Assisted dying the digital way with a core consent delegation management repository

Guess what this is:

Transaction Date	Transaction Type	Merchant/Description	Debit/Credit	Balance
31-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-224.76	2,524.32
30-12-2014	BIS	********************************	-1,614.68	2,749.08
01-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-185.57	4,363.75
01-12-2014	GDS	******************************	-1,269.42	4,549.33
31-10-2014	GDS	**********	-1,066.21	5,818.75
30-10-2014	BIS	************************	826.43	6,884.96
30-09-2014	GDS	***************************	2,440.86	6,058.53
30-09-2014	GDS	************************	2,953.17	3,617.67
08-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-206.86	664.50
04-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-311.02	871.36

Give up?

Here's a clue:
In 1621, King James I directed the Privy Council to establish a temporary committee to investigate the causes of a decline in trade and consequent financial difficulties. 394 years later, the temporary committee is still with us, currently known as the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).

In November 2011, nearly four years ago, BIS promised us midata, an initiative which was supposed to empower us consumers by giving us control over our own data.

"midata is about giving the public more control and access to their personal data. There are potentially endless possibilities", BIS told us and proceeded to list 10 of them starting with "midata could help you manage your returns and warranties".

It's not just returns and warranties. "midata also creates opportunities for new markets to develop where businesses help consumers use their data to make better consumption decisions and lifestyle choices". If only we consumers would agree to keep all our data up to date in a personal data store (PDS), then apps created by entrepreneurs in these burgeoning markets could process it and tell us what to do. Say goodbye to illogical decisions.

It's arrant nonsense of course. Not even Narcissus has the time or the inclination to "curate" himself, as they call it, by keeping his PDS up to date. There's no-one left on the planet stupid enough to hand over their personal data to an on-line stranger – think Ashley Madison. And this control BIS were talking about. Control over your personal data. Once you've handed the data over, you've got no control. You've lost it and it's not in BIS's gift to give it back to you.

A number of major suppliers including DMossEsq's bank had to humour BIS. No point upsetting a central government department. Play along. But there are limits. These suppliers have to make sure that their customers aren't harmed by midata. That's a practical matter of reputational survival. Any customer who suffers from midata is going to blame the bank, not James I.

And so they came up with the useless data shown in the opening table above*. DMossEsq clicked midata on his on-line banking service and, after reams of warnings not to show the data to anyone, the bank served up the last year's transactions on one of his little-used accounts.

You will note that DMossEsq received £2,953.17 from ************************ on 30 September last year and that he spent £185.57 with *********************************************** on 1 December. Whether he got a warranty isn't clear. Try making a logical decision based on that.

You can probably forget about the midata initiative now.

But the desire to get people to fill up a PDS with all their personal data and then pay a stranger to use it lives on.

In gradually more and more perverse ways.

The latest of which is exemplified by our old friends Mydex, who now advocate PDSs as an aid to considerate death, Personal empowerment means addressing the consent challenges we all face: "If transaction-based consent persists, what's needed is the ability to take a feed from each site's transactional processes that automatically drops every ticked consent box into the individual's core consent delegation management repository, part of their personal data store".

----------

* Dozens of transactions are not shown in the table, it's just an extract from DMossEsq's midata report. The transaction dates have been changed. So have the transaction types and the debit/credit amounts, with the balances updated accordingly. The merchant/description details have not been changed – that's exactly how they appear, as a variable number of asterisks.

Assisted dying the digital way with a core consent delegation management repository

Guess what this is:

Transaction Date	Transaction Type	Merchant/Description	Debit/Credit	Balance
31-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-224.76	2,524.32
30-12-2014	BIS	********************************	-1,614.68	2,749.08
01-12-2014	GDS	***********************************************	-185.57	4,363.75
01-12-2014	GDS	******************************	-1,269.42	4,549.33
31-10-2014	GDS	**********	-1,066.21	5,818.75
30-10-2014	BIS	************************	826.43	6,884.96
30-09-2014	GDS	***************************	2,440.86	6,058.53
30-09-2014	GDS	************************	2,953.17	3,617.67
08-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-206.86	664.50
04-09-2014	BIS	***********************************************	-311.02	871.36

Give up?

midata – still waving, still drowning

The following article was published in Digital by Default News (DbyDN) on 21 August 2014:

Initiative to explore how citizens can be empowered with their own data Five organisations have come together to run a three-month feasibility study to explore how to empower citizens with their own data. The miData Studio initiative is a collaboration between Ctrl-Shift and Milton Keynes Council, the Cabinet Office, Open University and Connected Digital Economy Catapult. The project aims to create an open, collaborative environment where citizens, the council and developers explore how empowering citizens with their own information can enable better services, better quality of life and efficiency in the delivery of public services. The project will develop exemplar use cases that deliver benefit to the council and citizens and the local economy more generally. The project will look for new ways for citizens to gain control of their information, exploring how they can give controlled access to trusted service providers for the services they want or need. It will also act as a pilot for the Cabinet Office’s identity assurance scheme in a local authority context. This overarching project aim is to empower citizens with their own data in a way they can trust. The project will create a space for learning about working with citizens’ data, building a safe environment to try things out and study what works and what doesn’t work. Crucially the project aims to understand how to do this in such a way that individuals are in control of their data.

