"Since there is, in principle, no reason why third parties should not pay individuals for the use of their data, we introduce a realistic market that would allow these payments to be made while taking into account the privacy attitude of the participants. And since it is usually important to use unbiased samples to obtain credible statistical results, we examine the properties that such a market should have and suggest a mechanism that compensates those individuals that participate according to their risk attitudes. Equally important, we show that this mechanism also benefits buyers, as they pay less for the data than they would if they compensated all individuals with the same maximum fee that the most concerned ones expect. "

"Today, Bernardo Huberman and Christina Aperjis at HP Labs in Palo Alto, say there is an alternative. Why not pay individuals for their data? TR looked at this idea earlier this week.

Setting up a market for private data won't be easy. Chief among the problems is that buyers will want unbiased samples--selections chosen at random from a certain subgroup of individuals. That's crucial for many kinds of statistical tests."

heather piwowar, research remix

blogging about the science, engineering, and human factors of biomedical evolution and ecology research data sharing and reuse