Speaker: Hamed Haddadi (QMUL / Imperial College London)

Title: Containing Personal Data Processing with the Databox

Abstract: We are all increasingly the subjects of data collection and processing systems that use data generated both about and by us to provide and optimise a wide range of services. Means for others to collect and process data that concerns each of us -- often referred to possessively as "your data" -- are only increasing with the long-heralded advent of the Internet of Things just the latest example. As a result, means to enable personal data management is generally recognised as a pressing societal issue. In response to these challenges we have proposed the Databox, a collection of physical and cloud-hosted software components that provide for an individual data subject to manage, log and audit access to their data by other parties. The fundamental change this approach entails is from a world where personal data is copied to the cloud to be processed by third parties, to a world where data analysis computations are distributed to remote data stores and only the results released. This means that data subjects can have greater insight into how their data is processed, retain more control over how their data will be used in future, and avoids many of the systems and security issues that arise when creating very large, rich personal data honeypots. We will sketch the background to Databox, before discussing in more detail the platform design and implementation, as well as how we are addressing challenges in distributing analytics.

For more information, see https://www.databoxproject.uk/ or join the discussions at https://forum.databoxproject.uk/