanuel Macron
has outlined a forward-looking strategy that seeks to inject
European values into the race for AI development. When combined
with efforts by EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager to
enforce a rules-based order, and the EU’s forthcoming General Data
Protection Regulation, there is the vague outline of a vision for
the Digital Age that provides an alternative to Silicon Valley. But
many parts of the blueprint remain incomplete. What is the German
contribution to this discussion? Many debates and policy decisions
lie ahead. For example, should we become “data shareholders” who
get paid for permitting Facebook and Google to mine our personal
data? Or should our data be re-conceptualized as “social data” that
is protected as part of the commons? Do we need to establish a
collaborative CERN-type organization for the development of AI, to
ensure the availability of open-source data sets and that the
public good is kept at the forefront?  Nations have always
required licensing and permits for traditional companies -- in this
high tech era, do we need to create “digital licenses” which would
make clear the rules and conditions for allowing platform companies
access to German and EU markets, and develop the technological
tools to protect one’s “digital borders”? In addition, might
blockchain technologies be deployed for creating “radical
transparency” in commercial transactions, real estate records,
online labor platforms, and for tracking online services for
regulatory and taxation purposes (such as Airbnb, Clickworker and
Upwork)?