Bangor University to work with Cufflink to help people take back control of their data
Privacy is a critical issue for modern society. Yet, most of us do not understand how personal data is collected, used and shared by apps, websites and social media services.
This is not helped by terms and conditions that we need to ‘agree’. These are more often than not written for lawyers rather than for citizens. No-one can be blamed for not reading them. The result is that, although people care about their privacy, they are resigned to its exploitation.
It does not have to be this way.
A team from Bangor University has been funded by Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency, to work with Cufflink, a world-facing company based at the University’s M-SParc Science Park.
Cufflink CEO, Billy Williams, aims to revolutionise how we store and share personal data.
The Bangor University team led by Prof. Andrew McStay and Prof. Vian Bakir aim to understand the ethical issues around ‘personal information management systems’, and how to empower users to easily and safely manage their own personal data and information.
The researchers will investigate the role that personal data storage apps may be able to play in rebalancing the data economy back in favour of citizens. To do this they will be analysing competitors, apps and data protection law, interviewing policy makers, and finding out what citizens think about this through UK surveys and focus groups. They will also develop recommendations and tools for all companies developing ‘personal information management systems.’
Prof. Andrew McStay says:
“It’s great to be working with Cufflink on this. With the modern world being based on personal data about people, it’s time we made sure that personal data works for people, not against them. We’re looking forward to finding out what Cufflink’s app can mean for the average citizen who has better things to do than read lengthy T&Cs.”
Cufflink CEO Billy Williams says:
“Cufflink lets you easily control what personal information you share and for what purpose. By collaborating with world leading authorities on data privacy and ethics from Bangor University, we aim to help people be both safer, and wiser when it comes to sharing their personal information online."
The full economic cost value is approx. £480,000
Cufflink recently won the Cyber Start-up Award at the Wales Start-Up Awards 2020.
