The key question:
Who may share what information with whom for what purpose in what context and be on firm legal ground?
(1) Who may – in the digital age we can all capture and share information more easily.
(2) what information- even information that is captured digitally can be altered, or opinions can be associated with it.
(3) with whom – sometimes it is OK to share information with some people, but not others.
(4) purpose – the intention of the sharing may be important, in many cases
(5) context – this may override other factors, such as in a disaster situation – when normal rules do not apply.
(6) on firm legal ground – this is what title companies do for real property.
Quote: Title insurance protects real estate owners and lenders against any property loss or damage they might experience because of liens, encumbrances or defects in the title to the property. Each title insurance policy is subject to specific terms, conditions and exclusions.
Who offers title insurance on real property and how did that come to be?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_insurance
Who offers title insurance on information? UNKNOWN
Provenance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provenance
Information Provenance: http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/Information_provenance
IBM Knowledge Center: Provenance information
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSXVXZ/com.ibm.i2.anb.doc/descriptions.html
The world is a messy place with other people’s data and property all over the place – Google ran into this with Glass –
Scroll down to Privacy Concerns: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass
Quote: Additionally, there is controversy that Google Glass would cause security problems and violate privacy rights.[86][87][88] Organizations like the FTC Fair Information Practice work to uphold privacy rights through Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPS), which are guidelines representing concepts that concern fair information practice in an electronic marketplace.[89]
Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTC_Fair_Information_Practice
Quote: 4. Integrity/Security[14] Information collectors should ensure that the data they collect is accurate and secure. They can improve the integrity of data by cross-referencing it with only reputable databases and by providing access for the consumer to verify it. Information collectors can keep their data secure by protecting against both internal and external security threats. They can limit access within their company to only necessary employees to protect against internal threats, and they can use encryption and other computer-based security systems to stop outside threats.[14]
For commercial and legal purposes, every time we share digital information via email, social media, etc., we may want to have a record of the sharing event which is automatically added to a blockchain. Is this practical? desireable? viable? Questions: Should we, can we, may we, will we?
What if the person we share the information with – does not read it, process it, understand it? What if they don’t want to receive it?
Some additional readings:
Benefits that search engines get – users must actively opt out:
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1457-Search-Engines-Indexing-and-Copyright-Law
What is a “busy fee earner”? Read this here.