It was 3 November 2011 when Ed Davey first announced midata:

Today’s 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.

Little did we expect then that it would be the best part of three years before anyone started to "explore" how midata might work. But only now, if DbyDN are to be believed, is a "feasibility study" being launched.

In fact, not mentioned by DbyDN, Craig Belsham introduced us to the midata Innovation Lab (mIL) on 2 May 2013. Over the following few months mIL produced five deeply discouraging prototype apps.

Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt gamely claimed that these five viruses apps would allow us to "get to the future more quickly" and Mr Belsham posted What we learnt from the midata Innovation Lab on 28 November 2013 but mIL has never been heard from again.

Now we have the "miData Studio" instead. And what is the planned output from their feasibility study? Working services? No. Just some "exemplar use cases" – the miData Studio could take even longer to get to the future than mIL.

There will be five "collaborators" in the miData Studio according to DbyDN – "Ctrl-Shift and Milton Keynes Council, the Cabinet Office, Open University and Connected Digital Economy Catapult".

Or should that be six? "The project aims to create an open, collaborative environment where citizens, the council and developers explore how empowering citizens with their own information can enable ...". It looks as though "citizens" also will need to be collaborators.

Or should it be 11? "The project ... will also act as a pilot for the Cabinet Office’s [non-existent] identity assurance scheme  in a local authority context". How can the studio deliver its exemplar use cases if the identity assurance scheme's five surviving "identity providers" aren't collaborating.

And however many collaborators there are, will the identity assurance scheme (RIP) prove any more successful in Milton Keynes than it did in Warwickshire?

It's all very well for DbyDN to say that the miData Studio will explore how citizens "can give controlled access [to their personal data] to trusted service providers" but how is anyone going to overcome Chris Chant's objection that trust is just not on the menu?

"Truth, not trust". That's Mr Chant's watchword. The pursuit of trust is a "doomed strategy".

Do any of the collaborators in the miData Studio have it in their gift to grant citizens control over their personal data? How? "Trust frameworks", as Ctrl-Shift tell us, are like unicorns. They don't exist. There's no way to enforce the rules. Control isn't on the menu any more than trust is. Or empowerment.

What are the prospective investors in the Cabinet Office's identity assurance scheme supposed to make of this project? They thought they were being invited to invest in a service that already exists.

It's only a 225-word article that DbyDN published but it raises a lot of questions.

----------

Updated 29.12.14

Still waving, Mydex published Nine ways the personal data store can transform public services on 23 December 2014. Their contention is that, when it comes to "local authorities and public sector organisations", Mydex:

1) Delivers massive cost savings 2) Increases data quality 3) Enables joined up services and streamlined customer journeys 4) Supports more personalised services 5) Enables citizens to get things done online 6) Reduces risk and ensures compliance 7) Builds trust 8) Supports operations such as identity assurance 9) Saves time, offers convenience and increases satisfaction

Really?

These may well be some of the presents local authorities and public sector organisations would ask Father Christmas for. But is Mydex Father Christmas? Are these presents in Mydex's gift? Who believes that? Why?

And who believes Mydex's claim at the bottom of the page? Remember Sony:

Mydex provides the individual with a hyper-secure storage area to enable them to manage their personal data, including text, numbers, images, video, certificates and sound. No-one but the individual can access or see the data.

Updated 30.12.14

Wikipedia:

Walter Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and in book form in My World and Welcome to It in 1942. Thurber loosely based the character on his friend, Walter Mithoff. It was made into a film in 1947 ... Mitty is a meek, mild man with a vivid fantasy life: in a few dozen paragraphs he imagines himself a wartime pilot, an emergency-room surgeon, and a devil-may-care killer. The character's name has come into more general use to refer to an ineffectual dreamer, appearing in several dictionaries. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a Walter Mitty as "an ordinary, often ineffectual person who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs". The most famous of Thurber's inept male protagonists ...

ElReg:

European data law: UK.gov TRASHES 'unambiguous consent' plans The UK government has raised objections to current EU proposals that would require businesses seeking to rely on "consent" as the lawful basis for processing personal data to ensure that that consent has been unambiguously given "for one or more specific purposes". It said those proposals are "unjustified" and called on EU law makers to instead turn to the definition of consent under existing EU data protection rules instead for setting the legal standard businesses would need to achieve for consent under the draft new General Data Protection Regulation ...

The ElReg article is written by Out-Law.com, an outlet of the firm of lawyers Pinsent Masons, who follow this sort of thing and provide expert commentary.

