Microsoft is reportedly working on a new project that looks like code name the “Bali.” The new project according to Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet who discovered it is designed to provide the users the control of the data collected by them.
The project is an effort by Microsoft Research and it seems that access is currently very limited.
The url for the page of the Bali project allows those who have a password to log on to the site and says that those who do not have a code can request one.
Bali's About page describes the project as a new personal database that gives users control over all data collected about them… The bank will allow users to store all their data (raw and processed) and will allow the user to visualize, manage, control, share and generate revenue from this data. ”
According to the About page, Bali is based on the concept ofInverse Privacy(PDF), a 2014 study by Yuri Gurevich, Efim Hudis and Jeannette Wing, who worked for Microsoft Research at the time.
According to the principle of "Inverse Privacy" (in Greek it means reverse privacy) an element of personal information is inversely private (or not private) if it is accessed by a third party while its creator does not. Healthcare providers, the police, toll booths, supermarket chains and employers are inversely generating private data, which in many cases could be to the benefit of the users themselves.
The Bali page states that the project is still in its infancy, which means that developers are focusing on helping users gather their personal data from various websites.
Although not every Microsoft Research project turns commercial product or in some service, I'd like to think that Bali has a good chance of becoming a commercially available service at some point.
With major technology companies such as Facebook and Google collecting huge volumes of personal data, Microsoft could benefit from controlling users on their own data, but also benefiting users themselves who want to market them.
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