未來當數據成爲個人合法財產

Hernando de Soto, the Peruvian economist whose work centred on the informal economy and property rights, has much to contribute to the dialogue raging in the so-called developed world about privacy and data.

在所謂的發達世界，一場關於隱私和數據的對話正如火如荼地展開。主要研究非正式經濟和財產權的祕魯經濟學家埃爾南多•德索托(Hernando de Soto)，可爲這場對話貢獻不少真知灼見。

Mr de Soto showed how enabling individuals to own property legally would drive economic prosperity. Many credit him with the surge of wealth creation happening in some parts of Latin America.

德索托闡釋了，爲何讓個人擁有合法財產權能夠推動經濟繁榮。許多人認爲，拉丁美洲一些地方財富創造大大加快就要歸功於他。

Meanwhile, US technology platform companies and the European Union are engaged in an arms race around privacy. The issue is not whether my data are private. We lost that battle a long time ago. As Scott McNealy, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems said: “You have zero privacy . . . get over it.” The issue is over who owns my data and to whom the value accrues.

與此同時，美國科技平臺企業和歐盟(EU)正圍繞隱私較勁。問題不在於我的數據是否隱私。這場戰鬥我們早已打輸。如太陽計算機系統公司(Sun Microsystems)聯合創始人斯科特 •麥克尼利(Scott McNealy)所說：“你沒有絲毫隱私……別糾結這個了。”問題在於誰擁有我的數據、這些數據的價值又屬於誰。

Google’s use of my data drives their business model and their multibillion-dollar market capitalisation. We get no economic benefit for that beyond free search and online stalking. My bank account does not benefit from its success.

谷歌(Google)使用了我的數據，這推動其建立了商業模式，實現了鉅額市值。除免費搜索和在線追蹤之外，我們不從中獲得任何經濟利益。谷歌的成功不會讓我的銀行賬戶餘額增加一分錢。

I long thought an entrepreneur would develop a business model to incentivise individuals for the use of their consumer data. I found one such entrepreneur,John Paleomylites, who was running BeatThatQuote, a UK price comparison site that my firm Ariadne Capital advised.

我早已設想過會有一位企業家，開發一種商業模式，激勵個人允許別人使用自己的消費者數據。我曾發現過這樣一位企業家，約翰•帕萊奧米利提斯(John Paleomylites)，他曾管理過一家英國比價網站BeatThatQuote，我的公司Ariadne Capital曾爲這家網站提供過諮詢。

BeatThatQuote was providing cash back deals and discounts. Despite having less than £500,000 of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, it was sold to Google in 2011 for £37.7m, having articulated its strategic value (or threat) to its acquirer. Who says Goliath does not get scared?

當時，BeatThatQuote提供返利和折扣。儘管這家網站的息稅折舊和攤銷前利潤(EBITDA)還不到50萬英鎊，但在2011年，谷歌以3770萬英鎊的價格收購了它，因爲它明明白白地展示了自己對谷歌的戰略價值（或者說威脅）。誰說巨人歌利亞(Goliath)不會害怕？

The battle is no longer about incentivisation. If we believe that my data — whether related to my finances, telecoms, health, transportation or property — are my data, than their use surely must accrue value to me.

這場戰鬥已不再關乎激勵機制。如果我們相信，我的數據——無論是關於我的財務、電信記錄、健康情況、交通記錄還是持有房產情況的數據——是屬於我的，那麼使用這些數據當然必須讓我獲益。

Re-enter Mr de Soto. He changed the world for Peruvian farmers by establishing property rights for them. What if data were established as legal assets for everyone?

再回到德索托。通過確立祕魯農場主的財產權，他改變了這些人的命運（見上圖）。如果數據被確認爲每個人的合法財產，那會怎樣？

Those of us who have had property rights have the ability to build other assets on top of our property assets. If you are still securing your basic needs at the bottom of thepyramid described by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow — a model that features an individual’s survival at the bottom and their self-actualisation at the apex of the pyramid — then you advance more slowly and with less certainty, if at all.

我們中已經擁有財產權的人，能夠在我們的財產基礎之上創建其他資產。美國心理學家亞伯拉罕•馬斯洛(Abraham Maslow)提出了需求層次理論，該理論認爲人的需求呈金字塔形狀，處於金字塔最底層的是生存需求，金字塔頂端是自我實現需求。如果你仍在努力滿足處於需求層次底層的基本需求，那麼你的進步速度會更慢、並面臨更大不確定性，甚至根本無法進步。

So if data are the new universal assets, instead of arguing about privacy, should we just argue about money?

因此，假如數據是爲人們普遍享有的新資產，那麼我們是否應該僅爭論錢的問題，而別再爭隱私不隱私？

If the starting point is “they are my data”, then there should be a corresponding accrual for their use in the financial accounts for any business whose model uses them. Data, and the cost of purchasing them, would become a “cost of sale” in transactions.

如果以“那是我的數據”爲前提，那麼任何企業，只要它們的商業模式用到這些數據，那麼就應該爲使用這些數據向我們支付相應的費用。數據，以及購買數據的成本，將成爲一項“銷售成本”。

If a large bank or telecoms group opened up its customer data to start-ups for applications using that data and then sold those applications on, a percentage of the revenue would have to accrue to those customers, or be netted against any other monies they paid in. The value of what is owed to any one individual would be 1/N where N is the size of the customer base used.

如果一家大型銀行或電信公司向一些初創企業開發的應用開放自己的用戶數據，供這些應用使用，並銷售這些應用，那麼就必須將所獲收入的一部分交給那些用戶，或者從用戶繳納的費用中扣除這部分金額。應付給每個用戶個人的費用將爲總收入的1/N，N爲用戶總數。

At each point in history where power has shifted towards the individual from a hierarchy, power is forcefully taken. There is a net social gain for the common man and woman if their data are valued. Prosperity will rip across society if we set up the right data architecture for business.

回顧歷史，每次權力從特權集團轉移到個人手中時，權力都被牢牢地抓住了。對普通民衆來說，如果賦予他們的數據以價值，會爲社會帶來淨收益。如果我們建立合適的數據商用結構，財富將迅速席捲社會各個階層。

The non-technology traditional business — whether retailer, bank, transportation company — has an ace to play. By engaging with entrepreneurs and embracing consumer data as a legal asset of the individual, the incumbents in all traditional industries could deliver singularly spectacular growth.

無論是零售商、銀行還是交通公司，各種非科技傳統企業都有了一張可打的王牌。通過與初創企業合作，支持讓消費者數據成爲個人的法定財產，所有傳統行業的現有企業都能實現非凡的增長。

This is a system-level challenge. A start-up is at best today a car — a revenue-generating algorithm — in need of a highway. What big companies have is distribution, audience and reach. They can be a very smart highway.

這是一種系統級挑戰。如今一家擁有能創造收入的算法的初創企業最多算一輛汽車，它們需要公路。大型企業有的是分銷體系、聽衆和影響力。後者可能成爲非常智能的公路。

The judo move would be for large, traditional enterprises to recognise consumer data rights and proactively value them in their business models.

關鍵的一步將是，大型傳統企業承認消費者的數據權，主動在自己的商業模式中賦予這種權利價值。

One can never win by playing by the rules of someone else’s game: you must change the rules of the game. Every successful entrepreneur knows this. It is time for the judo move.

按照別人的遊戲規則來玩，你永遠不可能贏：你必須改變遊戲規則。每個成功的企業家都明白這一點。是時候走出關鍵一步了。