In brief, the EU's 1995 Data Protection Directive is due to be replaced with a much-debated General Data Protection Regulation:

• Should consent for your personal data to be processed be given unambiguously or is that unjustified as the UK government apparently argue? Is it adequate for that consent to be unambiguous or should it be explicit? Under what conditions can data be processed without consent? Is it lawful to create profiles of individuals from their personal data? How can you be said to freely give your informed consent if you actually have no alternative?
• Assuming the 28 members can agree the answers to these questions, and about 3,000 more, how should they set about enforcing the regulation within the EU? And what about the rest of the world – what do the EU do if Russia, say, pays not a blind bit of notice?

As ElReg/Out-Law.com/Pinsent Masons say:

The European Parliament agreed on its version of the Regulation earlier this year and is waiting for the Council to reach its own consensus on the reforms before trialogue discussions on a final version of the text, which would also involve the European Commission, can be opened.

It's a trialogue (?) between the European Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

That excludes other people.

DMossEsq, for example.

If DMossEsq offers you total control over your personal data, you can safely ignore the offer as having been made by some sad Walter Mittyish character subject to delusions of grandeur.

As it happens, DMossEsq is making no such offer. He recognises that it's not in his gift. But there are other people out there with a "vivid fantasy life". Remember – the power lies with the EU, and not with Walter Mitty.

midata – still waving, still drowning

The following article was published in Digital by Default News (DbyDN) on 21 August 2014:

Initiative to explore how citizens can be empowered with their own data Five organisations have come together to run a three-month feasibility study to explore how to empower citizens with their own data. The miData Studio initiative is a collaboration between Ctrl-Shift and Milton Keynes Council, the Cabinet Office, Open University and Connected Digital Economy Catapult. The project aims to create an open, collaborative environment where citizens, the council and developers explore how empowering citizens with their own information can enable better services, better quality of life and efficiency in the delivery of public services. The project will develop exemplar use cases that deliver benefit to the council and citizens and the local economy more generally. The project will look for new ways for citizens to gain control of their information, exploring how they can give controlled access to trusted service providers for the services they want or need. It will also act as a pilot for the Cabinet Office’s identity assurance scheme in a local authority context. This overarching project aim is to empower citizens with their own data in a way they can trust. The project will create a space for learning about working with citizens’ data, building a safe environment to try things out and study what works and what doesn’t work. Crucially the project aims to understand how to do this in such a way that individuals are in control of their data.

It was 3 November 2011 when Ed Davey first announced midata:

Today’s 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.

Little did we expect then that it would be the best part of three years before anyone started to "explore" how midata might work. But only now, if DbyDN are to be believed, is a "feasibility study" being launched.

RIP IDA

No need to say it, it goes without saying, it should be obvious to all but, just in case it isn't obvious to all, IDA is dead.

IDA is the Cabinet Office Identity Assurance programme. And it's dead.

----------

Updated 18 December 2013:

Identity assurance team to expand for 2014 launch The pan-government identity assurance programme is hoping to hire up to five people in January in preparation for the launch of its first live services early next year ... An official working on the programme recently explained that they are hoping for new providers to join next year, in particular to support level three assurance for more sensitive data.

Bit late – IDA was due to go live in the autumn of 2012.

Over a year later and they still haven't got the right staff.

And now they've discovered they've got the wrong suppliers (that is, the wrong so-called "identity providers").

Dead.

RIP IDA

No need to say it, it goes without saying, it should be obvious to all but, just in case it isn't obvious to all, IDA is dead.

midata kickstarts a collective inflection point in business

"What would you like for Christmas?", DMossEsq asked his maternal grandmother about 25 years ago.

"I want one of those typewriters with a television on top."

Word processing. That was a killer app. Its value was clear even to an old woman RIP who grew up 85 years before, travelling the highways and by-ways of Jamaica in a pony and trap.

And spreadsheets. Visicalc. Supercalc. Lotus 1-2-3. Excel. That was another killer app. All those book-keepers and auditors with their seven-column analysis paper. They didn't need to be told twice. It was obvious. The spreadsheet sold itself. And the microcomputer it ran on.

We've been promised killer apps for midata. Apps whose worth is so obvious that you just have to have them and you'll take midata as well, unthinkingly, because that's just the typewriter with a television on top that the apps run on.

"Hi I’m Dan, Director of the midata Innovation Lab, part of the midata voluntary [?] programme. I wanted take this opportunity to share my vision for the lab, or mIL as we call it", Dan Bates told us on 23 May 2013 when he was still Working with business to fan the flames of innovation. (He's left now.)

"I want some really interesting apps and services to come out of the mIL", Dan told Ctrl-Shift News back on 1 August 2013, "we want the mIL to be transformative. We want to kick start a collective inflection point in business ...".

Well?

What's happened?

You won't find out from Craig Belsham's blog ("information about midata"). We haven't heard anything from Craig since 1 October 2013 when he went to Glastonbury.

