We’ve spent many, many hours over the last few years banging a drum globally in person and on paper about the critical importance of personal data privacy in creating a better world.
Of how that privacy – and all the benefits it fuels, such as data-driven innovation and personalised healthcare – can only flow from putting individuals back at the heart of their online lives, able to control and benefit from their data, as well as being in full charge of what they share and with whom.
The huge and all-encompassing benefit of this is something we wholly believe in, and it is the backbone of the vision that drives our company forward every day.
But what we hadn’t done to date is articulated everything that vision covers – from the importance of interoperability for different data formats, to the need for full transparency over everything we do, to how and why we are leading by example across every level of society. So we decided to change that.
We have put together, for the first time, a public statement covering our core mission and principles. It is strong, it is powerful – and it encapsulates beautifully everything we do, as well as why we do it. You can read it in full here, and it is also reproduced below:
“We believe that control of data and privacy are fundamental human rights.
Ethical data sharing designed around a central role for individuals can change the world. We are working to create a sustainable, secure, transparent foundation for our digital lives – and the digital economy.
Everything we do aims first and foremost to empower individuals to get a complete copy of their data, regardless of the original source, and to use it for their benefit while enhancing their privacy and security.
We believe developers and companies also benefit from a more user-centric approach to data sharing. With permission, they can get access to the best possible data, enabling the data-driven innovation that the future requires.
We embrace privacy by design principles and are working to make a decentralised world reality. Our distributed architecture and business model ensure we are never able to touch, hold or see user data – or tell people how or where to use their data.
To that point, we believe in interoperability. Data must be able to flow freely however individuals choose. We make collected data accessible and usable across different formats and methods of exchange, supporting international standards and trustmarks.
Transparency is the core pillar of trust, so we build it into everything we do, from our architecture to our business model to how we run our business.
We lead by example, inspiring society, governments, businesses and individuals by showing them the power of ethical data sharing and giving them the tools and rules to do so themselves.
We remain true to our purpose and principles at all times. We invite you to join us in our mission to enable data and privacy to improve lives and create a better world.”
That’s our mission. And yes, we do choose to accept it – do you?