The project Data Policies: Regulatory Approaches for Data-Driven Platforms in the UK and EU (2017-19) was a research project conducted by Arne Hintz and Jess Brand at the Data Justice Lab and part of the broader initiative Policy Frameworks for Digital Platforms – Moving from openness to inclusion, a global research consortium led by the civil society organisation IT for Change (India) and funded by the International Development Research Centre (Canada).

The project investigated policy frameworks pertaining to data collection, analysis, and sharing, and thus the core of the business model of online platforms, and it explored avenues towards a citizen-oriented policy environment. Based on an analysis of recent policy reform, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Investigatory Powers Act, it examined current policy trends and identified both promising and problematic developments of data regulation, from a perspective of social justice and the protection of citizen rights.

As an outcome of the overall initiative, IT for Change published the report Platform Planet: Development in the Intelligence Economy.

The Lab’s research report on Data Policies: Regulatory Approaches for Data-Driven Platforms can be downloaded here.