But don't be fooled by the silence. There are not one, not two, but five prototype apps midata are working on. Including MI FINANCES which gives you advice like

Save £70 a month by buying your own ingredients and cooking yourself. Your health may improve too!

and

You're having an average of 4 takeaways a month. Why not make it a special treat? Cut down to once a month and save £100.

Is that a killer app?

Ask Granny. She'll tell you. "Call that an inflection point in business? I don't think so. It's an electronic Mary Poppins. It's digital nagging and you can already be nagged through any number of channels. You great mooncalf, you don't need midata. How much is that Dan charging you for his re-heated apps? And why's he trying to put all the takeaways out of business?"

midata kickstarts a collective inflection point in business

"What would you like for Christmas?", DMossEsq asked his maternal grandmother about 25 years ago.

"I want one of those typewriters with a television on top."

Word processing. That was a killer app. Its value was clear even to an old woman RIP who grew up 85 years before, travelling the highways and by-ways of Jamaica in a pony and trap.

And spreadsheets. Visicalc. Supercalc. Lotus 1-2-3. Excel. That was another killer app. All those book-keepers and auditors with their seven-column analysis paper. They didn't need to be told twice. It was obvious. The spreadsheet sold itself. And the microcomputer it ran on.

We've been promised killer apps for midata. Apps whose worth is so obvious that you just have to have them and you'll take midata as well, unthinkingly, because that's just the typewriter with a television on top that the apps run on.

Next week's news

Just to remind you, some time over the next 168 hours, as promised, we shall see the first ever fruits of the Government Digital Service's identity assurance programme. We shall all be able to amend our tax codes through an on-line connection to HMRC.

Extraordinary, but they won't have the field to themselves.

Remember midata, the latter-day South Sea Bubble being blown by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills? They've been "fanning the flames of innovation" round at the midata Innovation Lab and some time over the next 168 hours we are promised a glimpse of the fruits of their labours, too.

At last, new apps to empower us and improve our lifestyles and make the economy grow.

---

There's not a single mooncalf left in the world who believes that these apps will be free, is there?

---

Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that the DMossEsq blog is right and that there is no such thing as a secure website.

Then it would be a mistake for any supplier to try to sell you a service on that basis – the secure website sales pitch undermines trust in any supplier using it. At least two of GDS's "identity providers" do just that. Mydex and Verizon both promise you security. That's a mistake. There are no unicorns for them to deliver.

Better, surely, to say that every effort will be made to keep your personal data secure, but security can't be guaranteed.

We have a sad new example of the problem. Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service. It should be made clear that Experian didn't mean to sell consumer data to ID thieves and that they're co-operating fully with the police investigations. But it happened.

Experian, like Mydex and Verizon, are UK "identity providers", on whom GDS's identity assurance programme depends.

---

The best you can hope for is that security breaches will be kept to an affordable minimum. How do you achieve that? Answer, you make the supplier of the on-line service responsible for losses.

How have the UK retail banks managed so well to maintain public trust in on-line banking? By paying – when you are defrauded, the banks have to compensate you.

That works (para.6).

---

Next week's news

Just to remind you, some time over the next 168 hours, as promised, we shall see the first ever fruits of the Government Digital Service's identity assurance programme. We shall all be able to amend our tax codes through an on-line connection to HMRC.

Extraordinary, but they won't have the field to themselves.

Remember midata, the latter-day South Sea Bubble being blown by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills? They've been "fanning the flames of innovation" round at the midata Innovation Lab and some time over the next 168 hours we are promised a glimpse of the fruits of their labours, too.

At last, new apps to empower us and improve our lifestyles and make the economy grow.

---

mirelationship with midata

"Today’s most successful businesses are the ones that are creative about building customer relationships". That's what Jo Swinson says. It's not obviously true. But she's the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) minister in charge of consumer affairs and that's how BIS have chosen to try to sell midata.

The consultancy advising BIS on midata, Ctrl-Shift, reckons that these days "the challenge (and opportunity) is to start building an information sharing relationship with customers where both sides use data sharing to save time, cut costs and be more efficient – and to add new value". If you're in any doubt, just remember that "far-sighted managers recognise the ground is shifting under their feet. If they don’t adapt they risk medium to long-term isolation and marginalisation". Are you far-sighted? Or isolated and marginalised.

That message is reiterated by Mydex, the personal data store (PDS) company. Mydex is closely related to both Ctrl-Shift and BIS and they say that PDSs "transform relationships between individuals and organisations to both sides’ benefit" (p.7). And from his position on the midata strategy board, the chairman of Mydex seems to have convinced BIS that midata needs PDSs to work.

The relationship in question is generally between individuals who buy products and services and the companies that sell them. But according to the Young Foundation last November Mydex and its PDSs will also transform the relationship between "the citizen and the state" – "It is a bit like flipping a world where companies engage in ‘customer relationship management’ into one in which individuals engage in ‘vendor relationship management’. Now the citizen is in charge".

