Who owns the data generated by devices from the Internet of things?

Today, many organizations are beginning to transfer their IoT-data to third-party companies. Often this is done for the sake of monetization, sometimes - to comply with the requirements of regulators. And all these initiatives bring to the fore the problems of data ownership and licensing.

It is curious that there is no established scheme for determining how ownership is assigned, and even worse is the situation with the correct licensing of IoT data. Let's take a closer look at the situation.
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Data Ownership in the Western World

In fact, the owner of the machine-generated data (MHD), which includes almost everything that is generated in the IoT, is the entity owning the device that recorded this data. In other words, the entity owning the IoT device also owns the data that the device generates.

However, it is not always clear whether the data "belongs" to the person who has the device and / or the generated data. After all, when it comes to renting, everything becomes complicated and even obscure.

On the one hand, the data belongs to the owner of the device. That is, the ownership of the data is akin to a document of ownership of land. MHDs can also contain metadata, which can be compared to the ownership of minerals and water in the territory of this land.

On the other hand, one party can own the data, and the other can control it. Possession of data is not always equivalent to the right to them. Possession is control. Right is property. Drawing an analogy with the rights to use, each time the data is copied and transferred somewhere, control over them is also transferred. And vice versa - the transfer of ownership requires a legal mechanism for its registration.

I am not a lawyer, but we will continue

It turns out that the data itself is not protected by legislation in the field of intellectual property. However, the rights to possession of data are similar to the rights granted by copyright.

Data ownership rights include use rights, so the owner can copy, distribute and create derivative works . The data stored in the database is like the words and images that make up a copyrighted book. Rights to use and ownership of the book are different. The author of the story retains the rights to the words and images included in the story.

The author also has the right to charge the publisher to publish books and distribute them. However, he / she does not control the rights to use each reader as soon as he begins to use them.

Similarly, a subject with ownership of the data or database also has associated rights. If the data is copied or transferred somewhere, the author assigns the right to use.

Parties to the data transfer contract

In this space there are two main categories of parties. The first includes corporations, data brokers and marketplaces that communicate with each other. Usually it is not subject to strict state regulation.

The second category consists of consumers who transmit data to the vendor in exchange for a product or service. Agreements in the consumer space may be subject to state supervision. As a result, some industries, such as healthcare, must comply with a whole range of statutes and agency rules.

At the other end of the scale, we have interchange. For example, a vendor may collect comprehensive data to improve user experience (UX). In this case, the contract allows you to exchange all the data for incentives, such as a supervised service or discounts. With this approach, all rights to use the data and their ownership are assigned as soon as the user agrees to the terms.

How data rights are used in agriculture

The agricultural industry uses all sorts of sensors and MHD to maximize production, resulting in more complicated consideration of the interests of data owners.

The bottom line is that the farmer owns the data that his / her devices generate. However, agricultural equipment manufacturers have developed a transparent system of agreements that allows agricultural MHD to circulate freely.

The complex world of data generated by transport

Cars are increasingly equipped with information technology and sensors, which has led to an unprecedented explosive growth in the volume of generated data. Various stakeholders, from insurers to telecoms, high-tech manufacturers and so on, are ready to integrate these new data streams into their business models.

A unique feature of the auto data market is the importance of consumer confidence and mood. Consumers consider their all the data generated by their cars. And they certainly expect that they should receive something in exchange for them.

In response, automakers are developing regulations that use the interchange approach. As in the case of agribusiness, there is a basic presumption, according to which MHD obtained after selling a car, belong to the entity who bought the car.

Regulators and industry groups agree that the owner of the car also owns the MHD. As the insurance policy, the ownership of the MHD is tied to the car. This means that non-personal MHDs are not treated in the same way as personal data relating to the passengers of the vehicle.

Energy and IoT

The use of smart energy devices is growing. But there is a cultural barrier that prevents the completion of data exchange integration. The fact is that smart power devices connect to private homes, and users may be unhappy that these devices collect data about their manner of energy consumption, and therefore about their lifestyle. It is not by chance that companies introduce data collection practices that imply obtaining the right to use consumer MHDs and the right to own them.

As the IoT spreads, the schemes and policies governing the ownership and transfer of data may be somehow standardized.

No universal answer

As shown above, the question of ownership of rights to IoT-data is complicated. As a rule, the owner of the equipment owns the data. In different areas and companies, different approaches are used to regulate the transfer of control and rights to data. The common denominator is a well thought-out contract that protects the interests of consumers and feeds a growing data ecosystem.