And that same promise is made by the Cabinet Office in connection with data-sharing: "Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude today [25 April 2012] made a statement in response [to an article in the Guardian], pointing to the Government’s commitment to putting the citizen in charge, not the state".

Do you believe Mr Maude? Do you even understand what he's saying? You'll be "in charge", not the state – what does that mean?

Are the Young Foundation right when they suggest that the result of sharing your data with, say, Nestlé will be to put you in charge of the company? In what way will telling Nestlé that you like Gold Blend^® be to your benefit? What are Mydex talking about? And do you think that Nestlé will be isolated and marginalised if you don't tell them?

Is Jo Swinson right that the most successful companies are those that build a relationship with you and that midata will make the economy grow? Before you answer, would it help to know that BIS's own economist working on midata – David Miller – isn't convinced?

Do you want to be badgered all day every day with a lot of nosy questions about your Gold Blend^® consumption? If you ask Norman Lamb, Jo Swinson's predecessor at BIS, what all this relationship lark amounts to, that seems to be the intention: "midata also creates opportunities for new markets to develop where businesses help consumers use their data to make better consumption decisions and lifestyle choices" (p.10).

And how much do you think you'll have to pay for all this helpful lifestyle advice?

What we seem to have here is a concerted campaign whose stated objectives give rise to a lot of questions the answers to which are not obvious. The only effect of this campaign that is clear is that you will hand over all/a lot of your personal data to companies and government departments. Is that what you would like to do? Why?

Remember that Mydex is not just a PDS supplier – it is also one of the UK's eight appointed "identity providers". As part of Mr Maude's Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP), Mydex's job will be to confirm that you are you when you apply for Universal Credit, for example, or when you attempt any other digital-by-default on-line transaction with the government.

You don't think, do you, that a PDS is actually a sort of dematerialised ID card? And that that's actually why all the jovial souls above want you to organise all your data for them? To make IDAP work. At least that would make sense, unlike all the strange claims above.

IDAP was meant to be "fully operational" by March 2013, four months ago. That's what Mr Maude's Government Digital Service (GDS) promised, and there's no sign of it yet. Once these chaps have got used to missing deadlines it tends to become habit-forming. So there's no need to hurry. Take your time before making your mind up.

But if you do ever find yourself being tempted to sign up to midata, do remember that it's not a trivial decision, as Mydex themselves warned everyone the other day ("MIL" = midata Innovation Lab):

MIL volunteers "offer up their body for science"; ie share Midata with MIL organisations. Thus a few help make it safe for many. — Mydex CIC (@MydexCIC) July 9, 2013

mirelationship with midata

"Today’s most successful businesses are the ones that are creative about building customer relationships". That's what Jo Swinson says. It's not obviously true. But she's the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) minister in charge of consumer affairs and that's how BIS have chosen to try to sell midata.

midata – a machine for turning personal data into open data

This is the story of a debate about midata hosted on Twitter by BIS, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. Their version on the right. Another version on the left. One event. Two stories.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt is the chairman of BIS's midata programme, a story of personal/private data. He is also a director of the Open Data Institute, a story of open/public data.

Some people talk about the advisability of midata. Professor Shadbolt talks about how midata would work. Parallel tracks. Which will be a long time meeting.

midata – a machine for turning personal data into open data

This is the story of a debate about midata hosted on Twitter by BIS, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. Their version on the right. Another version on the left. One event. Two stories.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt is the chairman of BIS's midata programme, a story of personal/private data. He is also a director of the Open Data Institute, a story of open/public data.

Some people talk about the advisability of midata. Professor Shadbolt talks about how midata would work. Parallel tracks. Which will be a long time meeting.

midata – dumb marketing

Do you feel resentful? Permanently? About everything?

Are you susceptible to blatant mercenary manipulation?

Are you a helpless consumer? You see it and you have to buy it?

Then midata is the scheme for you. Here's the Daily Mirror on 17 November 2012 trying to sell the scheme to you in its Money • Personal finance • Shopping section:

Quids in: How new Midata scheme will create your own personal data bank Imagine always getting the cheapest deal on anything you buy, from clothes to energy bills and mobile phone contracts. Imagine never having to worry about keeping receipts or warranty documents when you buy something new for your home. And imagine being able to check that you are always buying the healthiest and cheapest food. That is what the future may hold under a new Government scheme to make firms give you the data they keep on your spending habits. At the moment firms can gather information about a customer and use it for themselves – without sharing it with the person whose details they have stored. The scheme would allow people to access this information and download it on to their “midata” web account. They could then key the data into consumer websites to find money-saving deals on everything from bank accounts to a big night out. It is hoped the scheme will eventually include supermarkets to help customers eat more healthily by showing the fat and salt content as well as all the best food deals. Consumer affairs minister Jo Swinson said that the “midata” scheme is about turning the tables on big retailers and putting power into the hands of consumers. “Many businesses reap huge commercial benefits from the information they gather from consumers’ daily spending patterns,” she said. “Why shouldn’t consumers also benefit from this by having access to their own data to enable them to make better choices?”

Perhaps when Lord Leveson's recommendations are implemented all journalism will be like this – from Whitehall PR handout to printed page/iNewspaper app with nary an intervening intellectual delay.

Until that day, remember that with midata the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) are luring you into a dangerous place, putting all your personal data on the web, in the cloud, with a trusted third party you've never met and have no reason to trust. You know that. You know that the web is a dangerous place. There's no reason to believe that midata will save you money or help the UK economy to grow. BIS know that. They're just doing GDS's dirty work for them. (GDS is the Government Digital Service.)

You may have some residual doubts. Perhaps the banks and the major retailers really do know so much about you that they can predict your every whim and take advantage of you? There are mooncalves who believe that. But do you?

You shouldn't.

Consider four cases:

1. Three months ago DMossEsq booked a stay at a hotel in Madrid. He made the booking on the hotel's website. Then he opened the Guardian newspaper website. And there, alongside the article he wanted to read, was an advertisement for that very same hotel. Spooky? A bit. Maybe. Clearly Google was keeping track of his web browsing and serving up ads accordingly. But never mind spooky, it was just stupid. DMossEsq had already booked the hotel. The ad was too late. And useless.
2. That's Google. How about a brilliant retailer like Amazon? Maybe they're better at this marketing lark? Not obviously. Some years ago, DMossEsq bought a TV through Amazon. Then Amazon started sending him emails trying to inveigle him into buying a TV. Too late. He'd already bought one. As Amazon should have known.
3. OK, if not the retailers, how about the banks? They know just about everything DMossEsq spends his money on. Are they more effective? No. One of DMossEsq's bank accounts went dormant a few months ago, there had been no movement for several years. The bank informed him that they were going to close the account. We agreed where the balance should be transferred to, an active account, the money was duly transferred, the old account was duly closed – everything tickety-boo. Then a glossy sheet of marketing turned up in the post identifying the closed account and saying "you have been pre-selected for a Barclaycard Cashback Business credit card". Brilliant. A credit card on a closed account that the bank knew was closed because they'd just closed it.
4. Do you know anyone who has ever bought anything from an ad-server? Goods? Services? Anything? Ever?

Do you still feel resentful at the power these suppliers have over you in virtue of their knowledge of your spending habits? That's what GDS and BIS want you to feel. They think you're stupid.

Or do you just feel sorry about all us schmuks paying higher retail prices because hotels, shops and banks are wasting their budget on useless marketing services from search engine companies, on-line retailers and whoever Barclays have outsourced their direct marketing to?

midata – dumb marketing

Do you feel resentful? Permanently? About everything?

Are you susceptible to blatant mercenary manipulation?

Are you a helpless consumer? You see it and you have to buy it?

Identity assurance and midata – two new ideas for a grateful public to get used to

Mydex and the Post Office – the instant cartel,

just add money to taste

The UK was lucky enough last week to have seven "identity providers" (IDPs) appointed, one of which is the Post Office. One man who worked on the Post Office's bid is Toby Stevens. Writing about how he moved from being anti-ID cards to being pro-identity assurance (IDA) he says, among other things:

How I learned to stop worrying and love identity assurance ... The IDA programme differs from its predecessors in many ways, in that public bodies can't be Identity Providers (IDPs) - IDPs will be exclusively private sector ...

New idea #1 – the Post Office is not a public body.

How will IDA work in practice? That has yet to be decided. When he was interviewed by Ctrl-Shift, the consultancy company famous among DMossEsq readers, Mr Stevens was able to tell us this, though:

The significance of the Identity Assurance programme Over the next 18 months the selected IDPs will collaborate to develop their service offerings and a delivery Scheme which can handle the branding and governance for IDA services. DWP will pay those IDPs to register and maintain identities on a 'per active user, per annum' basis ...

Ctrl-Shift conducted an interview with one of the other newly-appointed IDPs, Mydex – please see Identity assurance: Mydex's unique contribution. Given how close the two organisations are, Ctrl_Shift may as well have interviewed itself. What is Mydex's market offer? That's one of the tricky questions lobbed at Mydex during the interview, along with how do you see the market changing? The last line of the interview is:

This is [a] recipe for positive change and we are delighted to be part of the market solution.

New idea #2 – when the government (Cabinet Office + Department for Business Innovation and Skills) pays a consultancy (Ctrl-Shift) to produce reports recommending one of its policies (midata) which is designed by the chairman (William Heath) of the software house (Mydex) on which the policy depends and then pays them (Mydex) "on a 'per active user, per annum' basis", that is a market solution.

In the old days, before we were all born, yesterday, "markets" meant competition. In the new cartelised world, now, at no risk to consumers:

... the selected IDPs will collaborate to develop their service offerings ...

Identity assurance and midata – two new ideas for a grateful public to get used to

Mydex and the Post Office – the instant cartel,

just add money to taste

The UK was lucky enough last week to have seven "identity providers" (IDPs) appointed, one of which is the Post Office. One man who worked on the Post Office's bid is Toby Stevens. Writing about how he moved from being anti-ID cards to being pro-identity assurance (IDA) he says, among other things:

How I learned to stop worrying and love identity assurance ... The IDA programme differs from its predecessors in many ways, in that public bodies can't be Identity Providers (IDPs) - IDPs will be exclusively private sector ...

New idea #1 – the Post Office is not a public body.

Identity assurance. Only the future is certain – doom 4 and last (William Heath, Mydex, midata, BIS, GDS and ID cards)

What's the beef?

A personal data store is the software equivalent of an ID card ...

After all the promises
going back to the 20 September 2010 identity assurance meeting ...

here we go again.

Remember this:

• There was a revealing moment at the 31 October 2011 identity assurance (IdA) meeting. Una Bennett, Head, Learner Records Service, did a presentation on the Skills Funding Agency's Learner Passport pilot project.
• Stay awake.
• Ms Bennett keeps lists of all the exams people have sat. It's a sort of National Identity Register of exam results. (Public money well spent? You be the judge.) Anyone too disorganised to do their own filing can always contact her to find out if they got a grade 4 in Latin O-level or a grade 5. Something like that.
• Which seemed to annoy William Heath.
• Mr Heath was at the meeting, together with other exhibitors/winners of Technology Strategy Board funding, when he laid into Ms Bennett. Your exam results, he implied, like every other fact about you, should be kept in personal data stores (PDSs) administered by Mydex, Mr Heath's company. And they would be, too, if it wasn't for the disgraceful fact that the Skills Funding Agency gets £40 million a year of public funds (Mr Heath's figure) and Mydex doesn't.

Now read on ...

It's Thursday 3 November 2011, a year ago today and three days after the 31 October 2011 IdA meeting:

• the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) issue a press release, Government, business and consumer groups commit to midata vision of consumer empowerment,
• Ed Davey, the minister responsible at the time, publishes a post on the BIS blog, Giving consumers the midata touch, and
• Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC's Technology Correspondent, asks the all-important questions, please see Midata: Will the public share government's enthusiasm?:

What's the catch for consumers and why is the government getting involved?"

This is the first the world has heard of midata. (Why wasn't midata announced at the 31 October 2011 meeting? If anyone knows, please tell the rest of us.)

midata is supposed to give consumers control over the way their personal data is used. BIS are unable to explain how midata will achieve that. It is not in their power to grant that control.

25 November 2011, and a consultancy called Ctrl-Shift publish a report, The new personal data landscape, repeating the unsupported claim that midata will give consumers control over their personal data and extolling the virtues of Mydex, a company specialising in PDSs (p.15):

Personal Data Stores The last year has seen a flurry of activity around the concept of personal data stores or personal data ‘vaults’ that help individuals collect and keep their own data safe, manage, analyse and use this data, and control how it is shared with other parties. Launches include Mydex and ... Personal Data Management: Mydex Mydex helps individuals collect, manage and share data under their control ...

Ctrl-Shift fail to mention in their report that Alan Mitchell, the strategy director of Ctrl-Shift, is also a director of Mydex, which he co-founded with William Heath, the chairman of Mydex who, at that time, is also a non-executive director of Ctrl-Shift, please see The case for midata – the answer is a mooncalf.

It subsequently transpires that William Heath, chairman of Mydex, also owns 30 of the 106 shares in Ctrl-Shift and, further, that he sits on the strategy board for midata at BIS, please see Cribsheet below.

BIS is a client of Ctrl-Shift's, i.e. Ctrl-Shift are in the pay of BIS. And Mydex is in receipt of an unknown amount of the funds invested in the identity assurance industry – £14 million by the Technology Strategy Board and £10 million by the Cabinet Office – as announced at the 31 October 2011 IdA meeting.

There must be some doubt about the independence of Ctrl-Shift's consultancy advice. And Mydex begins to look like a creature of BIS and of the Cabinet Office, specifically the Government Digital Service (GDS). When Mydex speaks, it's not independent speech, it's just BIS and GDS speaking.

midata is supposed to be a voluntary scheme. That's back in November 2011. By July 2012 when BIS announce their midata consultation, it turns out that they're seeking statutory powers to force suppliers to comply with midata, please see the BBC's Midata project plan for compulsory customer data:

The new measures, likely to be included in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill currently going through Parliament, could become law next year.

At the open forum held on 9 August 2012, BIS are unable to say how midata will expand the economy and they cast doubt on whether it would.

5 September 2012, and the close connection between GDS's IdA, midata and Mydex is explained, please see To understand BIS' midata proposal it helps to understand Mydex and Making midata work for you. The connection with the US National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) is thrown in for good measure.

25 October 2012, and the nexus between midata, Mydex and GDS is mentioned for the first time on the GDS blog, see comments on Identity assurance for local government services and reference to personal data stores in the accompanying local government report.

3 November 2012, two hours ago as DMossEsq writes, William Heath releases a televised interview in which he makes the undefended claim that Mydex can save money for consumers and repeats the undefended claim that Mydex can cause the economy to grow.

It's a quite complicated picture. There is a map available. Cutting through the complexity, what's the beef?

A personal data store is the software equivalent of an ID card. Instead of being a piece of plastic in your wallet, it's a file on Mydex's computer. It's still an ID card.

After all the promises going back to the 20 September 2010 IdA meeting, the promises that the lessons had been learnt from the failure of IPS and their ID cards scheme, here we go again. Doom.

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Cribsheet

• Ctrl-Shift is a consultancy which has BIS as a client.
• BIS pays Ctrl-Shift and Ctrl-Shift issues independent reports saying what a good thing midata is.
• midata is a BIS initiative so the money is well-spent.
• Alan Mitchell is a director of Ctrl-Shift.
• William Heath used to be a director of Ctrl-Shift but he resigned.
• On the other hand, he retains 30 of Ctrl-Shift Ltd's 106 issued and paid-up ordinary shares, according to the 20 April 2012 annual return filed with Companies House. So he still has a chunky interest in the company.
• Ctrl-Shift had a turnover in the year to 31 March 2011 of £122,129 and made a loss of £30,136 according to the unaudited accounts.
• William Heath is the chairman of Mydex Data Services Community Interest Company, but not a director. Alan Mitchell is the strategy director. They have no shares in the company according to the 28 March 2011 annual return. All the 1,000 10p shares in Mydex are registered in the name of another director, Mr Iain Henderson.
• Mydex is a PDS company. It wants to administer people's PDSs. It wants to manage your on-line identity for you.
• Mydex made a loss in the year to 31 March 2011 of £2,117,212 but still has positive shareholders' funds thanks to a share options reserve. What that seems to mean is that when you do work for Mydex, you don't always get paid money, you may get share options instead.
• Mydex may or may not have been the recipient of some of the £14 million the Technology Strategy Board invested in the nascent identity assurance business and/or the £10 million Francis Maude put in.
• William Heath sits on the midata strategy board at BIS as Kirstin Green, a deputy director at BIS, told us at the 9 August 2012 open forum held as part of the public consultation on midata. At para.2.19 on p.24 of the consultation document you will see that midata depends on personal data inventories/stores.
• DMossEsq used to contribute to William Heath's Ideal Government blog.
• Remember The Bridge Over the River Kwai.
• If you find yourself wondering why you should hand over your PDS to Mydex, a company you've never heard of and have no reason to trust and which will store it on the web, in the cloud, where you will have no control over it, then you're just an obsessive personality who understands nothing about economic reality, you're a troll who perversely doubts that this is the route to economic growth and human perfection:

It’s no more helpful to obsess about identity than to obsess about privacy ... The area to focus on is data logistics ... the compelling reason to pursue better data logistics with user-driven services is saving money. It’s not about identity. Or privacy. It’s about saving money William Heath, 21 September 2010 midata also creates opportunities for new markets to develop where businesses help consumers use their data to make better consumption decisions and lifestyle choices. midata 2012 review and consultation (p.10) BIS, Cabinet Office and the Behavioural Insights Team, July 2012

Identity assurance. Only the future is certain – doom 4 and last (William Heath, Mydex, midata, BIS, GDS and ID cards)

What's the beef?

A personal data store is the software equivalent of an ID card ...

After all the promises
going back to the 20 September 2010 identity assurance meeting ...

here we go again.

Remember this:

• There was a revealing moment at the 31 October 2011 identity assurance (IdA) meeting. Una Bennett, Head, Learner Records Service, did a presentation on the Skills Funding Agency's Learner Passport pilot project.
• Stay awake.
• Ms Bennett keeps lists of all the exams people have sat. It's a sort of National Identity Register of exam results. (Public money well spent? You be the judge.) Anyone too disorganised to do their own filing can always contact her to find out if they got a grade 4 in Latin O-level or a grade 5. Something like that.
• Which seemed to annoy William Heath.
• Mr Heath was at the meeting, together with other exhibitors/winners of Technology Strategy Board funding, when he laid into Ms Bennett. Your exam results, he implied, like every other fact about you, should be kept in personal data stores (PDSs) administered by Mydex, Mr Heath's company. And they would be, too, if it wasn't for the disgraceful fact that the Skills Funding Agency gets £40 million a year of public funds (Mr Heath's figure) and Mydex doesn't.

Now read on ...